WATCH: Democrats line up behind new talking point in campaign to undermine Trump
Democrats are lining up behind a new talking point to undermine President Donald Trump’s agenda to clean up the federal government, eliminate waste and fraud, and focus on projects and costs that are in the nation’s national interests.
Through his Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, already has moved to cut thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in spending.
Which has triggered Democrats, whose favorite constituencies sometimes are losing their funding. They now are calling it a “constitutional crisis.”
Trump mocked the claims, assuring listeners that he has not plans to ignore court orders regarding his executive decisions: That he’ll make the decisions, then appeal adverse decisions by local judges and get those overturned on appeal.
After all, he said it is his practice to follow court orders. Unlike Joe Biden, who openly boasted of defying a Supreme Court ruling he could not transfer student loan debt from the borrowers to innocent taxpayers, and then doing so.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “I see a lot of kickback here… because nobody could be so stupid to give out some of these contracts… I hope that the court system is going to allow us to do what we have to do. We got elected to, among other things, find all of this fraud and abuse.” pic.twitter.com/Cc4LxicjE9
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 11, 2025
The Washington Examiner reported Trump said, on the topic of the court orders delaying his agenda, “I always abide by the courts, and then I’ll have to appeal it.”
The problem he cited, however, is that the lower court judges are slowing down the process and that “gives crooked people more time to cover up the books. You know if a person’s crooked and they get caught other people see that, and all of a sudden, it becomes harder later on.”
He cited Paul Engelmayer, a judge who has temporarily foiled DOGE’s access to TRreasury Department information.
Vice President JD Vance has pointed out that it’s illegal for a judge to interfere in the duties of the executive branch.
Trump explained, “I would hope that a judge, if you go to a judge and you show them, ‘Here’s a corrupt situation. We have a check to be sent, but we found it to be corrupt. Do you want us to send this corrupt check to a person, or do you want us not to give it and give it back to the taxpayer?’ I would hope a judge would say, ‘Don’t send it. Give it back to the taxpayer.'”
Vance charged, ““If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
Democrats routinely accuse Trump of ignoring court decisions, a situation that has yet to develop.
The “constitutional crisis,” Vance has explained, could actually be something not of Trump’s making.
“If the elected president says, ‘I get to control the staff of my own government,’ and the Supreme Court steps in and says, ‘You’re not allowed to do that’ — like, that is the constitutional crisis. It’s not whatever Trump or whoever else does in response. When the Supreme Court tells the president he can’t control the government anymore, we need to be honest about what’s actually going on,” Vance has said.
If there’s a “constitutional crisis” it’s caused by activist federal district judges with narrow jurisdictions usurping the powers of the presidency. @GovChrisSununu and I take on the left last night on @cnn. It’s just more lawfare against Trump. pic.twitter.com/yvZPXyXaGK
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) February 11, 2025
The real constitutional crisis is the evolution of a fourth branch of government — a massive power center insulated from accountability, immune from the results of elections, and yet eager to impose its will on We the People.
The real constitutional crisis lies in leftist… https://t.co/qkD8rbmYQY
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) February 12, 2025
Fox News reported that contributor, and constitutional expert, Jonathan Turley “was left bewildered after a federal judge extended a temporary restraining order Monday blocking the Trump administration’s buyout offer to federal employees.
He explained that as being “perfectly within the wheelhouse of the president.”
#BREAKING: Karoline Leavitt just SLAMMED the activist judges attempting to thwart Trump, saying they’re “abusing their power”
“The REAL Constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch…”
“77 MILLION Americans voted for elect this President, and each… pic.twitter.com/ho327UFH24
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 12, 2025
“The report said, “The legal group Democracy Forward sued on behalf of labor unions representing thousands of employees, claiming the administration can’t administer payments. In a letter to its members, the AFGE noted that the buyout offer doesn’t guarantee that the employee’s resignation will be accepted or that the benefits will be paid.”
It also claimed the offer violates federal law.
Trump, in an Oval Office comment, said, “Any court that would say that the president or his representatives, like secretary of the treasury, secretary of state, whatever, doesn’t have the right to go over their books and make sure everything’s honest — I mean, how can you have a country? You can’t have anything that way. You can’t have a business that way. I hope that the court system is going to allow us to do what we have to do. We got elected to, among other things, find all of this fraud, abuse, all of this, this horrible stuff going on. And we’ve already found billions of dollars. … And when you get down to it, it’s going to be probably close to a trillion dollars.”