The Obama administration has been typically quiet on the 2016 presidential race. But when The Associated Press’ Darlene Superville asked White House press secretary Josh Earnest about Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States during yesterday’s (December 8) press briefing, he spoke freely.
The Trump campaign for months now has had a dustbin of history-like quality to it—from the vacuous sloganeering to the outright lies to even the fake hair, the whole carnival barker routine that we’re seen for some time now. The question now is about the rest of the Republican party and whether or not they are going to be dragged into the dustbin of history with him. And right now the current trajectory is not very good. …
The fact is, the first thing a president does when he or she takes the Oath of Office is to swear an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. And the fact is what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president. And for Republican candidates for president to stand by their pledge to support Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying.
Some Twitter users took the statement to mean that Trump is actually disqualified from running, and the celebratory hashtag #TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty was born.
When you get all dressed up for the #TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty and find out he’s not really disqualified pic.twitter.com/YgcTOxrv8J
— can u not (@sassytbh) December 9, 2015
And in a Colorlines Twitter poll, 87 percent of respondents said they would celebrate Trump’s ouster.
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But Trump has met the Constitution’s requirements to run for president: He was born in the United States, has lived here for at least 14 years and is older than 35. Though his remarks are viewed as Islamophobic, they don’t take him out of the running. That said, if a president were to break that oath to uphold the Constitution, it would be an abuse of power for which he or she could be impeached.
Watch the full press conference below.