Ex-GOP WH staffer says Trump will use 'creeps and weirdos' to 'wreck the democratic structure' of the US

In a Tuesday appearance on CNN, David Frum, a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush, warned that if former President Donald Trump were elected a second time to the presidency, he would have to effectively eliminate the rule of law "out of self-preservation" given that he could be a convicted criminal by the time he takes the oath of office.

"If [Trump] should win, and gets sworn in... His first priority is going to be to rip apart the legal system of the United States. He'll have to do that for self-preservation," Frum said.

Frum appeared on the network in response to a December article he wrote for The Atlantic, claiming that a Trump victory in 2024 would be a "constitutional crisis more terrible than anything seen since the Civil War."

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CNN host John Berman also asked Frum to elaborate on the far-right objective of consolidating executive power and filling the civil service with far-right loyalists to circumvent traditional checks and balances (dubbed Project 2025). The former George W. Bush staffer said Trump has been "amassing this group of internet trolls and general weirdos" who would wreak havoc on the apparatus of the federal government if given the opportunity. Frum explained this was a stark contrast to the first Trump term, in which seasoned professionals like former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were driven out of their positions after attempting to curb Trump's worst impulses.

"The second time — should there be a second time — it's going to be the kind of creeps and weirdos he has been amassing through his campaign who are quite clear that they want to help him to wreck the democratic structure of the United States," Frum said.

Frum added that if Trump gets a second term, his plans to utilize the Insurrection Act to quell protests would mean "the military is going to be flooded with illegal orders from the president."

"Every general is going to have to think, every time they get a piece of paper from the Oval Office, is this legal or is this not?" Frum said. "It's going to be crisis upon crisis upon crisis, dissolution of military and civilian relations. That's what we face. Chaos, with this second Trump term."

READ MORE: 'Unthinkable': Conservative warns US could suffer most 'terrible constitutional crisis' since the Civil War

Watch the full segment below, or by clicking this link.