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

05 December 2023

Poll after poll is showing that Donald Trump, despite facing four criminal prosecutions, is in no danger of losing his 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner status. Moreover, some polls are showing Trump with small single-digit leads over incumbent President Joe Biden in a hypothetical rematch.

The strong possibility of a second Trump term is the focus of The Atlantic's January/February 2024 issue, which contains articles by 24 different writers laying out the dangers the United States could face in that scenario. One is a disturbing piece by Never Trump conservative David Frum.

In the article, published on The Atlantic's website on December 4, Frum warns that a dangerous "constitutional crisis" may await the U.S. in 2025.

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"By Election Day 2024," Frum warns, "Donald Trump will be in the thick of multiple criminal trials…. A second Trump term would instantly plunge the country into a constitutional crisis more terrible than anything seen since the Civil War. Even in the turmoil of the 1960s, even during the Great Depression, the country had a functional government with the president as its head. But the government cannot function with an indicted or convicted criminal as its head."

Frum continues, "The president would be an outlaw, or on his way to becoming an outlaw. For his own survival, he would have to destroy the rule of law."

The former George W. Bush speechwriter goes on to describe the actions Trump would be likely to take if he returns to the White House.

"From Trump himself and the people around him," Frum explains, "we have a fair idea of a second Trump Administration's immediate priorities: (1) Stop all federal and state cases against Trump, criminal and civil. (2) Pardon and protect those who tried to overturn the 2020 election on Trump's behalf. (3) Send the Department of Justice into action against Trump adversaries and critics. (4) End the independence of the civil service and fire federal officials who refuse to carry out Trump's commands. (5) If these lawless actions ignite protests in American cities, order the military to crush them."

The Never Trumper continues, "A restored Trump would lead the United States into a landscape of unthinkable scenarios. Will the Senate confirm Trump nominees who were chosen because of their willingness to help the president lead a coup against the U.S. government? Will the staff of the Justice Department resign? Will people march in the streets? Will the military obey or refuse orders to suppress demonstrations? The existing constitutional system has no room for the subversive legal maneuvers of a criminal in chief."

David Frum's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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