In case you still haven’t figured out what a second Trump term would look like, if the scandal-plagued, indicted former president is successful in returning himself to the White House and all the power that comes with it next year — the man himself just told the world, in not so many words, and frankly, it should absolutely make your blood run cold.
Recently, the Chicago-Sun Times released a report confirming that 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump did not sign the “voluntary loyalty oath as part of his package of ballot-access paperwork submitted Thursday to the Illinois State Board of Elections.”
Illinois state law dictates that presidential candidates who wish to be on the March 19 primary ballot are required to submit nominating petitions to the Illinois State Board of Elections. While the aforementioned loyalty oath is no longer a mandatory form — after it was ruled unconstitutional on the grounds of free speech by federal courts — Illinois lawmakers have left the oath intact in state law, and the form remains a long standing part of the process for presidential candidates.
The loyalty oath asks candidates to swear that they are not communists nor affiliated with communist organizations and further swear that they “do not directly or indirectly teach or advocate the overthrow of the government of the United States or of this state or any unlawful change in the form of the governments thereof by force or any unlawful means.”
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Donald Trump signed that loyalty oath during his candidacies in 2016 and 2020. He did not sign the IL loyalty oath in preparation for the 2024 presidential election. To make matters even worse, Trump’s glaring loyalty oath omission came just days before the anniversary of the violent January 6th Capitol insurrection that he is currently facing criminal charges over his personal involvement in.
The omission was so deeply disturbing that even President Biden responded to it through his spokesperson Michael Tyler:
For the entirety of our nation’s history, presidents have put their hand on the Bible and sworn to protect and uphold the Constitution of the United States — and Donald Trump can’t bring himself to sign a piece of paper saying he won’t attempt a coup to overthrow our government. We know he’s deadly serious because three years ago today he tried and failed to do exactly that.
This is the same man who thinks American troops who died protecting the ideals outlined in the Constitution are suckers and losers — yet calls the convicted felons who violently assaulted and killed police officers on January 6th ‘hostages.’ He can’t fathom putting anything — our country, our principles or the well-being and safety of the American people — above his own quest for retribution and power.”
Former Republican Congressman and staunch Trump critic Adam Kinzinger theorized, “Has he been advised maybe not to sign it because maybe there’s some legal exposures…given that oath, if he signed it, would be a violation of everything he actually did on Jan. 6, 2021, and leading up to it?”
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung has since responded to President Biden’s statement regarding the oath, cryptically saying, “President Trump will once again take the oath of office on January 20th, 2025, and will swear ‘to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'”
Make no mistake that Donald Trump is absolutely screaming the quiet part loud at this point. He knows damn good and well what he intends to do in the coming months. The only question is… Are you paying attention?
Featured image via Flickr/Trump White House Archives
