Republican Rep. Dave Joyce not only refused to condemn Trump’s recent statement calling for the Constitution to be suspended, the congressman said he would still support the former president should he become the GOP presidential nominee in 2024. In case the representative needs a reminder, he swore in his oath of office to “uphold and defend” the Constitution.
When host This Week George Stephanopoulos asked Joyce for his reaction to Trump’s statement, the congressman first tried to evade the question, saying Republicans are “not interested in going backwards.” He then went on a tangent about inflation and household budgets in an attempt to change the subject, but Stephanopoulos kept pressing.
“But Donald Trump was your nominee in 2016 and 2020. You voted for him in 2016 and 2020. Now he’s talking about suspending the Constitution. Can you support a candidate in 2024 who’s for suspending the Constitution?” the host said.
To this, Joyce said that it’s too soon to speculate who will be the Republicans’ presidential candidate, but he said he would support the GOP nominee regardless of who it is. “Whoever the Republicans end up picking, I’ll fall in behind,” he said.
“Even if it’s Donald Trump and he’s called for suspending the Constitution?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well, again, I think it’s going to be a big field. I don’t think Donald Trump’s going to clear out the field like he did in ’16,” Joyce responded, adding, “I will support whoever the Republican nominee is.”
Stephanopoulos called Joyce’s statement “remarkable.” “You’d support a candidate who’s come out for suspending the Constitution?” he said.
“Well, you know, he says a lot of things,” Joyce replied. “You have to take him in context… And I can’t be really chasing every one of these crazy statements that come out about — from any of these candidates that come out.”
“You can’t come out against someone who’s for suspending the Constitution?” Stephanopoulos asked incredulously.
“Well, first off, he hasn’t — he has no ability to suspend the Constitution,” Joyce said. “He says a lot of things… but that doesn’t mean that it’s ever going to happen. So you’ve got to accept exact fact from fantasy. And fantasy is that we’re going to suspend the Constitution and go backwards. We’re moving forward and we’re going to continue to move forward as a Republican majority and as a Republican conference.”
“I don’t see how you can move forward if your candidate is for suspending the Constitution,” Stephanopoulos replied. “But thank you for your time this morning.”