Lawrence O’Donnell: ‘No President Had More Reverence’ for the Oath to Uphold the Constitution than Joe Biden

O’DONNELL: “But it ends with those same words: Defend the Constitution of the United States. The presidential oath is, ‘I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.’ Donald Trump has taken that oath twice and was obviously unmoved by it. He also obviously did not listen to it, and he has proved that many times, but never more clearly than in an answer to Kristen Welker’s question about due process for immigrants on ‘Meet the Press’: ‘Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?’ To which Donald Trump said, ‘I don’t know.’”

[Clip starts]
WELKER: “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?”
Trump: “I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.”
[Clip ends]

O’DONNELL: “Only one president of the United States in American history could possibly have said, ‘I don’t know,’ to the question, ‘Do you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?’ Every president prior to Donald Trump knew the answer to that question. They always knew the answer is one word. Yes. Every one of them. Joe Biden took an oath of office more than any other president. He took an oath of office 10 times, seven as a senator, twice as vice president, and once as president, and Joe Biden meant every word of that oath, including very much so the ‘So help me God’ part of that oath. Joe Biden lived that oath of office. No president had more reverence for that oath than Joe Biden. And now, right after Joe Biden, we have a president who does not know what reverence is or what his oath means. Donald Trump talks about his predecessor in office more than any other president has ever talked about their predecessors. And in that same interview on ‘Meet the Press,’ Donald Trump called President Biden ‘a stupid person’ and ‘a very stupid person.’”