Whoopi Goldberg, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” is cautioning supporters of former President Donald Trump’s immunity claim to look at the potential unintended consequences of him winning his argument.
On Thursday, Goldberg opened a segment about the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case, saying, “Let’s look a scenario where the Supreme Court says he has all those rights. He is immune from everything.”
“You know what Joe Biden could do since he is presently president?” she asked.
She answered, “He could throw every Republican in jail… This is not a good thing… What this means is he could do anything. He could dismiss everybody’s debt. There’s a whole bunch of great stuff that could happen.”
Watch the video below:
SCOTUS TO TAKE UP TRUMP IMMUNITY CLAIM: With the election interference case against the former president on hold so he can make his case to the Supreme Court for total presidential immunity, #TheView co-hosts react. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/G4dGuJwvFT
— The View (@TheView) February 29, 2024
The conversation comes as the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on whether Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
In January, Trump took to Truth Social to argue presidents should an incredible level of immunity, writing, “A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MUST HAVE FULL IMMUNITY, WITHOUT WHICH IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM/HER TO PROPERLY FUNCTION. ANY MISTAKE, EVEN IF WELL INTENDED, WOULD BE MET WITH ALMOST CERTAIN INDICTMENT BY THE OPPOSING PARTY AT TERM END.”
“EVEN EVENTS THAT ‘CROSS THE LINE’ MUST FALL UNDER TOTAL IMMUNITY, OR IT WILL BE YEARS OF TRAUMA TRYING TO DETERMINE GOOD FROM BAD. HERE MUST BE CERTAINTY,” he insisted.
Finally, Trump claimed, “ALL PRESIDENTS MUST HAVE COMPLETE [and] TOTAL PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, OR THE AUTHORITY [and] DECISIVENESS OF A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WILL BE STRIPPED [and] GONE FOREVER. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BE AN EASY DECISION. GOD BLESS THE SUPREME COURT.”
Trump overnight, arguing that presidents should be above the law entirely: "ALL PRESIDENTS MUST HAVE COMPLETE & TOTAL PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, OR THE AUTHORITY" and "EVEN EVENTS THAT “CROSS THE LINE” MUST FALL UNDER TOTAL IMMUNITY." pic.twitter.com/z1dqo3lRbM
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) January 18, 2024
Now, even if Trump’s argument is correct — which there is no way it can be as it would give presidents the power to trample the Constitution without any recourse — the decision to argue for it is a bold move.
It would make the president a dictator and cuts against any idea of checks and balances. And it would open the door for more ambitious and craven men to seek the presidency and wield its immense executive power for their own ends in ways that conservatives would not like.
And as Goldberg points out, the argument would be made while President Joe Biden is in office, so in theory he could throw Trump in jail, or even potentially cancel elections, kill his opponents, run for a third term.
There is no strong limiting principle on this argument by Trump’s logic as prosecution would be dependent on a president being impeached. However, supporters of the former president argue you cannot impeach presidents once they leave office.
So if this argument is approved, Biden could hypothetically order the assassination of Trump and Harris, name Hunter Biden vice president, and then resign before he could be impeached, and then live out his days eating ice cream at his beach house in Delaware while his son serves as president. That is not the vision the Founders had for the president.