When and where did Donald Trump allegedly say the Constitution should be thrown away?
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Executive summary
Available reporting shows two distinct episodes often cited as Trump saying the Constitution could be discarded: a 2022 social‑media post in which he wrote that a “massive fraud” might allow “termination” of the Constitution (reported in 2022) and repeated actions and rhetoric in 2025—especially executive orders and claims of sweeping executive power—that critics say amount to treating the Constitution as expendable (coverage in 2025). The 2022 post is documented by the BBC [1]; numerous 2025 analyses and legal challenges cite executive orders and administration moves that opponents call unconstitutional [2] [3] [4].
1. The explicit 2022 line that fuels the claim
The clearest, often‑quoted instance comes from a December 2022 post in which Trump wrote that a “Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” language the BBC reported at the time and that triggered bipartisan condemnation [1].
2. 2025: critics say policy moves amount to “throwing away” constitutional limits
In 2025, reporting and legal commentary focus less on a single sentence and more on a pattern of executive action that scholars and Democrats say effectively abandons constitutional constraints—examples include an executive order declared to vest sweeping executive authority, efforts to end birthright citizenship, and rapid personnel moves that legal experts called a “blitzkrieg on the law and the constitution” [2] [4] [3].
3. The administration’s concrete actions that prompted the charge
Coverage documents specific steps that critics say flout constitutional norms: an executive order titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies” asserted broadly expansive executive power (noted in legal commentary) and a January 20, 2025 order sought to end birthright citizenship, prompting injunctions and court findings that the order conflicts with the 14th Amendment and settled precedent [2] [4] [5].
4. Legal pushback and courts’ response
Federal courts and civil‑liberties groups have repeatedly blocked the administration’s birthright‑citizenship order and lower courts ruled that the order violates the Constitution, leading the Supreme Court to agree to hear the challenge—illustrating that the judiciary is the principal venue testing whether those moves are lawful [4] [6] [5].
5. Voices framing it as a constitutional assault
Prominent legal scholars and Democratic officials publicly described the 2025 actions as assaults on constitutional order—examples include Erwin Chemerinsky and other experts saying multiple early executive actions “clearly violate the constitution and federal law” and House Democrats accusing the administration of undermining the Constitution daily [3] [7].
6. Conservative and sympathetic takes in the record
Right‑leaning commentary and some Republican actors have pushed back, arguing for broader presidential authority and urging courts to restore executive control over independent officials; some outlets note justices’ questioning that could favor expanded Article II power in cases such as the firing of independent commissioners [8]. Coverage shows this debate is active within the courts and commentariat [8].
7. What sources do not say — limits of the record
Available sources do not mention a contemporaneous 2025 quote in which Trump literally said the words “throw the Constitution away” in a single public speech; instead the record shows the 2022 social‑media line about “termination” and later policy moves and executive orders that critics interpret as repudiating constitutional restraints [1] [2].
8. Why the distinction matters
Conflating a provocative 2022 post with later legal and policy fights obscures two different dynamics: an incendiary rhetorical claim that the Constitution could be “terminated” in extreme circumstances (documented, [2]2) and a separate legal battle over whether specific 2025 executive actions lawfully exceed constitutional limits (litigated and described in multiple outlets, [2], [4], [2]0). Both feed public alarm, but courts remain the arbiter for the latter [4] [5].
9. Bottom line for readers
If you want a specific attribution of the phrase “throw the Constitution away,” the public, cited record most clearly points to the December 2022 post reported by the BBC [1]. If you mean whether Trump’s later words or actions in 2025 amounted to abandoning constitutional limits, journalism and lawyers document a sustained pattern of executive orders and policy steps that critics call anti‑constitutional and that are being litigated in court [2] [4] [3].
Limitations: this analysis uses only the supplied reporting; additional statements or context outside these sources are not addressed here.