Two Fox hosts said on Friday that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) should resign his Senate seat after suggesting that the president should not violate the U.S. Constitution to build a border wall unilaterally.
After failing to secure the $5.7 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars for the border wall he once vowed would be fully funded by Mexico, President Donald Trump reportedly plans to attempt to circumvent Congress by declaring a national emergency. Noting that this possibly illegal power grab could enable future Democratic presidents to institute their own policies by fiat, some Republicans have said they oppose this approach.
“We have a crisis at our southern border, but no crisis justifies violating the Constitution,” argued Rubio on Thursday. “Today’s national emergency is border security. But a future president may use this exact same tactic to impose the Green New Deal.”
After learning of this statement, two of Trump’s most vocal supporters — Fox Nation hosts and sisters Lynnete Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, who are conservative commentators popularly known as Diamond and Silk — responded that because they want the wall, Rubio should step aside and let them have it.
“I don’t care what Marco Rubio say or whatever his name is, I don’t care what he thinks. Here’s what we think as the American people: When you use our tax dollars, use our tax dollars for what we want. We want a wall!” Diamond told host Brian Kilmeade on Friday’s Fox & Friends episode.
“That’s right!” agreed Silk.
“Now if Marco Rubio don’t like that, maybe he should just step down for Congress, too!” Diamond continued.
Diamond also suggested that Trump should “stop immigration all together until Congress get their act together and solve the problem.”
Rubio is not alone in arguing that the president’s potential power grab is inappropriate. Trump himself tweeted in 2014 that a previous president should not be permitted to “subvert the Constitution” after failing to get what he wanted from Congress.
Repubs must not allow Pres Obama to subvert the Constitution of the US for his own benefit & because he is unable to negotiate w/ Congress.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2014
Also in 2014, Vice President Mike Pence said it would be a “profound mistake for the President of the United States to overturn American immigration law with the stroke of a pen.”
Mike Pence: The president usurping power and end-running Congress is "a profound mistake." pic.twitter.com/GjDbHDvh0u
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 15, 2019
After calling Rubio “a total lightweight who I wouldn’t hire to run one of my smaller companies – a highly overrated politician!” in 2015, Trump urged Rubio to run for re-election six months later, calling him the best chance to keep the Senate GOP majority.