CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings chided Touré, a Substack author, who seemingly does not understand that President Donald Trump is commander-in-chief of the military under the U.S. Constitution.
Without evidence, Touré claimed that Trump intends to appoint someone to take charge of the military and “contravene” the U.S. Constitution. As he argued that Trump “taking control of the military” is the action of a dictator, Jennings reminded the Substack writer that the President of the United States is, in fact, in charge of the military.
“How is Trump shredding the Constitution?” Jennings asked.
“I mean, seriously? Do we have to give you a civics lesson?” Touré said. “That we have put all power in the executive branch, the legislative branch, the FBI. Now we’re in control of the military, silencing media. This is what you do in a dictatorship.”
“Are you suggesting that the president is not the commander-in-chief of the military?” Jennings pushed back.
Touré then argued the president will appoint an unspecified person to take control of the military and told Jennings that the conversation will “look very silly” for him once it actually happens.
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“I’m sorry. I’m interested in this conversation. He’s going to put someone in charge who will contravene the Constitution, like who?” Jennings said. “What do you mean by that? The president is in charge of the military, is he not? You said he’s going to put someone in charge of the military? This is an important conversation.”
Touré did not respond to Jennings’ argument and could not answer the obvious fact that the president serves as commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. Jennings argued that the idea that the military should be its own agency or that the federal bureaucracy should resist the Trump administration is “extraordinarily dangerous.”
The U.S. Constitution establishes that the president is in charge of the military under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, which states that the president “is Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy” and “holds prime responsibility for the conduct of United States foreign relations.”
Democrats went from repeatedly warning that Trump is an “existential threat to democracy” during the 2024 election cycle to claiming that the U.S. is currently facing a “constitutional crisis” under the president’s leadership.
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told ABC’s “This Week” in early February that the U.S. is facing “the most serious constitutional crisis the country has ever faced,” while Democratic New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim warned on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the U.S. is on the “cusp of a constitutional crisis” and is prepared to shut down the government over Trump’s recent actions.
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