In the winter of 2024, ABC News cut off potential vice presidential candidate Vance during an interview when he was trying to answer a question about the Supreme Court and possible defiance of it. This was a big issue for the Trump Administration just a few months after the president was sworn in. It shows that there was already a lot of hostility between members of the second Trump Administration and the media, which helps explain the fights between media apparatchiks and Trump Administration members in the first few months of his presidency.
To give you some background, the incident featured JD Vance and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. Vance was cut off while he was trying to answer the host’s question, which was very scary. Since Trump won the election, the level of hostility that was shown in the incident has not gone away. For example, Trump White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted the media for lying about Pete Hegseth, and news outlets like ABC were clearly biased against Trump when they covered his pardons. Also, ABC has had to settle with Trump over false accusations made against him since then.
The event also showed early on that the Trump Administration might not follow the Supreme Court of the United States if it didn’t agree with the court’s decision. This has become a major issue as judges try to limit President Trump as he tries to cut waste in the federal budget and deport illegal immigrants. The Trump administration has called them “Democrat activists” and hinted that it might not follow their decisions, which could finally mean not following the
The event happened on Sunday, February 4, 2024. It showed how hostile Team Trump was toward the media and how hostile they were toward the courts. It started when Vance said that the president would be right to disobey the Supreme Court sometimes, like when it tried to stop him from exercising his constitutional power as commander-in-chief, which is a case that has come up with Judge Boasberg.
In a statement about the issue, JD Vance explained what might happen if the Supreme Court tried to stop Trump from firing a general. He said, “The Constitution says that the Supreme Court can make rulings, but if the Supreme Court said the president of the United States can’t fire a general, that would be an illegitimate ruling, and the president has to have Article 2 prerogative under the Constitution to actually run the military as he sees fit.”
The Vice President also said that doing so wouldn’t necessarily be a one-off in American history and that the president would be right to do it. He told her, “This is just basic constitutional law.” It’s a made-up situation where the Supreme Court tries to run the troops. George, I don’t think that will happen. But if it did, the president would have to say something about it. In American history, there are many cases of the president doing just that.
Stephanopoulos then asked Vance if Trump would have to follow a valid SCOTUS decision. This made the two argue, and Vance finally told Stephanopoulos, “You’ve made it very clear you believe the president can defy the Supreme Court.” Vance tried to answer, “No, no, George…” but Stephanopoulos wouldn’t let him. He turned off Vance’s mic and feed, and the show went to commercial.
