Trump Treats the Constitution Like He Treated His Workers

By Joyce McClure, Bridge2Blue

Donald Trump’s disregard for the Constitution shouldn’t surprise anyone who watched how he operated in business.

In New York, he built a reputation for refusing to pay contractors and small businesses in full—then using teams of lawyers to pressure them into settling for less or walking away entirely. Electricians, painters, and suppliers did the work. Trump delayed, denied, and dragged them through legal fights many couldn’t afford to continue.

That wasn’t a one-off. It was how he did business.

I saw a version of this myself. In the 1980s, when Trump Tower was new, I was a  public relations executive managing an account that represented the building’s struggling retail tenants. Tourists packed the atrium to gawk at the waterfall, gold, and marble—but they weren’t buying. The merchants were hurting. Even then, the gap between the image Trump projected and the reality others were dealing with was impossible to miss.

And yet, many of his supporters still point to his so-called “business acumen” as a reason to trust him.

They’re wrong—and the record proves it.

For Trump, agreements only matter when they work in his favor. Now he applies that same mindset to the Constitution.

When courts rule against him, he attacks them. When he loses elections, he tries to overturn them. When constitutional limits constrain him, he treats them as optional.

And too many Republicans—including some here in Virginia—continue to excuse it.

The Constitution is not a branding document or a suggestion. It is a binding agreement—the most important legal contract in this country. Donald Trump has spent decades showing how he treats contracts: something to ignore, delay, or break when they no longer serve him.

We don’t have to guess. He’s already shown us—twice—exactly how he views contractual obligations and legal documents with disdain.

The question now is whether voters are willing to treat that record with the seriousness it deserves.