After four years of aiding and abetting Donald Trump’s right-wing agenda, Republicans are finally taking aim at the Constitution itself.
If just five more state legislatures fall into Republican hands this fall, GOP state legislators will gain the power to unilaterally call a convention to re-write our Constitution.
If that happens, all bets will be off: A constitutional convention hasn’t happened since 1787, but if Republicans call one today, it won’t be a noble gathering of patriots coming together to chart a common future.
Instead, Republicans would appoint most of the delegates, decide the rules, and set the agenda – giving them the chance to ram through massive cuts to the social safety net, total repeal of reproductive rights, an explosion of hyper-partisan gerrymandering and voting restrictions, and much more.
The threat is real enough that GOP legislators are already holding a series of practice conventions to plot their every move.
Their plan – if they flip the five states they need – is to cut Democrats out of the decision-making process entirely. To do that, some states like Wisconsin already have laws on the books that would let Republicans choose a supermajority of their convention delegates.
The result would be a constitutional convention stacked with right-wing ideologues, with no checks and balances whatsoever – and dozens of Republican-led states would wait eagerly to rubber-stamp their handiwork.
