Donald Trump had a meeting with congressional Republicans today, but it turns out that plenty of people had other plans and couldn’t make it:
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) told reporters he had “a longstanding appointment downtown.” Another member said he had to be at the doctor’s office and couldn’t make it. A third said he had a “breakfast meeting.” The member—who asked not to be named—then pulled out his schedule for Thursday morning. When he saw that there wasn’t any event on his schedule, the member took out a pen and wrote “Breakfast meeting” on it. “See, I have one!” he joked.
By an amazing coincidence, the same thing is happening to the Republican convention: A surprising number of people are totally booked that week and just can’t make it. Still, today’s meet-and-greet took place, and there were plenty of attendees. So what did Trump say?
Another Republican in the meeting who declined to go on the record so he could speak candidly told TPM that Trump was asked pointedly if he would defend Article I of the Constitution. “Not only will I stand up for Article One,” Trump enthusiastically stated, according to the member in the room. “I’ll stand up for Article Two, Article 12, you name it of the Constitution.”
The Republican member said that Trump’s lack of knowledge about how many articles exist, gave him “a little pause.” (The Constitution has seven articles and 27 amendments.)
Translation: Trump has no idea what Article 1 is about. But he’ll stand up for it!
