Trump Jokes With Putin About Election Meddling Day After He Suggested Violating The Constitution

President Donald Trump has joked with Russian President Vladimir Putin about meddling in US elections just one day after he demanded that a requirement of the US Constitution be ignored. Trump is attending the G20 summit in Japan.

“Don’t meddle in the election, please,” Trump said jokingly, pointing his finger at Putin. He the repeated himself in a more serious tone as Putin smiled while the remarks were translated. This isn’t the first time Trump has made light of Russian interference in US elections.

Trump has managed to pack in a lot of eyebrow-raising moments in the last few days. Following a Supreme Court ruling that said the government could not add a citizenship question to the census, Trump fumed on Twitter that the census should be delayed until the court reconsiders.

This not only undermines the separation of powers but would be unconstitutional. The Constitution requires that a census of all the people in the US be taken every 10 years. It is not possible to delay it. Nor is it likely the Supreme Court will take up the issue again in the near future.

The effort to introduce a citizenship question was panned as an attempt to under count people in mostly Democratic-leaning states, reducing their electoral college votes and representation in Congress. This, combined with Trump’s winking attitude to Russian meddling, are serious concerns going into 2020.