Appearing as a guest on The View Elie Mystal, the justice correspondent for The Nation, a long-time published liberal-leaning news magazine, described the United States Constitution as “trash.” The comments stunned even left-wing extremist host Joy Behar.
“The Constitution is kind of trash,” said @ElieNYC on #TheView. pic.twitter.com/9wLkME7i9l
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) March 4, 2022
Mystal joined the talk show to discuss his new book, “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.”
During his appearance, he argued that the document was “certainly not sacred.”
Co-host Ana Navarro pressed Mystal on his overall philosophy, asking whether he believed the Constitution had any value at all or whether he believed it should be thrown out in its entirety so that the United States could start over.
“Some will say, are you arguing for throwing out the Constitution?” she asked.
“Should the Constitution be thrown out?
“What do we do? Is it a living document or a sacred document?”
“It’s certainly not sacred,” Mystal replied.
“Alright, let’s start there.
“The Constitution is kind of trash.
“Again, let’s just talk as adults for a second.”
“What did you say, it’s what?” Behar interrupted.
“It’s kind of trash,” Mystal said again.
“Trash?” Behar repeated, eyebrows raised.
“Trash,” Mystal insisted.
“It was written by slavers and colonists and white people who were willing to make deals with slavers and colonists.
“They didn’t ask anybody that looked like me what they thought about the Constitution. …
“This was without the consent of black and brown people in this country, and without the consent of women.
“That was the starting point.
“The very least we can do is ignore what those slavers and colonists and misogynists thought and interpret the Constitution in a way that makes sense for our modern world.”
“Do you want to rewrite it?” Behar then asked, and Mystal said there were parts he would change.
“Popular election for the president, people vote, not land,” he said, arguing to end the Electoral College.
“You can do it in a tweet, right?
“Term limits for Supreme Court Justices, and how about no states’ rights when it comes to health care, elections, policing, and guns?
“It’s just better. That’s just better, and you can do that in a tweet.”
