Donald Trump has stumbled out of the blocks in his 2024 campaign

From controversies to legal cases and social media rants, the former president has probably not begun his re-election bid in the way his team would want, writes Chris Stevenson

It never takes much to get Trump to wade back into the controversy over the 2020 election (AP)

Another Donald Trump tantrum – this time calling for the “termination” of the election rules in the US constitution in order to overturn the results of the 2020 election and reinstate him as president – has been met with another, almost weary, response from the White House.

Trump has repeatedly, and falsely, claimed that he was the true winner of that presidential election, and it never takes much to get him to wade back into those waters. The trigger this time was the release of internal Twitter emails showing deliberation over an October 2020 New York Post story concerning material found on a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden (the son of the current president). The emails show employees in the legal, policy and communications departments at Twitter at times disagreeing over whether to restrict the article under the company’s hacked materials policy.

Trump’s response on his Truth Social social media platform? “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” The response from the White House was so pointed that it could take your eye out. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation, and should be universally condemned,” the deputy White House press secretary, Andrew Bates, wrote.