This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 10 episode of “Velshi.”

After Donald Trump and his allies spent months dragging President Joe Biden for his age and mental acuity, they appeared to be caught flat-footed when someone younger and sharper took over the ticket.

Now according to Trump, Americans are being ripped off because, get this, the campaign was stolen from Biden.

“The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden and I’m no Biden fan. But I tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away … For a country with a Constitution that we cherish — we cherish this Constitution — to have done it this way is pretty severe, pretty horrible. You would have thought they would have gone out to a vote, they would have had a primary system, they would have done something but to just take it away from him like he was a child…”

Hearing Trump say that he cherishes the Constitution is pretty rich but this isn’t the first time he’s made this claim. Trump has posted on Truth Social alleging, “the Democrats have Unconstitutionally taken a Candidate … and unceremoniously replaced him with a new Candidate.” Team Trump has even likened the whole situation to a “coup.”

If you’re like me, you’ve been seeing versions of Trump’s lie all over social media. And maybe hearing it from your conservative uncle who likes to argue during family dinners. I don’t want to give credence to every ridiculous claim Trump throws out but this one seems worth debunking.

So, for fact’s sake, the presidency was not taken from Biden. Nor has Vice President Kamala Harris unconstitutionally robbed Biden of the Democratic nomination. In fact, the U.S. Constitution doesn’t address the matter of party nomination processes.

Here are some other talking points to politely provide to your extra-loud uncle: Biden won the vast majority of the Democratic delegates during the primary election process and clinched the presumptive nomination back in March. But he was not formally the Democratic nominee — he was the presumptive nominee. This allowed him to, after much consideration, step aside voluntarily. He was not kicked off the party ticket and while the whole gambit might’ve been a politically risky move, there’s nothing illegal about it.

When Democratic primary voters selected Biden, Harris’ name was attached to his name and they chose her as vice president — you know, the role that takes over for the president if needed. So the argument that the American public did not have a chance to vote for Harris is categorically false. Also, they will have a chance to vote for her, or not vote for her, on Nov. 5. 

The Democratic Party has a lot of rules in place for a situation as serious as a presidential election. There are rules for this exact scenario. Harris, in order to officially take Biden’s place on the ticket, needed to secure support from at least 2,350 Democratic convention delegates, including those who already pledged their support to Biden, and the elected officials, former presidents and other party elders dubbed the “superdelegates.” 

Play

‘Power for power’s sake’: DNC chair slams Trump and Vance’s vision for America August 9, 2024 / 12:18

Lo and behold, she did that. The Democratic National Committee had a virtual roll call to make sure everything was squared away and it was announced that Harris secured enough delegate votes to become the party’s nominee.

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To avoid any complications when it came to the physical ballot — the Democratic Party held that virtual roll call to make sure that Harris’ name, along with that of her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, could be printed on the ballots by an Aug. 7 certification deadline.

If the Democratic Party wanted to replace its nominee after the convention, that would be a different story. Though it still wouldn’t be unconstitutional, because the Constitution is silent on party nominations. Anyone who tells you otherwise is woefully misunderstanding this process or being deliberately misleading.

As the MaddowBlog’s Steve Benen puts it:

“Biden was free to retire voluntarily; he was free to endorse his vice president as his successor; Harris was free to seek her party’s nomination; and Democrats were free to choose her to lead the party’s ticket. Not only were these events in line with federal election law, the idea that the U.S. Constitution somehow prohibits the developments is ridiculous … What voters are confronting, in other words, is a politician who appears to have convinced himself that ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘stuff that bothers me’ are synonymous. They’re not.”

But if Trump wants to talk about things that are unconstitutional and an attempt to steal an election away from the people … I would be happy to remind him of Jan. 6th.

Join Ali Velshi, Rachel Maddow and many others on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Brooklyn, New York, for “MSNBC Live: Democracy 2024,” a first-of-its-kind live event. You’ll get to see your favorite hosts in person and hear thought-provoking conversations about what matters most in the final weeks of an unprecedented election cycle. Buy tickets here.