Democrat activists have made a terrible mistake in striking Donald Trump off the ballot in Colorado, denying the Republican frontrunner at least 10 electoral votes in next year’s presidential election.
Obsessed with Donald Trump but powerless to avert his relentless climb in the polls, they have resorted to desperate and dubious legal means that have undercut one of their most powerful arguments against the former president, as he seeks a second term.
Donald Trump was and is relentlessly attacked for seeking to take advantage of an obscure part of the US constitution in January 2021 that appeared to give the Vice President the power to disregard certain state’s votes.
Now Democrats have done the same, but arguably worse. At least they had to pass a law later to clarify the constitution and ensure Trump’s fringe legal theory couldn’t be applied again.
This time further laws won’t be needed. The Supreme Court will almost certainly strike down a decision that has brought shame to the small state’s judiciary, which has a majority of judges appointed by former Democratic governor now senator John Hickenlooper.
“President Trump incited and encouraged the use of violence and lawless action to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power,” the Colorado Supreme Court said in a 4-to-3 ruling on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), in a decision that sent shockwaves through the US political class.
Section three of the 14th amendment outlaws anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against [the US] … or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” from standing for election. The provision emerged in the late 1860s to stop former Confederate officials from running for public office in the newly-reunited states.
Even federal prosecutor Jack Smith, who has indicted Donald Trump for obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to defraud the government and disenfranchise voters on January 6th, has not accused the former president of insurrection or rebellion.
“This is what an actual attack on democracy looks like: in an un-American, unconstitutional, and unprecedented decision, a cabal of Democrat judges are barring Trump from the ballot in Colorado,” said Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on social media soon after the decision, launching what will become a major line of political attack for the GOP.
Democrats have now also ‘weaponised the US constitution’ to strike a leading political candidate off the ballot for alleged crimes that haven’t even been litigated, denying Americans the right even to vote for him.
This will become a huge political error for the ruling party, likely one only to increase Donald Trump’s support further.
Democrats and their backers in the media must soon realise the more desperate and extreme their attempts to stop Trump, the more ammunition they give the former president to claim he’s persecuted out of all proportion to what he actually did.
A second Trump presidency would be very far from ideal. But if that’s what the people want, that’s democracy.
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