Kicking Trump Off the Ballot Is Democracy at Work
The simple fact that so few on the right don't understand this is why we are so divided
Donald Trump has been removed from the ballot in Colorado. The Colorado Supreme Court declared him unfit according to Section 3 of the 14 Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. If a person has ever engaged in insurrection against the Constitution after they vowed to defend it, then technically, that person can be removed from the ballot.
The decision will be appealed to the Supreme Court on January 4th. If Trump remains off the ballot, then it will be likely that Nikki Haley will win Colorado. At the nominating convention, though, the electors could give their state’s votes to Trump.
The irony here, and it is something the fascists on the right can’t appreciate, is that keeping Trump off all ballots is the most democratic thing we could do. There isn’t a lot of explaining that needs to take place here. If you paid attention at least for the first month or two of your 6th grade civic class and just a week or two in freshman year civics, then you will know that Donald Trump’s attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power — which in many ways continues still — is not just something that should disqualify him for the presidency but he shouldn’t be entrusted to collect the donations during Catholic mass.
Tuesday’s ruling “is not only historic and justified, but is necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country,” Noah Bookbinder, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a statement. His organization represented the voters seeking to disqualify Mr. Trump in Colorado (Trump Is Disqualified from 2024).
To say the very least, it is already an odd election season. The Republican frontrunner was one looney Tweet away from having his cabinet use the 25th Amendment to remove him from office because he was deemed unfit. Yet,he is now regarded as the Jesus of the Republican Party. Just like a Catholic at a convention on Christianity won’t dare bad mouth other Protestant denominations, so too do Republican candidates almost two years after January 6th fear speaking ill of Trump. He is still considered holier than all others, and even though he was considered by many to be too toxic after the Capitol uprising, today, they have turned him into the Republican default mode. Not a single Republican running against Trump dared support the decision made by the Colorado Supreme Court.
Every Republican supporting Trump has made it clear that their loyalty is not to the Constitution but to the man, Donald Trump. They have made it loud and clear that Donald Trump can break any law and do anything he wants, and it does not matter to them whether or not his actions are lawful or Constitutional. If Trump chooses to do them, then they are acceptable to them. This is precisely why Donald Trump should not be on the ballot. The rabid Trump supporters are just too untrustworthy of our nation’s democracy and too ignorant of our history.
In one more illustration of the unusual nature of the 2024 Republican primary race — in which even the candidates seeking to defeat Mr. Trump for the party’s nomination have largely shied away from condemning him — his main rivals, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, both suggested that the ruling was an abuse of judicial power (Trump Is Disqualified from 2024).
If the right wing in America were made up of patriots, then Donald Trump would be shuffling around Mar-a-Lago in his bathrobe, struggling to control his flatulence. The fact that 35 to 40 percent of our nation is fascist, and even more upsettingly okay with being this way, Donald Trump could feasibly become the 47th president of the United States.
And then, they will be anything but united.