In Ames, Iowa, as voting approaches within a month, Donald Trump’s Republican opponents are once more coming to his support. This comes after the Colorado Supreme Court decided to exclude him from the state’s presidential primary ballot, citing the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause.
Donald Trump’s successive indictments, where he faced 91 criminal charges, his rivals within the GOP, including the front-runner, responded similarly.
They characterized the groundbreaking decision — marking the first instance in history where the 14th Amendment was employed to disqualify a presidential candidate, a decision Trump has pledged to challenge — as inappropriate, deemed it a “stunt,” and labeled it an “attack on democracy.
Republican Candidate
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida asserted that the court’s decision was aimed at guaranteeing Trump’s nomination, suggesting that Democrats perceive him as the most vulnerable Republican candidate.
On Wednesday morning, he voiced his dissatisfaction to an audience in Urbandale, Iowa, and remarked, “Look, it’s unfair.
They’re abusing power, 100%. But the question is: Is that going to work?
The recent court ruling has underscored a recurring theme in the GOP primary, revealing that the legal challenges and criminal charges following Trump, anticipated to harm his candidacy significantly, have had the opposite impact within the Republican ranks.
Primary voters, including those initially considering other candidates, have united behind the former president. Trump portrays himself as a victim of a politically motivated campaign by Democratic President Joe Biden and his administration, which he alleges is aimed at undermining his primary political opponent.
President Joe Biden
Republican strategist Devin O’Malley, who previously served as the communications chief for former Vice President Mike Pence’s campaign, remarked, “I think it confirms Americans’ deepest suspicions that many of our institutions can be weaponized against them.
Readmore Colorado Court’s latest test
O’Malley highlighted that all the justices on the Colorado court were appointed by Democratic governors, emphasizing, “On its face, this is just so partisan that it only helps him.”
Indeed, even former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, known for his strong criticism of Trump and his disapproval of other candidates for being excessively deferential to the former president, criticized the ruling, deeming it ill-advised.
Make America Great Again
“I don’t believe it’s appropriate to remove him from the ballot through the courts,” he stated in an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday. “We have to beat him at the ballot box. And that’s how the American people will most validate that defeat.
On Tuesday, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters that the “last thing we want is judges telling us who can and can’t be on the ballot.” Meanwhile, the entrepreneur…
Vivek Ramaswamy, positioning himself as the successor to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, vowed to withdraw his name from the Colorado GOP primary unless Trump is permitted on the ballot. Additionally, Ramaswamy called on DeSantis, Christie, and Haley to take a similar stand.
Civil War
The Colorado lawsuit is just one among many nationwide seeking to exclude Trump from the ballot under Section 3, a provision initially crafted to prevent former Confederates from reentering government post-Civil War.
This section prohibits individuals who took an oath to “support” the Constitution and subsequently participated in “insurrection or rebellion” against it from holding office.
Historically invoked only a few times since the decade following the Civil War, Trump had previously prevailed in all such cases until Tuesday night.
Washington
Trump is confronted with four criminal indictments, including one in Washington accusing him of unlawfully attempting to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election.
The charges also allege that he played a role in inciting the riot on January 6, 2021, during which his supporters aggressively breached the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to hinder the peaceful transition of power.
Numerous Republicans have consistently dismissed those allegations, asserting that Trump’s actions before departing office did not constitute a violation of the law.
August AP-NORC poll, only 15% of Republicans believed that Trump engaged in something illegal concerning the January 6 riot, in contrast to 47% of the overall adult population.
Additionally, 23% of Republicans believed that Trump acted unethically but not unlawfully, while 46% thought he did nothing wrong.
Numerous Iowans who attended DeSantis’s event on Wednesday expressed disagreement with the Colorado court’s ruling, anticipating that it would strengthen the former president’s support.
Trump Section 2016 & 2020
Sean Ealy, a 46-year-old from Ellsworth, Iowa, who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, said, “I think it will entrench the Trump supporters, those who have already made up their mind. It will add to the list of instances where they are attacking Trump and questioning the constitutionality of their actions.
Ealy mentioned that he won’t be backing Trump in the caucus next year, partly due to the ongoing prosecutions against him. However, he described the court’s decision as “awful” and “unconstitutional,” expressing a sentiment that “it certainly feels like there’s a vendetta against Trump.”
Roger Fritz, a 57-year-old engineer from Jewell, Iowa, labeled the decision as “bogus” and “wrong,” asserting that citizens should have the opportunity to vote for any candidate. Despite attending a DeSantis event in Ames on Tuesday, Fritz expressed concerns that Trump’s ongoing legal battles could render him unelectable.
“I don’t agree with it,” he remarked.
However, the opposing party and those individuals are determined to see Trump in jail, and I fail to see how he can secure victory if he’s incarcerated.
Biden’s campaign and White House officials have consistently refrained from commenting on the Colorado ruling. This contrasts his re-election team’s increased efforts to spotlight Trump’s most controversial and radical statements and policy proposals.
“The president is not involved; we’re not involved in this,” stated White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “This is a legal process, and we’re not involved.”
However, in Milwaukee, Biden asserted that there was “no question” about Trump being an insurrectionist, emphasizing that it was “self-evident; you saw it all.”
“We’ll let the court decide whether the 14th Amendment applies or not. But he certainly supported an insurrection. There’s no question about it. None. Zero. And he seems to be doubling down on it,” Biden stated.