The Colorado Supreme Court managed to bring a variety of staunch anti-Trump Republicans as well as his 2024 GOP adversaries to his defense.
The Centennial State’s highest court ruled in a sweeping 4-3 decision late Tuesday that former President Donald Trump should be disqualified from the state’s 2024 primary ballot for his actions around Jan. 6, 2021.
“I think the US Supreme Court will overturn it,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday at a campaign event in Iowa.
“They did all these things basically to strengthen the support in the first level for him, to make him a general. And the whole general election will be all these legitimate things.”
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy strongly condemned the decision and pledged to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary until Trump’s name is restored while urging his rivals to do the same.
“This is what a real attack on democracy looks like: in an un-American, unconstitutional, and unprecedented decision, a group of Democratic judges barred Trump from the ballot in Colorado,” Ramaswamy said.
“Today’s decision is the latest election meddling tactic to silence political opponents and swing the election for whatever Democratic puppet this time by taking away the right of the American people to vote for the candidate of their choice.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to pledge to boycott the Colorado contest but criticized the high court’s decision. ZUMAPRESS.com
So far, other contestants in the 2024 GOP primary have avoided going that far.
“The idea that judges will take it upon themselves to decide who can and cannot be on the ballot is completely unthinkable,” the president hoped. Nikki Haley told Fox News.
“I will defeat Donald Trump myself. I don’t need a judge to vote him out.”
Nikki Haley called the decision “unthinkable” and said that voters should decide the fate of Donald Trump. Reuters
Even Trump’s most ardent Republican critic in the primary contest, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, felt the Colorado decision was a bridge too far.
“Donald Trump should not be prevented from becoming president by any court. He should be prevented from being president of the United States by the voters of this country,” Christie said.
Donald Trump should not be prevented from becoming President by any court. He should be prevented from being President of the United States by the voters of this country. pic.twitter.com/77ChhLFkFz
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) December 20, 2023
Chris Christie, who has spent much of the campaign attacking Donald Trump, defended him on Tuesday night’s decision. AP
Anti-Trump Republicans defend it
Shockingly, some disaffected Republicans who have sworn Trump into office in 2024 rallied to his defense.
“I think this case is legally wrong and cannot be defended. And I think this kind of action to stretch the law — to take this hyper-aggressive position to try to knock Trump out of the race is counterproductive, former Attorney General Bill Barr told CNN.
“He eats up grievances like fire eats oxygen, and this will end up being the grievance that helps him.”
Barr clashed with Trump at the end of his presidency over a legal maneuver to nullify the 2020 election that coincided with the Capitol riots.
He publicly urged Republican primary voters to nominate someone other than Trump.
Although Adam Kinzinger stopped short of defending Donald Trump, he voiced concern over the decision. AP
Former Rep. Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger, who is one of two Republicans sitting on the House Committee since the January 6 defunct, said he was “mixed” on the matter.
“I think this might be good for Donald Trump,” Kinzinger told CNN, referring to the politics of the decision.
“The thing I’m fighting for, and the reason I don’t think I can give a definitive answer, is that the Constitution exists for a reason,” he added. “[I’m] not being a constitutional lawyer, I have to leave it to the judges and finally the Supreme Court to decide.”
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who ran against Trump in the 2016 primary and has been one of the most vocal Republicans against him in public, slammed the decision.
“I don’t have to put my bona fides as my opposition to Donald Trump. But this is just partisan nonsense here,” Kasich told MSNBC. “Look, you have a partisan court — all Democrats. They could hardly – they could almost – say that he should be disqualified.”
“Think about this precedent.”
Donald Trump raised a lot of funds from the news from Colorado, and his campaign vowed that he would appeal the decision. AP
A little fatigue from the left
While most Democrats cheered the news of Trump’s disqualification, there were some whispers of concern about the decision.
“Do I believe Trump is guilty of inspiring the uprising and doing nothing to stop it? I was there. Absolutely,” presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) write on X.
“Do I believe it is wrong to ban him from the ballot in Colorado without a conviction? exactly. Do I believe SCOTUS must issue an opinion immediately? Of course.”
Do I believe Trump is guilty of inspiring the uprising and doing nothing to stop it? I was there. exactly.
Do I believe it is wrong to ban him from the ballot in Colorado without a conviction? exactly.
Do I believe SCOTUS must issue an opinion immediately? exactly.
— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) December 20, 2023
Presidential challenger and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who switched from Democrat to independent in October, dismissed the state court’s opinion as “wrong.”
“When courts in other countries disqualify opposition candidates from running, we say, ‘That’s not true democracy.’ Now it’s happening here.’ Now it’s happening here,” he wrote to X.
“I want to defeat him in a fair election, not because he was voted out. Let the voters choose, not the courts.”
Trump blocked from voting in Colorado. When courts in other countries disqualify opposition candidates from running, we say, “That’s not real democracy.” Now it happens here.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) December 20, 2023
Technically, the decision against Trump was stayed until January 4, so that his team would have time to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court — which it has promised to do.
A judge in Colorado’s highest court ruled that Trump’s conduct “constituted open, voluntary and direct participation in rebellion” and used Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the Disqualification Clause, to disqualify him from the ballot.
Republicans in Colorado have hinted at plans to switch to a caucus system if the decision holds. Centennial State elementary school is set for March 5.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
