In a surprise move, an Illinois judge has removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot based on the 14th Amendment’s so-called “insurrectionist ban.”
The decision is paused, giving Trump a short period of time to appeal.
Wednesday’s unexpected decision comes as a similar anti-Trump challenge from Colorado is pending before the US Supreme Court, which is widely expected to reject arguments that Trump is barred from office.
Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter heavily relied on the prior finding by the Colorado Supreme Court, calling Colorado’s “rationale compelling.”
Not to mention that if he is off of any 1 ballot and loses, he has ammunition for another Jan6. If he has a “fair shot” and loses, there is less plausibility and (hopefully) fewer followers in the repeat.
I get what you’re saying, but we need to stop hand-wringing what Trump and his supporters will do if we actually have consequences for him.
Not only are repercussions for him smart politically, they are the right thing to do. Dude’s a fucking traitor to his country, of course he should be ineligible to hold office, no matter what Party! Lastly, these Trumpets are basically a cult at this point. “Nothing Dear Leader does is wrong, and if it was, the dems and minorities deserved it.” They will say the election was rigged no matter what. Many still believe the last one was, despite Trump losing all his court cases about it and the majority of Republican leadership admitting it was a free and fair election…
They are going to do whatever malicious thing they want, regardless of what the rest of us do.
We can’t allow the potential threat of whatever thing they might do push us away from continuing to strive for better outcomes.
The difference is we control the military this time.
Yeah, but every R in the house voted against a bill that would have investigated how deep the white supremacist infiltration of the military and law enforcement has penetrated. (Which FBI has been warning of for a decade or more.) I’m a veteran, and decades ago I’d have confidently stated no one I worked with would take action to support an insurrection, no matter on whose behalf. Today I’m less sure, but I’ve also been out of the military for quite some time.
This!