No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office , civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive, or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
Section 3 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Actually there is one more sentence in section 3. It says the only way to get around the rule is for both houses to approve an exception by a two thirds majority. And as we've seen the only person who can get a two thirds majority lately is George Santos.
A number of months ago Laurence Tribe and J. Michael Luttig started reminding everyone about the 14th amendment. Tribe taught constitutional law at Harvard for close to 50 years while Luttig is a retired federal judge. He is considered such an expert on the constitution Mike Pence asked for his advice when Don Trump started telling everyone the Vice-President could do whatever he felt like when it came to electoral college results.
Both men had come to the conclusion that the amendment applied to not only long dead confederates, but also to former President, Donald John Trump. As they pointed out there was ample evidence showing Brother Trump leading, or at least inciting an insurrection and continuing to comfort and aid those who did his dirty work that terrible day in January, 2021.
This past week the Supreme Court of Colorado, citing section 3 of the 14th amendment, took him off the republican primary ballot there. It only took a few moments after the news was announced for the MAGA mob to react like we all knew they would.
One post on Truth Social read, "Kill judges. Behead judges. Roundhouse kick a judge into the concrete." Another urged, "Slam dunk a judge's baby into the trash can." Others posted the justice's office addresses, their emails, and phone numbers. A few called for a second civil war. Marjorie Taylor Greene even rekindled her call for a, "national divorce."
Psychotics aside, others have reacted with support of Trump, doubt about the legal decision's viability, and dark assessments that the ruling will, in the course of things, help him. Tribe and Luttig have called the decision not only correct, but the only possible interpretation any court could make. Others have said the U.S. Supreme Court, chock full of Trump appointees and souls owned by billionaires, will never uphold the ruling. One, overly optimistic school of thought, says the ruling has trapped conservative justices like Kavanaugh, who have previously written the constitution should be taken as literally as evangelicals take the tales in the Old Testament. Finally, there are those who say it should be up to the voters to decide Trump's fate rather than the courts. (Blithely ignoring Ohio republicans who are busily trying to subvert the will of voters who passed a pro abortion amendment to the state constitution--their reason: sometimes voters make, "immoral and evil," choices.")
Oddly, everyone could be right, at least in part. The Colorado Supreme Court has just proven to every Trump devotee the deep state is out to get him. It is all a great conspiracy. On the other hand the crazy fucker did inspire and with his words lead what can only be called an insurrection. He took an oath to defend the constitution and then tried to destroy it when things didn't go his way. Yes, it will add fuel to his increasingly violent rhetoric. However, the Colorado decision might inspire other state supreme courts to follow suit. Maybe conservative U.S. Justices won't turn out to be political hacks and hypocrites, but maybe they will.
All we know for sure is Donald John Trump did attempt to overthrow the government of the United States of America and the Constitution of the republic says because of it he should never be allowed to hold public office again. What we don't know is if any of that matters in the 21st century.
After all, the man has spent nearly eight decades on this blue ball and he has always gotten off the hook no matter what sort of awful shit he has pulled.
12-21-23
Trump has such an emotional hold on his supporters, it will continue to be hard to deal with him. But, I wonder, what will he do if he somehow manages to alienate them? It could happen, he's managed to annoy everyone else.
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