Hearings began in a Colorado courtroom on Monday to keep Trump off the Centennial State’s ballot over crimes of which the ex-commander-in-chief has never been convicted. Democrats are exploiting the Constitution’s 14th Amendment to claim a Civil War-era provision bars candidates from office who previously “engaged in insurrection.” Proceedings got underway in Colorado just days before a similar challenge is scheduled to be heard in Minnesota on Thursday.
“Dozens of cases citing Section Three of the 14th Amendment have been filed in recent months, but the ones in Colorado and Minnesota seem the most important,” the Associated Press reported, citing an ambiguous host of “legal experts.” In those two states, the AP admitted, the efforts to prevent the Republican frontrunner from appearing on voters’ ballots are being run by deep-pocketed left-wing groups.
If it sounds like Democrats are trying to rig elections again with a well-funded operation aimed at the destruction of their top political opponent, that’s because they are.
[RELATED: Time Magazine Gushingly Profiles The Successful ‘Conspiracy’ To Rig The 2020 Election]
Trump now faces a barrage of 91 state and federal charges just more than a year out from Election Day. Despite a wide field of rival candidates trying to topple him for the Republican nomination, Trump’s main obstacle to reclaim the presidency is effort by the federal government and other Democrats to jail him. With a more than 46-point lead in the Republican primary, Trump’s near-certain rematch against Joe Biden is really a match against the incumbent’s Department of Justice (DOJ).
The third of Trump’s four indictments was handed down in August, ostensibly related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The charges, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, accuse Trump of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy against civil rights, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to obstruct a proceeding, all for raising electoral objections similar to those that Democrats have made for decades. The DOJ’s attempts to convict Trump as an “insurrectionist” then set up Democrats to try to disqualify him from the November ballot in states around the country. At the same time, partisans in the judiciary are preventing Trump from even mounting an effective campaign.
Once the indictments were dropped, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, a far-left activist with an obvious animus against Trump and his supporters, was miraculously assigned to preside over the former president’s Jan. 6 case. In September, Chutkan denied Trump’s request to move the case outside of Washington, a move the former president’s team sought due to the city’s 92 to 5 percent voting record in favor of President Biden.
This month, Chutkan issued a gag order barring Trump from publicly speaking out against potential witnesses, court personnel, or federal prosecutors in the case, including Special Counsel Jack Smith — hamstringing his ability to campaign against the political crusade. The gag order was allowed to go into effect on Monday after a temporary hold.
Meanwhile in New York, a Manhattan judge presiding over Attorney General Letitia James’ attempt to ensnare Trump on civil fraud charges implemented a separate gag order and fined the former president $10,000 last week for a comment made outside the courtroom about “a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside” the judge. The fine followed a separate $5,000 punishment for another supposed violation.
But even before a ruling is handed down in Trump’s Jan. 6 case, Democrats are moving forward with efforts to kick Trump off the ballot as if he had already been convicted, never mind the partisan nature of the prosecutions. To be fair, the plaintiffs have good reason to assume Trump will be convicted — less because of his actions and more because he’s defending himself in a politicized trial in front of a judge and jury whose allegiances and prejudices are largely predetermined. According to a September poll from Emerson College, a majority of D.C. residents, 64 percent, were already decided that they would vote in favor of a conviction in the case. Just 8 percent said they would find Trump innocent, and another 28 percent were unsure.
“The plaintiffs in the cases argue the issue is simple,” the AP claimed Monday. “Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, mean he’s disqualified from the presidency just as clearly as if he were not a natural-born citizen, another constitutional prerequisite for the office.”
In other words, the goal is simple: Keep the most popular Republican in the country — who is also beating President Joe Biden in the polls — off the ballot, and pretend it’s for “democracy.”
