Donald Trump has done and said a lot of chilling things in the eight-plus years since he came down Trump Tower. But if possible, he may have said the most chilling thing to date when he sought to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to have him thrown off the ballot in Colorado for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection. He claimed the lawsuit had no merit because—wait for it—presidents are not obligated to support the Constitution.
No, this isn’t snark. Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington sued to have Trump thrown off Colorado’s ballot. It argues that his role in inciting the horror of Jan. 6 disqualifies him from ever running for president again under a clause in the 14th Amendment barring anyone who has “engaged in insurrection” against the United States from holding office unless a supermajority of both houses approve his candidacy. Brandi Buchman of Law & Crime noticed that Trump claimed the suit wasn’t valid because presidents are sworn to “preserve, protect, and defend” the Constitution, not “support” it as stipulated in the 14th Amendment.
Fellow Daily Kos community member Anneli mentioned this yesterday. But in the absence of something I haven’t heard or seen, not one single prominent Republican who isn’t a Never Trumper has stood up to condemn this statement from Trump. This is not acceptable.
In case you missed it, Buchman flagged this breathtaking argument here.
I’m no lawyer, but even I know that there is no universe in which “preserve, protect, and defend” is not the same thing as “support.” I realize that in order to work for Trump, a lawyer has to be really bad, really frustrated, or really subservient. But it’s inconceivable that any lawyer would even think of filing this in open court.
Even if, as Raw Story reports, any efforts to use the 14th Amendment to derail Trump could founder for want of an enforcement mechanism, there is no longer any doubt. With this legal filing, Trump has announced in capital letters that he is above the law. In so doing, he has all but admitted that he cannot honestly take the oath of office—and may not have honestly been taking it in 2017.
This, America, is unacceptable. In any other democracy, Trump would have been all but forced to drop out within moments of that filing becoming public. And yet, what has the response been from the GOP? As near as I can tell, there has been none. RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel? Nothing. House Majority Leader and Republican Speaker candidate Rep. Steve Scalise? Silence. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell? Nada. Virtually every other candidate in the GOP primary aside from Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie (the only Repubs, in my mind, who are qualified for the presidency)? Bupkis.
I have more than a few friends who tilt Republican and who supported Trump mainly because of abortion, marriage equality, and the courts. In light of this, it’s only fair to ask—was it worth this? Was putting line-drawing conservatives on our courts worth a president who is brazen enough to effectively declare that he is above the law? Anyone with an iota of decency knows the answer to that question is not just “no,” but “hell no!”
Trump spent four years whining that we weren’t letting him do his job. This filing is yet more proof that he never began to understand what that job was. And it also proves, once again, that he must never be allowed near the White House again. But it also proves that the GOP, in its present state, is unfit to govern.