Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Yeah, No

 Jon Chait wants to split legal hairs over last night's decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to ban Trump from the primary ticket for having committed insurrection. His argument is similar to ones made about the case that Alvin Bragg is bringing against him in NY state. "If it wasn't Trump, they wouldn't prosecute this." Of course, not many other politicians launder money to hush women up. What's been striking about Trump is that he has weathered scandals that sink normal politicians. Even in 2020, Cal Cunningham likely lost his bid for the North Carolina Senate over a sex scandal.

The idea that Trump's actions on and before January 6th don't constitute an "according to Hoyle's" insurrection is absurd, because the first legal finding was that he did, in fact, engage in insurrection. If that is accurate, then he shouldn't be on the ballot anymore than someone who wasn't born in this country. 

Trump's election next year would be the end of democratic governance in America and could even lead to civil war. But let's worry about whether he committed a violent act of insurrection or "attempted to secure an unelected second term in office." That's the real issue here.

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