We can't let Trump's "wishful thinking" destroy us
The Constitution can protect us, if we are willing to use it!
Not enough has been made of the fact that Trump was literally raised with Norman Vincent Peale’s “Power of Positive Thinking.” This might be a nice tool in the hands of a normal person, but used by a malignant naricissist career criminal, it corrodes into corruption and delusion. He believes that the rules never apply to him, and according tot he results he had for the first 70+ years of his life, he appeared to be right. Unfortunately, this now has deadly consequences for all of us. We saw it with our own eyes: Trump being unwilling to concede that he lost the 2020 election, the plot to overturn the election, and the January 6 insurrection.
All week I have been following coverage and analysis of Trump’s 4th indictment and surrender in Georgia. On Trump’s side, he has magical thinking and criminality. His strategy is to win the Presidency to stay out of jail—he admits this freely and is fundraising off his thuggish mug shot. He is not really even denying the charges against him, he just insists “I did nothing wrong.” Meanwhile, he has nothing to offer the American people in terms of public policy that would make our lives better, or keep us safer, but instead he is outright telling us how he would take the reins of power to wield for his own benefit and protection, as he would gut the institutions that make up the U. S. government.
On the side that wants to protect democracy, we have the rule of law and the Constitution. The congressional January 6 Committee did excellent work, and so have Jack Smith and Fani Willis. The criminal justice system is attempting to hold Trump accountable, and it must succeed! To some extent this depends on us believing in the rule of law. So many things that hold us together are really ideas: a country, laws, a Constitution, money, patriotism….. We need to believe in our better ideas and insist on them. We need to recognize the need for national self-defense from Trumpism. Doesn’t everyone know that it is important to punish an unsuccessful attempted insurrection, self-coup, autogolpe? See Brazil in 2023: “More than a thousand people were arrested on the day of the 8 January riot, which bore strong similarities to the 6 January 2021 riots at the US Capitol by mobs who wanted to overturn former president Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election.”
We have a system that is designed to protect itself from insurrections. And—we have to be willing to use it.
That brings us to the Constitution’s 14th Amendment Section 3, the Disqualification Clause:
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 But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
This Amendment was enacted after the Civil War and still applies today. It describes Trump to a T! Esteemed legal scholars, including Conservatives and Federalist Society members, have raised the Constitutional argument that Trump is ineligible to run for President again due to disqualification based on his actions.
Let’s consider the basic facts:
The attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was an insurrection.
Evidence: 1. our own eyes. We know what we all saw on television and don’t let anyone “memory hole” it or say we need to “move on.” No. Accountability is happening and needs to continue, AGGRESSIVELY, before the 2024 elections.
2. Over 1000 arrests of Jan 6 rioters, some of whom have been convicted of seditious conspiracy, see for example Stuart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, sentenced to 18 years in jail.
Did Donald Trump engage in insurrection or give aid and comfort to insurrectionists?
Trump’s 91 felony charges to date do not yet include insurrection or seditious conspiracy, but we saw and heard him encourage the insurrectionists, on Jan 6, 2021 and to this day. He was so defiant on January 6, was incredibly reluctant speak out against the riot he had provoked that morning. Remember what he said in the end, after several hours of urgent prodding and deadly delay: he said “Go Home. We Love You, You’re Very Special.” to the people who threatened to kill Congress and “Hang Mike Pence,” and who caused grievous trauma, injury and death to Capitol police.
To this day, Trump is saying “never surrender” and “election interference.” He is charged with being the head of the huge, complex racketeering conspiracy to overturn President Biden’s 2020 win. I argue that he is morally and probably legally guilty of waging insurrection himself, and is obviously and PROVABLY guilty of “giv[ing] aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
This provision in the Constitution is designed to protect our country from this exact situation. The TV analysis I have heard is often interesting, but tends to stop short before the idea really takes flight, saying “who decides this?” “how is it enforced?” “but Trump hasn’t been convicted” “it’s not realistic” or “it’s going to go to the Supreme Court and they will turn it down…..”
I say, don’t give up on a good idea! Let’s try. Let’s lean on it. Raise a court challenge and see what happens. We have the plain text of the Constitution that says what needs to happen, written in black and white in one paragraph that everyone can understand.
Respected legal scholars are saying that this Constitutional protection is “self-executing,” which means that Trump does NOT need to be convicted of a crime to invoke this Amendment. It does seem like a court challenge will be needed to make this decision about what happens in 2024, so let’s go to court. Secretaries of State are looking into this, because they want an answer: is Trump eligible to be on the ballot, or not? Either way, people on both sides will sue, and yes, this may end up being decided by the Supreme Court.
I say, let’s do this. Bring it on. Take it to SCOTUS. Do I have faith in them to do the right thing? No, I do not. But make them make this decision and explain it, for history. Might they do the right thing? Might they decide they don’t want to go down in history as the court that ushers in a Trump dictatorship? Do we have a Constitution, or don’t we? I want to know. I sure don’t want to let timidity and deference to Trump’s magical thinking be the thing that controls our future.
We have good ideas, the Constitution, and the rule of law on our side. Use them.
****Action step: read this analysis by Dean Obeidallah, which includes this letter that you can copy and send to your Secretary of State or election board.
For North Carolinians, our Secretary of State is Elaine Marshall. Here is some contact information for Secretary Marhsall. I will work on getting an email and update this post when I do.****
Dear [fill in name of your Secretary of state or Election board]
I’m writing to your offices urging a formal review of whether Donald Trump is barred from the ballot in this state by way of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That Amendment disqualifies from the ballot any person who “shall have engaged” in an “insurrection.” For such a disqualification, there is no requirement that Trump or any person be first convicted of any crime—as the Congressional Research Service notes.
In addition, last year after a trial in New Mexico, a judge ruled that Jan 6 was an “insurrection” within the meaning of the 14th Amendment and that Otero County Commissioner Cuoy Griffin was removed from office and disqualified from the ballot for “engaging” in that attack. Donald Trump’s actions-- as detailed in the final report of the “Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack”—far exceed the actions of Griffin in terms of “engaging” in the Jan 6 insurrection. While that New Mexico ruling is not binding in this state, it is persuasive in its reasoning and I urge your offices to read it.
Finally, conservative legal scholars have recently penned articles reaching the conclusion that given Trump’s conduct, the US Constitution does in fact bar Trump from the ballot.
As the US Constitution mandates, no one should be permitted to be on the ballot who has engaged in an insurrection. The time to review if Trump has done just that and is barred from the ballot is now—well before the 2024 election.
Thank you for considering this issue that is vitally important to protecting our Republic.