Last updated on January 2nd, 2024 at 03:38 pm
Maine’s Secretary of State has disqualified Donald Trump from the primary ballot and sent his presidential campaign into meltdown.
I conclude… that the record establishes that Mr. Trump, over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power. I likewise conclude that Mr. Trump was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it.
Mr. Trump’s occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do not immunize his actions. A brief call to obey the law does not erase conduct over the course of months, culminating in his speech on the Ellipse. The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multi-month effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match.”
On the Gordon challenge, Secretary Bellows said, “There appears to be no dispute between any of the parties that President Biden prevailed over Mr. Trump. Therefore, given Mr. Trump has only won a single election for President, he is not barred from being elected to the same office again under the Twenty-Second Amendment.
I do not reach this conclusion lightly. Democracy is sacred… I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection. The oath I swore to uphold the Constitution comes first above all, and my duty under Maine’s election laws, when presented with a Section 336 challenge, is to ensure that candidates who appear on the primary ballot are qualified for the office they seek.
The events of January 6, 2021 were unprecedented and tragic. They were an attack not only upon the Capitol and government officials, but also an attack on the rule of law. The evidence here demonstrates that they occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing President. The U.S. Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government, and Section 336 requires me to act in response.
The Trump campaign blew a gasket and blamed Biden and Democrats for his disqualification:
The Maine Secretary of State is a former ACLU attorney, a virulent leftist and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat who has decided to interfere in the presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden. We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter. Democrats in blue states are recklessly and un-Constitutionally suspending the civil rights of the American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump’s name from the ballot.
Make no mistake, these partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy. Biden and the Democrats simply do not trust the American voter in a free and fair election and are now relying on the force of government institutions to protect their grip on power.
Trump tried to disenfranchise voters in swing states that voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Trump tried to disenfranchise the majority of voters by attacking the Capitol on 1/6, but now that he is being held accountable for his actions, the former president is suddenly concerned about voter disenfranchisement.
The thing is, disqualifying Trump from the ballot is not voter disenfranchisement. Republican voters in Maine will still be able to support any of the remaining Republican primary candidates. Unlike what Trump did on 1/6, removing him from the ballot does not overturn their votes.
Trump should be worried because now that two states have disqualified him, momentum may grow in other places to remove him from the ballot.
Republicans may end up with a nominee who can’t appear on the ballot in every state.
The GOP has set themselves up for disaster and the disqualification movement could begin to snowball on Trump.
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