(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Constitution versus Donald J. Trump – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'February', 'David Darby'] Date: 2024-02-15 Former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot was on a Sunday talk show February 4th explaining why he, along with former Republican governors Bill Weld (Massachusetts) and Christine Whitman (New Jersey), concurred, in an amicus brief, with the Colorado Supreme Court decision to disqualify Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot, now before the U.S. Supreme Court. First, he stated that the situation involving Trump was unfortunate. Few would argue with this assessment. It is unfortunate, or worse, for the nation and for the Republican Party to have a likely presidential nominee of a major party disqualified at this stage in the electoral process. He also said that what was needed at this stage was to do the right thing, whether it was unfortunate or inconvenient. The implication: The Supreme Court and the nation needed to find the character, the insight, and the grit to do this. It was Trump who put himself in this situation, not the Democrats, his detractors, or anyone else. He is the one who violated his oath of office and his commitment to the Constitution, self-disqualifying himself from office under the 14th Amendment. Trump’s actions supporting an insurrection are a matter of record. They have been covered extensively by the U.S. House of Representatives January 6th Committee, in other court opinions, by conservative legal scholars, and in the 91 criminal felony charges against him. The constitutional language in the 14th Amendment is clear, and the history and meaning of the language is well established, supported recently by 25 civil war era historians who also filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Colorado removing Trump from the ballot. A political argument is to let the voters decide in November if Trump is qualified. That is not the way a government of laws works. Trump is qualified under the Constitution or not. This is not a decision for voters. Many expect the Supreme Court to find some rationale to allow Trump on the November ballot. But allowing Trump to remain on the ballot, when faced with clear Constitutional text and original intent, would require ignoring textualism and originalism as a rational for its decision. The justices would have to find something else, reinforcing a contention that the current court already acts as more of a policy extension of the Republican Party than a constitutional court. Finally, there is the worry that violence could result if Trump was denied a place on the 2024 ballot. The threat of violence is real. As Stuart Stevens, senior advisor to Mitt Romney and numerous other Republicans, and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, has observed: “The Republican Party is no longer an American political party. It is an autocratic movement.” Informed observers across the political spectrum concur in this assessment. Totalitarian movements foster violence. The Bolsheviks in Russia, the black shirts under Mussolini’s Fascism, the Nazi brown shirts, and, indeed, supporters of Trump who stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, are examples. The threats of violence that Trump and his MAGA supporters continue to make are consistent with such totalitarian or neo-fascist movements, and frightening. e are at an unexpected crisis in American democracy. How we resist undemocratic and unconstitutional actions and situations going forward will be a test that the United States has not faced in over a century and a half. It requires us, as Racicot said, to do the first right thing, and then the next one. It will require us, however unfortunate and fraught with complications, not to allow a constitutionally unqualified individual to stand for the presidency of the nation. David Darby held leadership positions in several U.S. agencies and Montana state government. He also served as U.S. senior advisor on budget policy and management to over a dozen foreign governments. He is retired and lives in Billings. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/02/15/the-constitution-versus-donald-j-trump/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/