12/21/23
Newsletter #534
The Crack of Dawn
As I brought up in The Crack of Dawn, Volume #488, dated 10/16/23, I suspected that the 14th Amendment of the constitution, section three, directly addressed the situation with Donald Trump. He is disqualified. And now the Colorado Appellate Court has ruled that he is disqualified from being on their state primary ballot.
This whole 14th Amendment idea was put forth by the former highly conservative Judge J. Michael Luttig and the esteemed law professor Lawrence Tribe. I’ve seen both of them on TV a number of times, particularly Judge Luttig. As a note, when Vice-President Pence was unsure what course to take on January 6, one of the people he called for advice was Luttig. And so far, this issue has played out pretty much as the two constitutional experts said it would.
Actually, none of the courts that have heard this case — Colorado, Minnesota and Michigan — has addressed the core issue as Luttig and Tribe laid it out. The Colorado District Court ruled that Trump had attended an insurrection against the United States, but the constitution doesn’t say “against the United States,” it says, “against the constitution” for which he took an oath. Luttig and Tribe have been saying all along that one minute after he was supposed to transfer power, as it clearly states in the constitution, he was in breach and automatically disqualified.
Presently, the case has just been ruled on by the Colorado Appellate Court and Trump is disqualified from the Colorado ballot. Except that Judge Luttig specifically said from the beginning that “There will not be fifty different ballots for each state,” meaning the case would immediately be taken up by the Supreme Court, although it hasn’t as of this moment. In every state the printers are just waiting to print the primary ballots. This is the most unique, monumental, potentially dangerous, but more likely to be providential, governmental event of my lifetime, and I’m 65. This is a bigger deal than Watergate, which led directly to Nixon’s resignation. As terrible as it was, this is a bigger deal than Kennedy being assassinated. In that case there was a peaceful transfer of power in the plane before it landed in D.C. One might say, while Kennedy’s body was still warm.
Donald Trump has 91 felony counts staring at him. His 2024 calendar is booked with court dates. But if the Supreme Court, supreme interpreter of the United States Constitution, upholds the Colorado Appellate Court, Trump is disqualified from being on the ballot in all 50 states. That’s a done deal.
Yes, of course, for the sake of drama Dr. Evil must have appointed three of the Supreme Court justices. But will he pay them a million dollars each to let him off the hook? Perhaps, like the estimable Justice Clarence Thomas, Trump can put their kids through private school, buy them houses, and give them luxury vacations. But it doesn’t seem like there’s enough time.
The printers have their fingers on the Print button.
Does everything blow up when they push that button?