As I noted in a previous post, presidential candidates are now trying to get ahead of the attacks from Trump surrogates on issues related to Donald Trump, especially after Maine disqualified Trump from its ballot.
Governor Ron DeSantis, whose campaign is now struggling, stated that if he does win the election, he will fire Special Counsel Jack Smith on Day One, with the assumption being that the cases brought by Smith would then be dropped.
The big news last weekend was that the Colorado Supreme Court had ruled that Trump was disqualified from the ballot. The GOP has already appealed the ruling, so the Colorado Sec. of State, Jena Griswold, announced that she would include Trump on the primary ballot with the caveat of the Supreme Court either affirming Colorado’s ruling or refusing to take the case.
Maine piggybacked off the Colorado Supreme Court ruling on Thursday, with its Sec. of State, Shenna Bellows, announcing that Maine would be removing Trump from the primary election ballot. Bellows stated:
“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.”
Trump’s campaign immediately announced it would be appealing the decision.
The above is relevant because as the Smith January 6 case progresses, Trump could still wind up being charged with insurrection or sedition, either of which could activate Section III of the 14th Amendment. And even though we all fully expect the Supreme Court to overrule the Colorado decision, the wording of Section III could see a repeat of this if Trump is nominated.
DeSantis has, from Day One, stated that he is the candidate that should be nominated because he comes with zero baggage and the focus of his administration would be taking care of the American people, not defending lawsuits and more impeachment attempts, all of which will come with another Trump presidency.
To that point, DeSantis stated:
“I think that a guy like me as the nominee will be able to keep the focus on Biden, keep the focus on the Democrats’ failures, but then, more importantly, after you win the election, start holding these people accountable, who have weaponized the legal system to go after their political enemies.
“And that starts with day one, firing somebody like Jack Smith. That goes to dealing with people who are violating constitutional rights at the state and local government area.”
As I stated in the previous report on Nikki Haley, this is another candidate looking to block Trump surrogates from attacking him as well as hoping to gain some favor with the MAGA crowd, which has been adamant that they would not support Ron DeSantis in a general election if he defeated Trump.
The question now, however, is, what if Trump is disqualified from the election? Would MAGA support another candidate, or would Donald Trump tell his supporters to sit out the election in protest, which would, in effect, hand Democrats an easy victory?
Trump’s surrogates, such as Alex Bruesewitz on X, have been holding the nomination hostage from the outset, threatening supporters of all other candidates with sitting out the election, basically saying, elect Trump or no one because MAGA will sit out the election if Trump is not the candidate.
These people are not doing Trump any favors. Instead, they are alienating the voter bases that Trump will need if he is going to win the general election if he gets nominated. While the Trump campaign has made this personal, Ron DeSantis, to his credit, has continued to keep it issue-based, even when "the right thing" would help his opponent, Donald Trump.
