Trump Primary Opponents Defend Him After Colorado Ballot Ruling

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Donald Trump should not appear on the state’s 2024 election ballots. The court cited the 14th Amendment, which holds that insurrectionists are disqualified from the presidency. The decision is stayed until Jan. 4, and Trump will likely appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It can be easy to forget, but there are currently a handful of Republicans running against Trump for the party’s presidential nomination. Most of their campaigns revolve around the idea that Trump is really great, which may have something to do with why Trump is leading them by dozens of percentage points. It’s no surprise, then, that rather than preaching that there are consequences to trying to overthrow the government, these candidates responded to the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling by defending the former president.

“The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whom Trump has been brutally, relentlessly mocking for months, tweeted. “SCOTUS should reverse.”

Vivek Ramaswamy was so incensed by the ruling that he even pledged to withdraw his name from Colorado’s primary ballot, demanding that DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley join him, “or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country.”

Haley couldn’t even bring herself to say Trump shouldn’t be president, only that he doesn’t “need” to return to office. “I will tell you that I don’t think Donald Trump needs to be president,” she told reporters. “I think I need to be president. I think that’s good for the country. But I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions.”

Chris Christie, the only Republican candidate who has consistently attacked Trump, couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge that a state has the right to prevent a man who incited a violent insurrection to overturn democracy from appearing on its ballots. “I do not believe Donald Trump should be prevented from being President of the United States, by any court. I think he should be prevented from being the President of the United States by the voters of this country,” the former New Jersey governor said in a statement, according to The Hill.

Trump has, of course, been using the ruling as another opportunity to allege his enemies are conspiring to interfere with the election. His campaign started fundraising off of it almost immediately, and the former president has been busy posting his all-caps reaction on Truth Social. “WHAT A SHAME FOR OUR COUNTRY!!!” he wrote Wednesday morning. “A SAD DAY IN AMERICA!!!” he added later.

Trump has the support of over 62 percent of Republican primary voters, according to a 538 national polling average. DeSantis is second at 12 percent.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Donald Trump should not appear on the state’s 2024 election ballots. The court cited the 14th Amendment, which holds that insurrectionists are disqualified from the presidency. The decision is stayed until Jan. 4, and Trump will likely appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It can be easy to forget, but there are currently a handful of Republicans running against Trump for the party’s presidential nomination. Most of their campaigns revolve around the idea that Trump is really great, which may have something to do with why Trump is leading them by dozens of percentage points. It’s no surprise, then, that rather than preaching that there are consequences to trying to overthrow the government, these candidates responded to the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling by defending the former president.

“The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whom Trump has been brutally, relentlessly mocking for months, tweeted. “SCOTUS should reverse.”

Vivek Ramaswamy was so incensed by the ruling that he even pledged to withdraw his name from Colorado’s primary ballot, demanding that DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley join him, “or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country.”

Haley couldn’t even bring herself to say Trump shouldn’t be president, only that he doesn’t “need” to return to office. “I will tell you that I don’t think Donald Trump needs to be president,” she told reporters. “I think I need to be president. I think that’s good for the country. But I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions.”

Chris Christie, the only Republican candidate who has consistently attacked Trump, couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge that a state has the right to prevent a man who incited a violent insurrection to overturn democracy from appearing on its ballots. “I do not believe Donald Trump should be prevented from being President of the United States, by any court. I think he should be prevented from being the President of the United States by the voters of this country,” the former New Jersey governor said in a statement, according to The Hill.

Trump has, of course, been using the ruling as another opportunity to allege his enemies are conspiring to interfere with the election. His campaign started fundraising off of it almost immediately, and the former president has been busy posting his all-caps reaction on Truth Social. “WHAT A SHAME FOR OUR COUNTRY!!!” he wrote Wednesday morning. “A SAD DAY IN AMERICA!!!” he added later.

Trump has the support of over 62 percent of Republican primary voters, according to a 538 national polling average. DeSantis is second at 12 percent.