On July 31, 2023, I wrote this post in which I argued that Donald Trump should be disqualified from public office. Today, the Colorado Supreme court ruled that “A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.

Here is the post that was published last summer that provides details about why Trump should be disqualified.

Donald Trump should be disqualified from public office: Here’s why.

Tump instigated an attack on the nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021 by conspiring not only with some of those who marched and stormed the building, but also by coordinating efforts from the White House to manage the failed coup. He engaged in a process to steal the 2020 election, and continues to this day claiming he won the election. The only option for Trump to stay in office was to steal or change the outcome of the election. His attempted coup has not been accounted for. Some suggest that Trump is running for election again to stay out of jail, and to raise money for his myriad future court appearances and trials.

The Authoritarian

Trump was acting like one of many authoritarians, who, once they assume power, run the government and country as an autocracy. We came very close to living in a country by the actions of a despotic leader, with hundreds of Republican elected federal, state, and local followers. Unfortunately, most of these people are in government, and continue to stand by their quadrupled indicted ex-president.

When the House and Senate met in a joint session to count electoral votes, they had no idea that within minutes they would running and hiding from the invaders, some of whom wanted to hang Vice-President Mike Pence, and kill Nancy Pelosi, and most likely others in Congress.

Trump watched the attack, and according to reports, relished what he saw on his White House television. Near the beginning of the assault, Trump received a phone call from Kevin McCarthy, who was at the time, the leader of Republican caucus (he’s know Speaker of the House). McCarthy pleaded with Trump to call off the mob. All Trump would say was, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” After a brief shouting match between these two “leaders,” Trump hung up. McCarthy is leading the charge

In my book, The Trump Files, I wrote this about Trump’s departure from office.

As soon as it was announced that Joe Biden won the election to become the forty-sixth president of the United States, Trump went into overdrive to dispute the result and announced that he won the election by a landslide. His claim is that the election was stolen from him. As we know now, it was Donald Trump who crossed a line to try and steal the election in a well-orchestrated conspiracy organized by people close to him who wore suits. Thus, the Big Lie propelled Trump and his minions to contest the election in the courts, including the Supreme Court, and in the Congress, turning the Capitol building into a war zone. Hordes of manipulated Trump supporters charged the Capitol, resulting in a violent attack not only on the police and congressional members and their families and their staff, but also on the very nature of America’s democracy.

According to Lawrence Tribe, a Harvard University constitutional law expert, sedition charges against Trump became more likely after the attack on the Capitol. If that were to happen, then Trump could potentially be sentenced to twenty years in prison and disqualified from public office.

Hassard, Jack. The Trump Files: An Account of the Trump Administration’s Effect on American Democracy, Human Rights, Science and Public Health (p. 417). Northington-Hearn Publishing LLC. Kindle Edition.

According to Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, and professor of history and Italian studies at New York University, Donald Trump is one of a new cadre of authoritarian leaders (please see Chapter 3 of Dr. Ben-Ghiat’s book, Strongmen).

Trump joined a cluster of autocratic leaders around the world, including former prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine, Jair Bolsonaro, of Brazil, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, president of Turkey, Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, and Viktor Orbán, prime minister of Hungary.

Disqualification from Office

If an elected official commits a crime, they can be impeached, and if they are found guilty of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, they can be removed from office. Trump was impeached twice, first for bribery and obstruction, and secondly for inciting an insurrection. He was found guilty 50% and 57% of the Senate on the impeachments, respectively.

Now that Trump is out of office, he has been the target of four criminal investigations including one in New York, one in Georgia, and two by the DOJ special prosecutor (documents and Jan. 6). He has been arrested in New York, and in Florida, and because he was served a target letter by the DOJ, an indictment is soon to follow. In Atlanta, the Fulton County DA, Fani Willis, has said that she will issue indictments, not only to the ex-president, but many others who committed crimes related to election interference in Georgia in 2020.

Trump received a target letter from the DOJ for his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

The target letter indicated that prosecutor have evidence to charge the former president with

• Obstruction of an official proceeding
• Conspiracy to defraud the United States
• Conspiracy to threaten the rights of persons and deprivation of rights (Sec. 241, 242, Chapter 13–Civil Rights).

The target letter that Trump received from special prosecutor, Jack Smith did not mention sedition. This does not mean that sedition charges won’t appear as part of full indictment which is forthcoming.

The Constitution is very clear about seditious conspiracy. It is spelled in the U.S. Code, and in the 14th Amendment. In common law jurisdictions, seditious conspiracy is an agreement by two or more persons to do any act with the intention to excite hatred or contempt against the persons or institutions of state, to excite the alteration by unlawful means of a state or church matter established by law, to raise discontent among the population.

According to Findlaw, the 14th Amendment could prevent anyone who has held a public office from holding “any office” if they participate in an insurrection or rebellion against the United States (source for this).

We don’t know what the full extent of the charges will be when Trump is indicted for his role in the January 6th U.S. Capitol attack. The Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol (Committee) provides the facts, circumstances, and causes that led to the domestic terror attack on the Capitol. The Committee’s report will no doubt influence the work and outcome of the special prosecutor’s investigation into Jan. 6.

Will Trump be disqualified from holding public office? That’s the question. We don’t know the answer, yet. However, after the Colorado Supreme Court decision to keep Trump off the Republican primary ballot, the decision will now move to the Supreme Court of the United States.