It's unclear what exactly the "SAVE DEMOCRACY!" Democrats who continue to undermine democracy at every turn thought they would accomplish with their push to kick former President Donald Trump off the ballot in a handful of states.
When Colorado's Supreme Court decided, in a decision already being appealed by the Trump campaign, that the 45th president was ineligible to be president and therefore should be removed from the state's ballot, Democrats did a few things.
Democrats validated Trump's claims of election interference against him, galvanized Trump's supporters, and gave him loads of earned media attention that further amplified his message. What Democrats did not do: divide the Republican party or poison the GOP against the former president by kicking him off the ballot.
Instead, it caused Republicans to rally behind Trump at a level not seen since the FBI's raid of Mar-a-Lago and again make him the center of the political universe weeks before the Iowa caucuses. If Democrats wanted to debunk Trump's claim that Team Biden is engaging in election interference to rig 2024 for Biden, this was certainly not the way to do it.
Rather than being some sort of wake-up call for Republicans or whatever Democrats thought kicking Trump off the ballot would do, it was a rallying cry for the GOP.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the Colorado ruling "nothing but a thinly veiled partisan attack" and a "reckless decision."
"This lawless, cynical ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court will not stand," declared Senator Mike Lee (R-UT).
Calling the ruling "an unprecedented and illegal action by liberal Colorado judges," Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) said he plans to "send a letter to the US Supreme Court asking them to immediately reverse this blatant election interference for the sake of our democracy."
"This is what tyranny looks like," declared Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY). "An activist court has denied Americans the right to vote for the candidate of their choice in Colorado. I trust that the U.S. Supreme Court will remedy this nonsense."
"Apparently democracy is when judges tell people they're not allowed to vote for the candidate leading in the polls?" asked Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) of the "disgraceful" ruling that amounts to an "assault on American voters."
Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) called the situation a "joke" that "once again will backfire" on Democrats who are "afraid of voters actually voting for their preferred candidate."
"Four partisan Democrat operatives on the Colorado Supreme Court think they get to decide for all Coloradans and Americans the next presidential election," remarked House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY). "This is unAmerican and Democrats are so afraid that President Trump will win on Nov 5th 2024 that they are illegally attempting to take him off the ballot." Stefanik also observed that, as with "the rest of the unprecedented, constant, and illegal election interference against President Trump, this will backfire and further strengthen President Trump’s winning campaign to Save America."
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) called the ruling "an unprecedented level of election interference and political sabotage" and declared that the "Left will stop at nothing to silence their opponents; right now, it’s President Trump. Soon, it will be you. Never surrender," he urged.
"This is insane," observed Senator Rick Scott (R-FL). "In the US, we don't allow political hacks to kick their 'enemies' off the ballot because they disagree with them," a tactic the Florida Republican said makes the U.S. "no better than the socialist regimes in [Venezuela] & Cuba."
Indeed. As Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) reminded, the United States has "put sanctions on other countries for doing exactly what the Colorado Supreme Court has done."
"The very same Democrats who scream about 'DEMOCRACY,' just took an open flame to the very concept," remarked Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX).
"Democrats in Colorado are removing President Trump from the ballot because the 'Democrat' Party opposes democracy, which is a system where voters get to select their elected leaders," emphasized Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL). "If Biden and the 'media' actually believed in democracy, they would denounce this immediately."
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) rightly noted that Democrat attempts to remove Trump as a choice for voters "won't work" and "only emboldens those of us who know America is worth fighting for and that Donald Trump is the fighter we need back in the White House to save America. Bring it on!" he added.
"This is blatant disenfranchisement of millions of voters from the Colorado Supreme Court," noted Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). "Trump says it best: They’re not after me. They’re after you. I’m just in the way."