(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) In response to the Colorado Supreme Court’s controversial effort to block former President Donald Trump from the ballot by claiming he is ineligible under the “insurrection clause,” Republicans in the state have threatened to abandon the primary system and return to the caucus, the Independent Sentinel reported.
Dave Williams, the chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, announced the new plans for a caucus soon after the ruling was released.
“We’re going to do whatever we can to protect the rights of voters in Colorado, and frankly, across the nation to choose Donald Trump if they so choose,” Williams said.
He also noted that Republicans plan to appeal the ruling to the United States Supreme Court. The state’s high court promptly issued a stay of its own decision in anticipation of such a move due to the politically charged nature of its 4-3 decision. All of the justices were appointed by Democratic governors, and five of the seven by ethically challenged former Gov. John Hickenlooper.
“We’re a party to the case and we’re not going to take this lying down,” Williams added, announcing that the state party may plan to “withdraw from the primary and go to a strict caucus process that would allow our voters to choose Donald Trump if they want.”
The court’s ruling rests on an overly broad semantic interpretation of the word “insurrection” by the four-judge majority, rather than the more narrow and constrained legal definition.
Trump has never been found guilty of an insurrection, and the only time he came close to being charged for one—during his second impeachment trial—he was acquitted by the U.S. Senate, which presumably should have closed the matter on whether he was eligible to run again.
However, activist groups including the George Soros-funded Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Free Speech For People have continued to wage the lawfare attacks as a means of further undermining and destabilizing the democratic institutions—such as the justice system—that they ultimately hope to subvert as part of an overarching Marxist agenda.
The blatant attempt to disfranchise voters in an opposing political party via judicial fiat was “un-American,” Williams said.
“I don’t care if it’s a Republican majority Supreme Court in the United States or if it’s a Democrat majority here in Colorado, we don’t feel that this is the right thing to do,” he continued. “If we truly care about one man one vote and protecting our rights … let the people decide. Don’t take away our vote.”
Prior to Williams’s announcement that the state GOP was planning to abandon its primary, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had also pledged to rally in support of the frontrunning candidate by withdrawing from the Colorado ballot altogether until Trump’s name is reinstated.
He called on the other GOP rivals in the field to do the same.
I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same immediately – or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous… pic.twitter.com/qbpNf9L3ln
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 20, 2023
Even anti-Trump Republican candidates Chris Christie and Nikki Haley said that Trump ought to remain on the ballot, with Christie noting that Trump should not be prevented from being president by “any court” but from the voters.
“This is probably premature and jumping ahead of it, and I think it would cause a lot of anger in this country if people had the choice taken away from them,” Christie said at a campaign event just before the ruling was released.
Haley suggested that “we don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions.”
Of course, they may have their own interests at heart in condemning the decision also, given the fact that Trump’s political persecution has thus far worked to his advantage in drawing even more voters to him.
GOP establishment pollster Frank Luntz predicted more of the same in an interview Tuesday night on CNN.
“It’s going to be exactly what the indictments did, it’s going to be exactly what the criticisms have done,” Luntz argued.
“Donald Trump thrives on negativity,” Luntz continued. “He thrives on legal systems that try to hold him accountable, and I’m convinced that his polling numbers are going to go up.”
What will be the impact of the Colorado State Supreme Court's ruling against Trump?
The same impact as his 91 indictments.
I spoke with @PamelaBrownCNN about why Trump is now even more likely to win next November. pic.twitter.com/ENwSaKoFCR
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) December 20, 2023
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
