(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy doubled down on his pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP ballot following the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling on former President Donald Trump’s eligibility.
During a Sunday interview on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures, Ramaswamy criticized the Colorado ruling that disqualified Trump from appearing on the ballot due to his alleged involvement in a so-called Jan. 6. insurrection and slammed his Republican opponents for not taking a strong position against the infamous ruling.
“It’s an up constitutional and flagrant violation of the way we conduct elections in this country,” Ramaswamy told host Maria Bartiromo. “This is not the way we do things in the United States of America. We, the people, are the ones who select our leaders, not unelected cabals of Democrat judges in back offices.”
Following the ruling, Ramaswamy announced on Twitter his protest of the primary ballot in Colorado if Trump is barred from appearing. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by an anti-Trump voter group.
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
“If every Republican in the Colorado GOP primary also says, ‘We’re not participating,’ then this blatant act of interference has no impact,” Ramaswamy added, criticizing his Republican opponents for not echoing his stance.
“I was disappointed to hear radio silence or worse from those other candidates who wanted to still collect their delegates,” he said, likely referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis, also seeking the GOP nomination, told Newsmax that protesting the primary would be playing into the left’s strategy to take down Republicans. Reacting to Ramaswamy, DeSantis stated, “I think the case will get overturned by the Supreme Court, but I qualify for all the ballots. I’m competing in all the states and I’m going to accumulate the delegates necessary. That’s the whole name of the game.”
Ron DeSantis says he will not follow Vivek Ramaswamy’s lead and withdraw from the Colorado primary if Donald Trump is not on the ballot. pic.twitter.com/0EJZLj47CN
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) December 20, 2023
The Colorado Supreme Court based its infamous ruling on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which disqualifies anyone involved in an insurrection from holding public office.
The judges, all appointed by Democrats, claimed that the Jan. 6 protest constituted an insurrection, contradicting the viewpoints of legal schools who argued that the events of Jan. 6 were far from an insurrection.
Notably, Trump has neither been charged nor indicted on any insurrection charges.
