According to John Dean, the White House counsel to Richard Nixon, the Maine attempt to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot is a major problem for Trump which means he might be in trouble headed into 2024. Dean argued that Trump’s trouble will come because the Maine decision, in his view, seems based on a correct interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
As background, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, recently ruled that former President Donald Trump will not appear on the state’s ballot because he is “not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.”
In her decision on the ballot, Bellows said, “I do not reach this conclusion lightly. Democracy is sacred … I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”
Justifying her “insurrection” decision, Bellows said, “The record establishes that Mr. Trump, over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power. I likewise conclude that Mr. Trump was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it.”
So, Dean appeared on CNN’s “OutFront” to discuss the issue with the program’s guest host, Erica Hill. Hill began the conversation regarding the ruling, saying, “When we look at this perhaps not surprisingly we heard frequently from the Trump campaign slamming this decision saying in part, ‘Biden and the Democrats simply do not trust the American voter in a free and fair election.’”
Continuing, Hill went on to note that, in addition to the Trump campaign’s fury about the ballot decision, many argue that the voters should be able to decide who becomes president or has the opportunity to run, not state officials. Hill said, “We’re hearing this, ‘hey, leave it up to the voters to decide. Put somebody on the ballot and they’re tell you whether they should be in office or not.’”
Responding, Dean claimed that the Maine decision is “solid” because it is rooted in the 14th Amendment, telling Hill, “Well, they like to ignore the Constitution. We know that. I think the Maine decision is very solid. It was fully briefed. There is ample due process in this proceeding. And they just lost by a straight, honest reading of the 14th Amendment. Trump is in trouble. He’s in trouble wherever this is raised and addressed.”
Continuing, Dean then argued that the Supreme Court will have to review it, saying, “So yes, the Supreme Court is going to have to weigh in on it. I want to see those strict constructionists and originalists get around that language. How are they going to do it? I don’t know. It looks so applicable, Erica. I don’t know what they can do with it other than take him off the ballot.”
Responding to the Maine decision, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, “Democrats in blue states are recklessly and un-Constitutionally suspending the civil rights of the American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump’s name from the ballot.”
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