A Liberal Dose, December 28, 2023 "Disqualified? Trump and Section 3 of the 14th Amendment"

 

A Liberal Dose

December 28, 2023

Troy D. Smith

“Disqualified? Trump and Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment”

 

First, I hope everyone had a merry Christmas (or other holiday) and wish all a happy new year.

That said…. Boy, is this year ending with a political bang. As you probably already know, the Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a lower ruling that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection, and further ruled that -pursuant to Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment -he is barred from appearing on the presidential ballot in Colorado. The U. S. Supreme Court, which last week declined to expedite the decision about whether Trump is immune from prosecution because he was president, may agree to hear this case almost immediately. There is a lot riding on that SCOTUS decision. If they overturn the Colorado decision, everything will proceed as normal (if you can call what we do nowadays normal); if they sustain that Colorado decision, Trump may well be barred from appearing on ANY state’s ballots.

This has divided people along more than just political lines. Some people argue in favor of the Colorado decision, claiming it is an accurate reading of the Constitution and that the rule of law must be followed (“Let justice prevail, though the heavens fall”, as the Romans used to say). Others -and I’ve heard this from both ends of the political spectrum -say that voters alone should get to choose who to vote for as president. An opinion poll from Dec. 21 shows that 54% of Americans think Colorado made the right decision, while 35% disapproved of that decision (with 12% undecided). Not surprisingly, 84% of Democrats polled supported the decision. What I found surprising was that 48% of Independents supported Colorado, while only 35% disapproved -and that 24% of Republicans supported it with 66% disapproving. Why is that surprising to me? Significantly more Independents polled believe Trump should be disqualified to run for president than whose who disagreed. And while 24% is a small number, it means that one-quarter of Republicans think Trump should be disqualified -that is a minority, but a significant one. Not surprising: support for the decision is lowest in the South. Surprising: even so, in the South it is 48% in favor vs. 38% opposed.

Of course, opinions are like a certain body part: everyone has one, and everyone’s stinks except your own. So what are the facts? Let’s take a look at that 14^th amendment, one of the three “Reconstruction amendments.” Here is Section 3, in its entirety:

 “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

The original district court ruling said that this did not apply because it does not specifically mention running for president. Colorado’s Supreme Court overturned that ruling as erroneous, pointing out that the president is named as an office 28 times in the Constitution and that, as the wording was being argued in the 1860s, the question came up and one of the authors said that “any office, civil or military”, obviously included the office of president.

Not having participated in or supported an insurrection is a qualification to run, just like the fact a candidate must have been born a citizen, must be at least 35, and cannot serve more than two terms.

The only question, then, is: did Trump participate in or support an insurrection? I’ll address that next week -on the anniversary of the insurrection.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

A Liberal Dose, Dec. 21, 2023 "It Is Not Just Donald Trump That Is on Trial"

 

A Liberal Dose

December 21, 2023

Troy D. Smith

“It is not just Donald Trump that is on trial”

 

As you read this, the Supreme Court is in the process of deciding whether or not to hear an expedited case brought by special counsel Jack Smith on whether Trump, as a former president, has blanket immunity from criminal charges for anything he did while in office. That is Trump’s claim, a claim that would be tested in court in March and, should he lose there, he has announced he will appeal. Smith’s intention is to skip over all the appeals and go straight to the Supreme Court right now -not on the merits of the case itself, but just on the question of presidential immunity -a move that has precedent. The same approach was taken half-a-century ago to make Nixon immediately turn over the Watergate tapes instead of dragging out the process for years. Trump’s goal is to delay the actual trial as long as possible, and all his other trials as well, in hopes the presidential election will occur before any judgments are reached against him and he will win -making himself immune and forcing all cases to be dropped.

Trump is currently under indictment in four different criminal cases, with over 90 charges against him. There are so many crimes it is hard to keep straight, so let’s tick them off:

1.       There’s the one in question, in which the Justice Department has charged Trump and several accomplices with conspiring to prevent the lawful certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory, by various means including the disruption of Congress by a riotous mob and, more to the point, by participating in an illegal scheme to replace legitimate electors with fake pro-Trump electors.

2.       A second case, also federal, in which Trump is charged with illegally taking -and repeatedly lying about and refusing to give back -classified documents.

3.       A state case in Georgia, wherein Trump and various accomplices (including Rudy Giuliani) are charged with conspiring to coerce the Georgia state government into falsifying the election results.

4.       A state case in New York, wherein Trump is accused of illegally using 2016 campaign funds to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels and keep her quiet about their affair. Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has already served time in prison for his role in this transaction (a role played under Trump’s direction).

Those are just the criminal charges, there are many civil actions as well. For example, Trump has already been found liable in New York for years’ worth of illegal business practices, which could cost him his New York businesses and even the right to do business in that state. The judgment against Trump has already been made, right now the court is just trying to decide how big the fines should be.

Trump was also found liable for the sexual assault, battery, and defamation of E. Jean Carroll in a department store in the mid-90s (after she had made fun of him). The jury did not find him liable for rape, only sexual assault, but the judge later explained that in most other states the attack would qualify as rape -New York’s definition of the crime is extremely narrow and specific, in a way I’m not sure I can describe in a family newspaper. The judge’s clarification came after Trump tried to sue Carroll for calling him a rapist after the trial. The judge responded that, actually, that’s what he is.

Any single one of those things, proven or not, would be enough to keep any normal person from being considered as a viable candidate for anything. Yet Trump is the odds-on favorite to win the Republican nomination, and has a real chance of being elected president again. He has so much support, most Republican challengers are afraid to anger his base by condemning his behavior.

The fact that is even a possibility is an indictment against the Republican Party and anyone who can still support this reprobate.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

 

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE

 

A Liberal Dose, December 14, 2023 "Understanding the Past is the Key to the Present AND the Future"

 

A Liberal Dose

November 30, 2023

Troy D. Smith

“Understanding the Past Is the Key to the Present AND the Future”

Recently my friend John Gottlied complained that I had spent two columns in a row talking about how bad Trump and the Republicans are rather than being balanced and talking about what I am for, instead of what I am against. In both his recent columns, he has zeroed in on one of the many points I made (such as arguing semantics on whether Trump’s claims of election fraud were thrown out of court 60+ times disproves them) and ignored all the others. This is like if I wrote a column saying that Trump kicks children, eats people’s pets, and runs rabbits, and John responded in-depth about how technically Trump doesn’t run rabbits he just walks them very fast, plus Democrats often frighten rabbits as well. He also said that my specialty is history but I, and other historians, don’t understand the present very well. I’m going to address those points.

First, and foremost, the reason I spent two weeks in a row talking about the “badness” of Trump and what he has turned the Republican Party into is that it has become an existential threat to democracy and we all need to sound the alarm. I don’t say that lightly. Both George Bushes, Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney -all those guys were normal politicians. I disagreed with them, vehemently on some things, but I did not have a legitimate fear that they might destroy America, nor had that idea ever entered my mind about anyone. Joe Biden, too, like Obama and the Clintons, is just a normal politician. You might not like his policies, and you might wax poetic about how he is wrecking the country (like I did with George W.), but everyone understands that nothing he or any other politician does cannot be undone when the next party inevitably comes to power.

Trump is different. He has shown us what he is, and what he wants to be, and the only thing that stood in his way last time was that many of his own people had a conscience and a sense of duty to the Constitution (though it took them an awful long time to find it), which he would correct if he got back into office. It is precisely my understanding of the past that enables me to recognize this and compels me to cry it from the rooftops. Consider:

A cartoonish rabble-rouser comes along who has the power to sway a significant minority of the population by appealing to the racism of some, to their base and violent passions, and their outrage at the establishment for “selling them out.” He gives them groups to blame all their woes on, and encourages them to do so. His every word is hung onto by thugs, many of them mentally disturbed, who are eager to go into violent action to win his approval. He is underestimated by opponents who think he is too buffoonish for anyone to take seriously, and by the conservative establishment who believe they can use his popularity to gain/maintain political power for themselves and control him (but they can’t). He uses his often-imaginary enemies and conspiracy theories to justify terminating the rule of law, and using it instead as a cudgel against his opponents. He does all this by insisting only he can make his country great again. Most of his countrymen ignore his antics and just go along, even as it gets worse and worse, and later claim they had no idea it would get so bad, oops.

Am I talking about Hitler, Trump, or any number of past wannabe dictators? I guess it depends on whether enough people pay attention. I can tell you this, though, what I describe is the very sort of tyrant the Founding Fathers warned us about and tried to circumvent in the very Constitution Trump said we should terminate to return him to power. BECAUSE THEY KNEW HISTORY.

Note: this column was scheduled for November 30. In the two weeks since then, Trump has announced he will only be “a dictator on Day One.” That’s like a fox saying he will only eat chickens on the first day you let him into the henhouse. Meanwhile, all the conservative Republican leaders I mentioned by name above, and others, have sounded a warning that America needs to take him at his word and recognize the threat he poses to democracy.

Bear in mind -returning to history -everyone who supported Hitler was not a racist or a violent thug. Most were just normal people who went along because they liked some things about him and ignored the rest. But history does not give them a pass, because it was all right there in front of their eyes and they refused to see it.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE

You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE

A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE

Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com

The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE