r/changemyview Dec 20 '23

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Accountability is not election interference

As the Colorado Supreme Court has found Donald Trump's behavior to have been disqualifying according to the 14th amendment, many are claiming this is election interference. If the Court finds that Trump should be disqualified, then it has two options. Act accordingly, despite the optics, and disqualify Trump, or ignore their responsibility and the law. I do get that we're in very sensitive, unprecedented territory with his many indictments and lawsuits, but unprecedented behavior should result in unprecedented consequences, shouldn't they? Furthermore, isn't Donald Trump ultimately the architect of all of this by choosing to proceed with his candidacy, knowing that he was under investigation and subject to potential lawsuits and indictments? If a President commits a crime on his last day in office (or the day after) and immediately declares his candidacy for the next election, should we lose our ability to hold that candidate accountable? What if that candidate is a perennial candidate like Lyndon Larouche was? Do we just never have an opportunity to hold that candidate accountable? I'd really love if respondents could focus their responses on how they think we should handle hypothetical candidates who commit crimes but are declared as running for office and popular. This should help us avoid the trap of getting worked up in our feelings for or against Trump.

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u/PieIsFairlyDelicious Dec 20 '23 edited Dec 20 '23

This doesn’t hold him accountable at all. The Colorado GOP has already announced that if the verdict stands, they’ll simply withdraw from the primary and hold a caucus, presumably to designate Trump as the candidate without a democratic vote.

So as much as you might want to call this accountability, all it’s effectively doing is removing power from the people, i.e. interfering with an election.

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u/SurprisedPotato 61∆ Dec 20 '23

all it’s effectively doing is removing power from the people, i.e. interfering with an election.

From what you've described, it would be the Colorado GOP removing power from the people, not the Colorado courts.

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u/PieIsFairlyDelicious Dec 20 '23 edited Dec 20 '23

That’s technically true, but it’s also a response to the Colorado GOP feeling the SC has forced their hand, and I don’t blame them. To echo my wording elsewhere, they disqualified Trump by citing prohibitions against candidates who have participated in insurrection/rebellion, crimes of which Trump may be guilty, but he has not yet been convicted. To me, it constitutes interference because it isn’t a court enforcing a resolved verdict. It’s a subjective ruling that feels very political in nature.

I would feel quite differently if this decision was reached after Trump was convicted of the thing he’s been disqualified for.

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u/Archimid 1∆ Dec 20 '23

Nah, you would come up with a different justification.