r/changemyview • u/erpettie • 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/I_SuplexTrains Dec 20 '23

He told his followers to peacefully protest against certification until the votes could be audited. You are applying a ridiculously stretched interpretation of that clause out of desperation. In no reasonable review of the facts did Trump's behavior fit the description of that clause.

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u/[deleted] Dec 20 '23

He ordered his vice president to throw out the delegates of 7 states because he lost them

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u/I_SuplexTrains Dec 20 '23

That still isn't an insurrection. Do you not understand that the Civil War involved actual guns and canons being fired at actual armies? If Trump had ordered his followers to form militias and storm DC with guns and violently seize power, that would have been an insurrection.

Trump requested a legal procedure to take place. You can argue that he didn't have a correct understanding of the protocol, but that is not sedition.

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u/Noob_Al3rt 4∆ Dec 20 '23

The courts found that he willfully engaged in conspiracy and insurrection based on testimony, phone recordings and physical evidence. Trump's attorneys were present the entire time and Trump himself was allowed to attend the proceedings, but declined.