Donald Trump is once again running for office. With all of the norm violations, verbal disdain for electoral regulations and incitement for the chaos on Jan. 6, numerous politicians want Trump to become ineligible ever to hold office again. As of now, multiple states have already approved the disqualification of Donald Trump while California recently decided to allow Trump to be on the Republican primary ballot. The state’s decision to allow him in the primary is the ethical decision. Any action to bar an American from running for an elected position is undemocratic. Every state should follow suit with California, and permit Donald Trump to run for office, regardless of what the public thinks of him.
The first state to make Trump ineligible was Colorado. The ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court was divided by educational lines. The three that dissented attended Denver Law School, and the four in the majority graduated from an Ivy League law school. Those Ivy League justices believe that Trump’s incitement of the Jan. 6 riots was an ‘insurrection.’ Classifying Trump’s actions before and on Jan. 6 as an ‘insurrection’ specifically determines that Trump violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Shortly after, Maine’s Secretary of State followed in the footsteps of Colorado and banned Trump from their state primary ballots. It is reasonable to be critical of Trump’s role in the events of Jan. 6. His unwillingness to embrace a peaceful transfer of power or accept election results is extremely concerning and damaging to America’s electoral institutions. However, banning Trump from running for office does nothing but tarnish the electoral process even further.
Allowing Trump to run for office does not necessarily excuse him for his previous actions. The Trump phenomenon can still be defeated at the ballot box. In the 2022 midterm elections, many pundits expected a ‘red wave.’ But all of the Trump-endorsed candidates in statewide tossup races and who supported Trump’s election subversion were defeated with the exception of Ron Johnson from Wisconsin. Meanwhile, traditional conservatives who didn’t embrace Trump’s election denial were able to outperform the Republicans who did. Gov. Chris Sununu, Gov. Mike Dewine and Gov. Brian Kemp are examples of conservatives who didn’t dive head first into Trump’s election denial and were able to outperform their Republican counterparts by more than four percentage points. An electoral pathway to defeat Trumpism is both more plausible and ethical than an outright disqualification.
Multiple things can be true at once. Donald Trump has no respect for democratic norms and election procedures. He is willing to subvert American democracy at all costs to his benefit. Even though he is a threat to democracy, it shouldn’t be up to courts or Secretaries of States to determine whether he should become president. The election should be decided by the will of the American people. Any attempts to prevent Trump from running with the goal of protecting democracy are actually tarnishing it.
Some states have been able to recognize Trump’s abhorrent behavior without setting more flames on American democracy. The Minnesota Supreme Court determined that Trump “engaged in an insurrection,” but that should not bar him from a primary ballot. California’s Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, elaborated on her decision by explaining that in order to be a “steward of free and fair elections,” she has to “place the sanctity of these elections over partisan politics.” Weber’s decision to hold her values of protecting the integrity of California’s elections over her personal political desires highlights how all public officials and judges should avoid interfering in elections. The only way a candidate should be defeated is by a rejection by the American people. Anything short of that is antithetical to a government ruled by the will of the people.
