Former Obama adviser David Axelrod warned against efforts to block former President Donald Trump from the ballot during a Wednesday CNN appearance.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Trump was disqualified from appearing on the ballot in the 2024 election in a 4-3 decision Dec. 19, nine days before Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows of Maine declared Trump ineligible to appear on the ballot. The Supreme Court will hear Trump’s appeal of the former ruling Thursday.
“Let me preface it by saying it is stunning three years after President Trump left the Capitol in disgrace having sold this lie of the election had been stolen from him, and having incited people to storm the Capitol, that he’s in the position he’s in and we’re in the position we’re in,” Axelrod told CNN host Erin Burnett. “I’m not here as an apologist for Donald Trump and I’m certainly not here as a lawyer, but I’m sure that one of the things the Supreme Court has to consider is what is the impact of a decision like that?”
WATCH:
Legal experts predicted the Supreme Court will overturn the Colorado court’s ruling.
“You know, there are myriad legal questions that they’re going to consider tomorrow,” Axelrod said. “Some will undoubtedly offer off ramps if they want an off ramp, but I’m trying to imagine what it would be like if the Supreme Court said we’re removing the front-running Republican candidate from the ballot and essentially saying to the American people, you won’t have the opportunity to vote for him, and I think it would be very, very disruptive in this country.
“I think it will create a huge reaction, and that worries me. It worries me partly because of Donald Trump,” Axelrod continued. “There’s so much cynicism about our institutions already and, you know, the strength of our democracy are these institutions. You can argue that’s why you have to go the way the Colorado court suggests. But I think in the minds of many voters, this would be a subversion. It would draw a very strong reaction.”
Axelrod also noted Trump’s trial in Washington, D.C., where special counsel Jack Smith secured a four-count indictment against Trump relating to his efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election in August, on charges that included conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted and conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the Jan. 6 proceedings. Smith did not charge Trump with insurrection.
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