“Electoral interference”, worthy of “a banana republic”: Republicans sharply criticized the decision of a court declaring Donald Trump ineligible for a primary in Colorado, a new illustration of the former president’s hold on his left one month before the first elections for 2024.
Elected officials, senators, presidential candidates… One by one, conservative leaders all rejected the spectacular judgment banning Donald Trump on Tuesday from appearing on the ballot in this American state due to his involvement in the assault on Capitol.
“The court’s decision, which seeks to disqualify President Trump from the Colorado primary, is a thinly veiled partisan attack,” criticized Republican Congressional Leader Mike Johnson.
“This is blatant electoral interference,” blasted the influential conservative elected official, Steve Scalise. “We live in a democracy, not a banana republic,” added Republican Randy Weber.
Abandoned by part of his camp after the chaos of January 6, 2021, the 77-year-old billionaire has undeniably regained control over the Republican Party. This, despite his four criminal charges.
Rivals stay in line
Even Ron DeSantis, one of Donald Trump’s only rivals with a chance of competing with him for the Republican nomination, remained in line.
The ruling in Colorado is based on “false grounds” and must be “overturned by the Supreme Court” of the United States, he argued in a tweet Tuesday evening. The decision itself is suspended until January 4, to give the country’s highest court the opportunity to decide before then.
Another rival of Donald Trump and currently third in the polls, Nikki Haley, does not offer a dissenting vote: “It is not for judges to make these kinds of decisions, but for voters,” she declared to reporters at an event in Iowa.
This state will launch in less than a month the ballet of Republican primaries for which Donald Trump is widely favored.
Since the start of the campaign, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have been sparing their attacks against the former president, for fear of offending his base, which is still very loyal.
“To have a chance of winning, they have to rally a large number of Trump supporters, which they cannot do by attacking Trump,” explains political scientist Larry Sabato.
They therefore do not reject the billionaire’s theory according to which he is the victim of a “witch hunt”, led by Democratic President Joe Biden to prevent him from being elected.
Candidate for re-election, Joe Biden usually avoids commenting on his rival’s legal troubles, so as not to fuel his accusations of instrumentalization of justice.
On Wednesday, however, the leader toughened his tone, affirming that his predecessor had “certainly supported an insurrection” on January 6, 2021.
“Every case I fight against is the work of the Department of Justice and the White House,” retorted Donald Trump on his social network, foreshadowing the nature of the exchanges between the two men in 2024.
Exceptional
Election, trial, election, trial: there is no doubt, America is preparing to experience an extraordinary year with Donald Trump in every way, punctuated by comings and goings between the campaign platforms and the courts.
Neither a stint in prison nor a return to the White House can currently be ruled out for the Republican — a completely extraordinary situation on which he has capitalized.
With each twist and turn in his sprawling legal saga, Donald Trump has so far raised crazy sums of money and climbed in the polls, thanks to his supporters, convinced that he is the victim of a political cabal.
His team did not wait to campaign on the Colorado judgment, which he will nevertheless challenge before the Supreme Court in Washington, showering his supporters with calls for donations by email and SMS on Tuesday evening.
“Paradoxically, the Colorado court’s decision probably further strengthened Trump,” said Professor Larry Sabato. “The more he is seen as the victim of a dishonest, left-wing establishment, the more likely he is to win over Republican voters,” predicts the University of Virginia professor.
