The Donald Trump Score Card

Trump has used the Electoral Count Reform Act to claim that he was right all along because the law had to be changed after his attempt to use the vagueness of the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to overthrow the 2020 election.

 

The potential mess that could be spawned by the desire to use the 14th Amendment to disqualify Trump or other candidates could create an impetus to replace the 14th Amendment with another Amendment.

That won't be as easy as Congress in 2022 revising the Electoral Count Act of 1887 with the Electoral Count Reform Act.

There's a limit to how much the U.S. Supreme Court could interpret the disqualification clause in the 14th Amendment to make it what it wants it to be while still projecting a sense of jurisprudence. It could use extreme liberal or conservative interpretations that twist it into something that is far removed from what the Amendment actually says for the sake of getting itself off the hook and trying to please most of the public and not offend popular candidates. It could take a cheap way out by ruling that it doesn't apply to presidential elections, although that would still allow potential disqualifications of candidates for other federal offices. An even cheaper way out would be to not hear the case at all and let states and Congress grapple with the issue indefinitely.

If enough chaos ensues, the 14th Amendment might have to be replaced, similar to how the Electoral Count Act was revised after Trump's insurrection at the Capitol which, ironically, spawned the current debate over disqualifying him in the 2024 election.

 

Trump rages at Ohio governor DeWine . He called him a stiff who's doing the bidding for the radical left and says he's finished with him.

Trump is upset that DeWine vetoed a bill that would have banned gender-affirming medical care for minors.


'I’m finished with this stiff': Trump flips out on Ohio's GOP governor

 

Home of the Secretary of State of Maine is swatted.


Maine Secretary of State says home ‘swatted’ after Trump removed from ballot

 

Mollie Hemingway on Fox is saying that Trump is entitled to due process before he can be removed from the ballot by the 14th Amendment.

The 14th Amendment doesn't state that a trial is necessary for a candidate to be ineligble. In an originalist, conservative, rights of the states stance, the issue would be left up to the states to decide what due process, if any, is needed A state could have its own rules that say its Secretary of State determines it singlehandedly or that some sort of state trial is needed.

Trump is saying that it is isn't even a matter of due process. He thinks he has absolute immunity from any act he did while president. Therefore, the 14th Amendment that could be used to keep him off the ballot for engaging in an insurrection doesn't even apply to him.


'Put that guy in jail': Fox News pundits clash over 'the stink' of Trump and Jan. 6

 

Trump will likely lose his claim about absolute immunity in the appeals court. The SC may not even bother hearing his possible appeal to the SC if he loses.

The contention that some sort of reasonable due process is needed when trying to disqualify a candidate using the 14th Amendment will still remain. How to attain it and have some consistency and agreement across all the states without having to replace the 14th Amendment or have an overly liberal interpretation of it by a Supreme Court ruling is open to debate.

Assuming it agrees to hear the issue, how the U.S. Supreme Court might try to find some middle ground on that type of contention remains to be seen.

 

Trump to hold rally in Iowa on Jan. 6, the third anniversary of his riot at the Capitol.


Donald Trump to hold rally in Iowa on third anniversary of Capitol riot

 

Graham defends Trump by saying that Trump didn't actually go into the Capitol.


Graham backtracks on earlier Jan. 6 criticism of Trump: ‘It depends on what the conduct is’

excerpt:

“Now, if you’re doing your job as president — and January the sixth, he was still president trying to find out if the election, you know, was on the up and up — I think his immunity claim, I don’t know how it will bear out, but I think it’s a legitimate claim,” Graham continued.

 

Graham backtracks on earlier Jan. 6 criticism of Trump: ‘It depends on what the conduct is’

excerpt:

“They’re prosecuting him for activity around January the sixth. He didn’t break into the Capitol. He gave a fiery speech, but he’s not the first guy to ever do that,” Graham said.

 

Trump lays ground for 2024 election fraud claims with New Years screed

excerpt:

“As the New Year fast approaches, I would like to wish an early New Year’s salutation to Crooked Joe Biden and his group of Radical Left Misfits & Thugs on their never ending attempt to DESTROY OUR NATION through Lawfare, Invasion, and Rigging Elections,” Mr Trump wrote in the afternoon of 30 December.

“They are now scrambling to sign up as many of those millions of people they are illegally allowing into [our] Country, in order [so] that they will be ready to VOTE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2024,” he added.

 

Former GOP congressman predicts Trump will take a plea deal and exit the 2024 race.


'Never walk into that trial': Ex-GOP congressman predicts how Trump will dodge Jan. 6 jury

excerpt:

“Can you envision Donald Trump walking into the D.C. Federal Courthouse, sitting at the defense table for six to seven hours a day with his mouth shut — for eight or more weeks — and then being convicted by the jury and sentenced by this judge?” he asked.

He continued, “A plea deal would fit with Trump’s longtime modus operandi. In civil litigation he is all bluster, and then, at the last minute, he settles.

“He will do that in this case, too: Negotiate a deal in which he pleads guilty and withdraws from the campaign in return for a guarantee that he will not be sent to prison.

 

Trump's mind is so immersed in the world of his civil suits that he told a reporter he might consider a plea deal in one of his criminal cases if the court awards him money for damages done to him.


Trump suggests he's open to taking plea deal with a specific condition

excerpt:

"Trump further predicted that he will not be convicted on the federal charges stemming from the documents case. He also stressed that he would not accept a plea deal unless he was presented one "where they pay me some damages.""

 

Trump's mouth wouldn't be shut during a criminal trial. He would be making grunting noises and throwing his arms up in the air while witnesses testified against him, like he did during his civil fraud case in NY.

 

'Never walk into that trial': Ex-GOP congressman predicts how Trump will dodge Jan. 6 jury

excerpt:

“My prediction: Trump will never walk into that trial. He either will become sick and unable to stand trial, or he will make a plea deal to avoid prison.”

LeBoutillier predicts that, after failing to get immunity from the Supreme Court, Trump will discover that special prosecutor Smith has amassed much more evidence against him than he expected. He will also be frantically worried that the jury pool is not from his base.

 

The amount of evidence Smith has against Trump is not known.

Smith doesn't seem interested in Trump co-defendant Chesebro who is cooperating with the authorities in Trump's criminal election subversion case in GA. It may be that Smith has so much evidence that Cheseboro doesn't matter to him that much.

 

Trump set to go on trial in January for allegedly misleading people about an outdated video phone that he was trying to sell.


Trump set to go to trial over claims he duped investors into backing failed video phone

excerpt:

"The lawsuit claims he used his TV show Celebrity Apprentice to promote the phone, but didn’t disclose a financial connection to ACN, Newsweek reported. The lawsuit claims he said the phones were bringing in “half-a-billion dollars” a year.

Newsweek's report quotes the lawsuit as stating: "Trump also told investors that he had 'experienced the opportunity' and 'done a lot of research,' and that his endorsement was 'not for any money.' Not a word of this was true.”"

 

Trump's message on Christmas Eve.


‘Jack Smith Has a Winner on This One’: Ex-Trump White House Lawyer Predicts Old Boss Will ‘Swiftly’ Lose Immunity Claim

excerpt:

“I wasn’t campaigning, the Election was over. I was doing my duty as President to expose and further investigate a Rigged and Stolen Election. It was my obligation to do so, and the proof found is voluminous and irrefutable,” he argued on Truth Social on Christmas Eve. “Therefore, among other reasons, of course I am entitled to IMMUNITY. ADDITIONALLY, I DID NOTHING WRONG. Stop the Witch Hunt NOW!”

 

The 2020 election wasn't over for Trump.

And it still isn't.

 

Trump social media post suggests major strategy shift in Jan. 6 defense: report

excerpt:

"The post says Trump was prevented from announcing his use of the act — which is only activated in extreme situations — on X because the platform, then known as Twitter, was removing his posts.

"If Trump's reposting is an endorsement of this theory, it is a big departure from his current defense in his election interference case. The former president's claim until now has been that he didn't know how serious the situation was at the Capitol building," Newsweek's Sean O'Driscoll writes."

 

Trump could go further by saying Twitter impeded his ability to invoke the Insurrection Act that he would have used to defend his insurrectionists from members of Antifa who weren't there.