14th Amendment
Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress,
or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or
military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously
taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States,
or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer
of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have
engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort
to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House,
remove such disability.
====
Remember when Republicans would praise the Constitution?
Well, mostly the Militia Amendment and the parts that gave them an edge over
democracy in the Electoral College and undemocratic Senate. All those
Constitutional powers for taxes, regulation of commerce and providing for the
general welfare are just “Marxism”.
Remember when pompous Republicans would self-righteously
boast they were the “Law and order Party”? Apparently, law and order to them is
allowing police to pin Black men with a knee to the neck, or shooting them in
the back because they “felt threatened”.
Gone are the days.
Now the radical Right Party of Trump are good with their
Dear Leader’s desire to eliminate the Constitution and any law enforcement
agencies that get in the way of their messiah’s megalomania. When the law seeks
accountability for attempted theft of an election and the theft of nuclear and
military secrets, then it’s “weaponization of the justice system”. Yes, the
patented neo-Nazi/white nationalist “victim card”. After years of “cruel
oppression” under Blacks, “Globalists” (Jews), Muslims, Mexicans, journalists
and educators, the delicate white snowflakes are melting down over the rule of
law itself.
Of course, they have no problem with Trump telling his
Department of Justice to interfere with an election on his behalf ordering them
to, “Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen”.
Former Assistant Attorney General and criminal defendant Jeffry Clark proceeded
to do just that before several true law and order DOJ officials said they would
resign en mass if that happened.
And of course, these “Constitutional conservatives” have no
problem with their Tangerine Tyrant insisting his Big Lie claim of a stolen
election “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles,
even those found in the Constitution”.
As we’ve suspected all along, Republicans want “law and
order for me and not for thee”. Yeah, that’s exactly how we get a dictatorship
and police state. And that is what they really want. This is why they follow
the fascist playbook to seize minority rule, even by force.
Many of them stormed our Capitol to overturn our democracy
by violent insurrection for Trump’s Big Lie. (Historic parallels: Both Hitler
and Trump are famous for scapegoating minorities, a Big Lie, AND an
insurrectionist Putsch.)
Another favorite lie from the American radical Right is,
“Hitler was a socialist! It’s in the party name!” Right…and North Korea is a
“democratic republic”. Every honest and sane person knows Nazis are fascists.
I’ll submit Hitler’s own words for the historical record.
After the allied invasion of Italy, Mussolini was deposed
and jailed. Hitler needed to send in his SS “fire brigade” to Italy. There were
no socialists or Marxists among them. They were loyal Nazis sworn by oath to
the Fuhrer.
From Hitler Directs His War” by Felix Gilbert (1950, New
York) pp.55ff.
“I have to take politically reliable units. I
can only accomplish something with elite formations that are politically close
to fascism.”
To quote the beloved anti-Nazi American patriot Stan Lee,
“‘Nuff said”.
There are more of Hitler's slogans and polices that would draw cheers from the MAGA crowd, including their classic “Commie card” for the
opposition and demonization of journalism, the arts and education by “culture
war”.
"We want to fill our culture again with
the Christian spirit. We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in
literature, in the theatre, and in the press-in short, we want to burn out the
poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a
result of liberal excess during recent years."
Hitler (a Radio Broadcast July 22, 1933; from My New Order,
cited in The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol. 1. pp. 871-872, Oxford
University Press,London, 1942)
“The German state is gravely attacked by
Marxism."
"The Marxists will march with democracy
until they succeed in indirectly obtaining for their criminal aims the support
of even the national intellectual world, destined by them for extinction."
Note the conflation of Marxism and democracy and contempt
for intellectuals. Today’s neo-Nazis howl about “Marxist CRT” as they dictate
or shut down studies of African American history.
Republicans and Nazis share the same disdain for women’s
reproductive freedom and desire to keep women in their place as unwilling
breeders.
On October 10, 1936, Heinrich Himmler created
the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion, or Special
Office (II S), a sub-department of Executive Department II of the Gestapo.
It’s quite clear neither Hitler nor Trump would respect the
law when it stood between them and power.
Following the footsteps of Hitler’s 1923 Putsch, Trump
launched his violent insurrection on January 6, 2021. We all saw it. We all saw
how he waited for hours in hopes they would succeed in overturning the
election. Then we saw him PRAISE his mob of thugs saying, “We love you. You’re
very special”.
On January 6, 2021, Republican Senator Mitt Romney said, "What
happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United
States."
Also on January 6, 2021, Mitch McConnell said, “We’re
debating a step that has never been taken in American history, whether Congress
should overrule the voters and overturn a presidential election...
Self-government, my colleagues, requires a
shared commitment to the truth, and a shared respect for the ground rules of
our system. We cannot keep drifting apart into two separate tribes with a
separate set of facts and separate reality, with nothing in common except our
hostility towards each other and mistrust for the few national institutions
that we all still share....The United States Senate has a higher calling than
an endless spiral of partisan vengeance. It would be unfair and wrong to
disenfranchise the voters and overrule courts and the states in this
extraordinarily thin basis.”
(How long until he forgets that part about “a separate set
of facts and separate reality”?)
On January 12, 2021, ten Republicans join all House
Democrats to impeach Trump for "incitement of insurrection" by a vote
of 232 to 197.
Trump’s boot-licker Kevin McCarthy was moved to admit the
facts on January 13, 2021. "President Trump bears responsibility for
Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have IMMEDIATELY
denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate
action by President Trump to accept his share of responsibility, quell the
brewing unrest and ensure President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin
his term.”
On February 13, 2021 the Senate voted 57–43 with 7 Republicans
to convict Trump of inciting insurrection.
On June 23, 2023, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
said that he supported an effort to hold a vote "expunging" both
impeachments of Trump. This is not a thing, but they really do try to expunge
facts and history.
During the first Republican presidential debate on August
23, 2023, all but Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson raised their hands in
support of reelecting Donald Trump, even if he is convicted of crimes.
Here a Putsch, there a Putsch. “Law and order”, Republican
style. “Law and order”, Nazi style.
Our Constitution is all that stands between freedom and
tyranny, and between democracy and dictatorship. Trump IS an enemy of
democracy and domestic enemy of our Constitution.
Let’s recall Section 3 of the 14th Amendment: “No person
shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and
Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States,
or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of
Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state
legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support
the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or
rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
The consensus of Congress and the country is Trump “engaged
in insurrection”. He gave “aid or comfort” to his thugs by praising them after
they terrorized Congress and beat police officers bloody in their violent
attempt to overturn the 2020 election. He defended them and said he would
pardon them.
Professor Laurance Tribe and former conservative judge Michael Luttig wrote in the Atlantic: "The disqualification clause operates independently of any such criminal proceedings, also indeed, independently of any impeachment proceedings and of congressional legislation".
Two members of the very conservative Federalist Society
released a law review article making the argument that this section
disqualifies Trump from all federal offices.
Law professors William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen
wrote for the University of Pennsylvania Law Review:
“In our view, on the basis of the public
record, former President Donald J. Trump is constitutionally disqualified from
again being President (or holding any other covered office) because of his role
in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 election and the events leading to the
January 6 attack. The case for disqualification is strong.”
Abstract
Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment
forbids holding office by former office holders who then participate in
insurrection or rebellion. Because of a range of misperceptions and mistaken
assumptions, Section Three’s full legal consequences have not been appreciated
or enforced. This article corrects those mistakes by setting forth the full
sweep and force of Section Three.
First, Section Three remains an enforceable
part of the Constitution, not limited to the Civil War, and not effectively
repealed by nineteenth century amnesty legislation. Second, Section Three is
self-executing, operating as an immediate disqualification from office, without
the need for additional action by Congress. It can and should be enforced by
every official, state or federal, who judges qualifications. Third, to the
extent of any conflict with prior constitutional rules, Section Three repeals,
supersedes, or simply satisfies them. This includes the rules against bills of
attainder or ex post facto laws, the Due Process Clause, and even the free
speech principles of the First Amendment. Fourth, Section Three covers a broad
range of conduct against the authority of the constitutional order, including
many instances of indirect participation or support as “aid or comfort.” It
covers a broad range of former offices, including the Presidency. And in
particular, it disqualifies former President Donald Trump, and potentially many
others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020
presidential election.
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