Donald, Joe, and Their Not-So-Secret Santas

‘Tis the Christmas season, a time to give and receive. Former President Trump and
current President Biden have each received a valuable political gift as they pursue second terms
in the Oval Office. Trump’s not-so-secret Santa is the Colorado Supreme Court, which has ruled
that his name be struck from the Colorado primary election ballot for fomenting insurrection.
Biden’s not-so-secret Santa is the U. S. House Republican Conference, which has unanimously
voted to open a formal impeachment inquiry. Whatever the intent of their not-so-secret
Santas, both Trump and Biden will emerge stronger from the controversies their gifts will cause.

The majority opinion of the Colorado Supreme Court, all of whose members were
appointed by Democratic Governors, is that Trump fomented an insurrection on January 6,
2021, and is therefore ineligible, under the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, for
further service in the federal government in any capacity, especially as President of the United
States. The most prominent dissident on the Court is its Chief Justice, who argued that Trump
can’t be ruled ineligible in the absence of an actual indictment and conviction for insurrection,
but his fellow justices claim that such technicalities are not relevant to this issue.

No doubt the decision will be appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court, and should it uphold
the Colorado ruling, other blue state courts may decide to follow Colorado’s ruling. Trump
could find his name stricken from many blue state ballots, meaning his chances of carrying
them will be nil.

But that doesn’t mean Trump’s chances of reclaiming the presidency will be doomed.
After all, whether the U. S. Supreme Court allows him back on the Colorado ballot, Trump’s
chances of winning Colorado or any other blue state are poor anyway. So whether his name is
on or off the Colorado ballot, or any other blue state ballot, should not affect the electoral vote
count. And as we all know, it’s the constitutionally mandated electoral vote majority, and not
the constitutionally irrelevant popular vote count, that decides who becomes president. At
worse, we’ll once again have a president who loses the popular vote but wins the electoral vote
and therefore the White House.

But what’s practically certain, no matter what the Supreme Court decides, is that
Trump’s strength throughout the country and especially in the red states will inevitably grow.
This is part of the overall pattern we’ve been witnessing: Each impeachment and each
indictment strengthens the determination of Trump’s supporters to stand by their man. Trump
has artfully convinced his supporters that the political elites consider them deplorable and must
be suppressed, that Trump is the only one standing up for them, and that the elites are
persecuting him to get to them. His supporters see the impeachments, the indictments, the FBI
Russian collusion investigation, the 51 intelligence officers going to bat for Hunter Biden, and
now the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling all as evidence that Trump is right and that he is,
indeed, the only person standing between his supporters and increased political oppression.
Trump is now raising more money from his supporters in the wake of the Colorado decision,
and will soon raise more votes as well.

That the House Republicans would launch an impeachment investigation against
President Biden was a foregone conclusion. Ever since the first impeachment of President
Trump they’ve been vowing revenge. In the fall of 2020, even before the general election,
Republican congressmen such as now former Representative Louie Gohmert were saying that if
Biden were to be elected, he would soon be impeached, especially if he could be linked to the
contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop. Perhaps that’s why Anthony Blinken, then a campaign aide
and now the Secretary of State, recruited all those top intelligence officials to try to convince us
that Hunter’s laptop was actually just a setup, courtesy of those pesky Russians.

In reality, the actual impeachment of Biden in 2024 is not altogether likely. It’s possible
that enough Republicans from purple districts may decide to vote against impeachment lest
they antagonize Biden supporters in their districts. And even if Biden is impeached by the
House, there is no possibility that Senate Democrats will support Republican efforts in the
Senate to remove him. In the Democratic-dominated Senate, the acquittal Democratic
President Biden will likewise be a foregone conclusion.

And Biden will win not only acquittal in the Senate if he does go to trial, but a boost in
his otherwise sagging popularity as well. Like the followers of Donald Trump and those of Bill
Clinton, the followers of Joe Biden—he actually has some—will see him as the victim of unjust
persecution at the hands of political zealots, and rally around him accordingly. Just as the
impeachments of Trump and Clinton made them more popular, so too will the impeachment of
Biden enhance his popularity as well.

So in this Christmas season, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden should give thanks for
the gifts their not-so-secret Santas have given them. Both Trump and Biden will emerge the
stronger for the ordeals their Santas have created.

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Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville and taught politics and government at Tarleton since 1987. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990 to the present).  He was Mayor Pro Tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014.  He is a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the Stephenville Rotary Club and does volunteer work for the Boy Scouts of America. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.