Ex-RNC Chair: Court Must Disqualify Any Insurrectionist, Including Trump | Opinion

Feb 28, 2024.1/2

Marc RacicotFormer Montana Governor, RNC Chair

He also served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee as well as thechairman of the Bush/ Cheney Reelection Campaign.

Anti-Trump screed by Bush/Cheney Cartel. This is his “studied and elite opinion”

Although the United States Supreme Courtis not authorized by the Constitution to "make" the law, it is empowered to interpret the law in the context of an actual case or controversy.

Based on Article III of the Constitution, the Court is forbidden from issuing advisory opinions, or hearing a case that's not "ripe," which refers to a controversy that has not yet matured, or one that's based upon hypothetical future events that may not unfold as anticipated or unfold at all. Stated another way, the jurisdiction and power of the Supreme Court is confined to actual cases with identifiable opposing parties who are engaged in a substantial ongoing controversy that is real, adversarial, and presently existing.

The immutable and fundamental constitutional duty of the Supreme Court then, is to decide actual cases or controversies that are ripe and real without being distracted by hypothetical scenarios or theoretical suppositions that remain imaginary. Unfortunately, however, many of those listening to or observing the oral arguments and questions of the justices in Trump v. Anderson could not help but ponder whether the Court, in its consideration, intended to adhere to the judicial interpretation rules articulated in the Constitution and enforced by the Court throughout its history; or, in the alternative, would explore ways for a decision to be avoided or rendered by a different arbiter at a different time and place.

Far better for our union, for the reputation and stature of the court, for the Constitution, for our democracy and, frankly, for the planet, to faithfully confront the issue of disqualification head-on and without delay.The Supreme Court brief of the Colorado voters is a masterful presentation of history and constitutional law that, if studied thoroughly and carefully, will lead any tribunal, including the Supreme Court, inescapably to the right conclusion. KEK

A question asked during argument focused upon where the discretion to disqualify candidates from federal office resides. Fortunately, there is a plain and simple answer. The authority to make such disqualification decisions, whether on the basis of age, residency, birthplace, or Section 3 or the 22nd Amendment, resides in the same place it has always resided for 235 years: with election supervisors and the secretaries of the states and commonwealths.

Parenthetically, it's worth noting that Congress was provided the authority in Section 5 of the 14th Amendment to adopt "appropriate legislation" to enforce other sections of the Amendment in 1868, but in reference to section 3 has never done so over the last 156 years since the ratification of the 14th Amendment. (Hence showing this prior AG, the power never allowed Secretaries of State to Ban a Candidate, because its not the law. This guy is crying buckets of tears and trying to give the power to liberals to ban all republicans.)

There's nothing mysterious or unusual about requiring presidential candidates to meet the aforementioned eligibility requirements. They're mandatory and cannot be waived nor ignored. Throughout history, a multitude of candidates, including presidential candidates, have been disqualified by election officials because of their failure to meet pertinent qualifications allowing access to a primary election ballot.

In reference to the 2024 presidential election, it has been argued by some political soothsayers that because the disqualification requirements of the 14th Amendment have rarely been applied, we should just move on, turn a blind eye to the Constitution, ignore the Disqualification Rule, and quietly leave the voters to address, by their votes, the presidential qualification issues in the coming election….

https://www.newsweek.com/ex-rnc-chair-court-must-disqualify-any-insurrectionist-including-trump-opinion-1874318

>>20541148

2/2

The thing is, that's simply not a constitutional or legal alternative. Not unless the Supreme Court and the American people are prepared to defy and thereby abrogate the Constitution. The qualifications set forth in the Constitution are not options to be casually noted, arrogantly dismissed or discreetly avoided by self-serving strategists, sanctimonious candidates, adventurous jurists or timid election officials entrusted by the Constitution to ensure the purity of elections and guard against abuses of the electoral process.

None of them have the license of the American people to spurn a constitutional imperative that's plain on its face: if you've taken an oath of office to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" and you thereafter betray its provisions by engagement in insurrection or rebellion, the 14th Amendment Disqualification Rule forever bars you from ever again seeking that, or any other office. Unless Congress, in its wisdom, and by a two-thirds vote, removes "such disability."

The fact that the Disqualification Rule has not been previously applied to a presidential candidate does not diminish the materiality or clarity of the Constitutional mandate. If anything at all, the rarity of the application more profoundly reveals that the nation has, mercifully, had to suffer only one president who took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and then, as declared by three different tribunals in two different states, demonstratively engaged in insurrection against it.

Nor does the limited application of the Rule make it more complex than what it is on its face. The words in Section 3 unambiguously mean what they say, and they say what they mean.

So, too, does the method of judicial analysis of the Constitution referred to as "Originalism," which, to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, interprets "the Constitution as a law," and "its text as text." Originalism also makes clear that the text of the Constitution is interpreted "to have the meaning that it had at the time people ratified it." In other words, the meaning of the words in the Constitution don't "change over time," nor is it the prerogative of a judge or justice, when interpreting the Constitution, "to update" the text or "infuse" his or her policy views into that text.

The point of the Disqualification Rule embodied in Section 3 and its application to the 2024 presidential election are unmistakable:It would be unforgivingly foolish to allow a presidential candidate who knowingly and purposely betrayed the Constitution, his country, and his officethe opportunity to engage in the same treacherous conduct a second time around. So thought the framers of the 14th Amendment and the people of this country who approved it in 1868.

(So if we can prove that Bush and Obama were proven insurrectionists based on someone’s opinion they can be charged for that today. Insurrection in the past is still a crime.I wonder how many indictments of his were overturned because he twisted the law for his politics. These people will never stop to try to destroy Trump and MAGA.)

Mar.8, 2024

MSNBC viewers in panic mode after reporters explain exactly how wildly popular President Trump really is…

The tide’s definitely turning, folks, and the waves are hitting so hard that even the propaganda media can’t keep the real story under wraps anymore. The bottom line? Biden’s taken the Democrat Party down a path that’s looking even more chaotic and bleak than what we saw under Obama. And let’s be real, that was a political bloodbath in its own right.

Here’s what CNN had to say about the political energy in the United States:

But it was MSNBC that delivered the biggest blow. Imagine their viewers catching this little tidbit below. You can almost hear the sound of liberal minds blowing across the country. It’s like a reality check, cutting through years of relentless propaganda and spin. As it turns out, the truth does hurt, doesn’t it? Ouch.

The reality of the current situation in the US boils down to policy, and this is how Americans are feeling. This is very bad news for Biden and the Democrats.

Scott Adams had a very keen observationabout what’s going on right now in the 2024 race:

Dog not barking:

Is it my imagination or has the Trump campaign so far been flawless?

And is he doing that while fighting 91 indictments at the same time?

That’s some serious Ginger Rogers action. Same dance as Fred Astaire, but backwards and wearing heels.

Biden is struggling to read note cards.

We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, but from where we’re standing, President Trump is lining up to make a big splash in 2024. His past policy wins are appealing to American voters, especially when you stack them up against Joe Biden’s massive failures. It’s shaping up to be an interesting runaway race.

(I wonder what percent of democrats are not telling the pollsters they are voting for Trump. Look at the women advantage he has, its huge!)

https://revolver.news/2024/03/msnbc-viewers-in-panic-mode-after-reporters-explain-exactly-how-wildly-popular-president-trump-really-is/

Trump’s MAGA movement isn’t just winning bigly in America. 1/2

As Europe turns right, Steve Bannon looks to get back in the game after a landmark Italian court win.

MARCH 8, 2024 2:29 PM CET

BY BEN MUNSTER AND MERIDITH MCGRAW

ROME — Donald Trump’s MAGA warriors scored an unlikely win in Italy this week.

Few could have guessed that the quietly triumphant middle-aged Englishman strolling out of a Rome courtroom in an ill-fitting suit had just secured a victory that is likely to embolden one of the most stubborn and influential advocates of Trumpian populist-nationalism worldwide.

Benjamin Harnwell, the right-hand man of former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, was cleared of all charges Thursday after years of grueling litigation against Italy’s top prosecutor. The sprawling case had involved allegations by the Italian state of fraud centered around a “gladiator school” for budding far-right politicians that the two men had tried to set up in an ancient monastery in the mountains of central Italy.

“I’m overjoyed,” Harnwell said as he celebrated with a few close friends in the whitewashed corridors of Rome’s Criminal Court. His eyes grew misty as he went to embrace his mother, Miriam, who had made the journey from the U.K. to witness what she was certain would be her son’s exoneration. “I always knew,” she said, adding that she didn’t much care about his political views. “I just support Ben.”

But this was more than a mawkish conclusion to a long-running Italian legal melodrama.

The bombshell ruling frees up Bannon to establish a Trumpian foothold in the heart of Europe, at a moment when right-wing forces are surging. While Bannon told POLITICO that the format might be different, the goal remains the same: to set up an academy to own the libs.

“This is a huge victory,” he said. “The deep state of the EU came after us to shut this down. They are petrified about having any type of training academy that can train populists, nationalists.”

Gladiator school reboot

Harnwell said Thursday that he and Bannon are now mulling how to reclaim the lease for the Trisulti charterhouse that was to be the home of the Academy for the Judeo-Christian West — the so-called gladiator school — until Harnwell was booted out in 2021.

The Italian Ministry of Culture had granted the €100,000-a-year lease in 2017 to the Dignitatis Humanae Institute (Institute for Human Dignity), the Catholic think tank Harnwell had founded with arch-conservative Vatican heavyweight Cardinal Raymond Burke.

The frescoed, 800-year-old monastery, nestled in thick woods at the summit of a soaring mountain in central Italy, was in disrepair, its few remaining friars dwindling, and the Ministry of Culture was looking to rent it out to somebody who could manage the upkeep.

In swept Bannon and Harnwell.

Their idea was that prominent right-wing politicians like Italy’s League chief Matteo Salvini and Britain’s Brexit champion Nigel Farage would visit the monastery to teach specialized courses on “Judeo-Christian values” amid the cobwebs and old oil paintings. Harnwell said the objective was to educate students how to effectively challenge the liberal worldview embodied by Pope Francis, the Left, the European Union, Black Lives Matter and the climate change movement.

But after an Italian investigative documentary alleged that Harnwell had committed fraud in his application for the lease and failed to make two payments of €100,000 to the Ministry of Culture, the “gladiator school” was suffocated by five years of grinding lawsuits in civil and criminal courts, eventually forcing Harnwell’s eviction.

As such, he expects Thursday’s ruling — which also saw the state prosecutor drop all charges relating to fraud after the government’s star witness repeatedly failed to show up, citing Alzheimer’s — to provide catnip for Trump supporters who say the former president and his allies have been unfairly persecuted…

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-italy-benjamin-harnwell-steve-bannon-academy-for-the-judeo-christian-west/

>>20541237

2/2

In the interim, Bannon’s plans for a gladiatorial reboot have mushroomed.

Whether based in Italy or elsewhere, the next iteration will primarily exist online, Bannon said, adding that it would be launched by the inauguration of a second Trump presidency (potentially starting in January 2025). Describing the Academy as an intensive training camp that would “augment Trump’s war against the administrative state,” he assured POLITICO that there was “overwhelming” demand and that “hundreds” of undisclosed locations in the U.S. and abroad had demanded that kind of instruction in-person.

“It may be a wacky side project, but it helps gain visibility for these people,” Roberto D’Alimonte, a political scientist at Luiss-Guido Carli University in Rome, said. “It appeals to minorities, and minorities do have an effect. Look at the Trump phenomenon — we need to pay attention to these things.”

Owning the right

With the resurgence of Trump, flying high and dominating the Republican primary, Bannon has made progress elsewhere in restoring his influence beyond the terminally online MAGA right wing. Indeed, on the same day Harnwell was cleared of wrongdoing, Bannon was at the Hungarian embassy in Washington meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, with whom he talked about CPAC Hungary, a conservative conference, and his Academy plans, among other things, he said.

Bannon said he sees the increasing popularity in Europe of politicians like Orbán, whose government will control the Brussels agenda in the second half of 2024 at the helm of the EU Council, as an illustration of the extent to which Trumpist populism has already penetrated Europe at the expense of traditional conservatism.

Bannon said leaders like Trump and Orbán have proven attractive to young voters. “These leaders go up, they’re dynamic, and they’re attracting younger people and younger people want to be trained,” he said.

Pollsters in Europe forecast big gains for the European far right in June’s EU election, on the heels of Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders’ win in the Netherlands late last year. Right-wing sentiment has been brewing over a mixture of inflation, the costly defense of Ukraine against Russia and expensive green policies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has also taken a rightward turn, coming round to Italian leader Giorgia Meloni’s hardline position on migration, who has herself softened on right-wing fixations like EU membership and NATO responsibilities.

But Bannon has also previously expressed concern at this convergence of von der Leyen with Meloni, who was once seen as the great hope of the European far right. “I love [Meloni] for how she’s normalizing the right in power in Italy, but you can’t play the game of of Brussels and NATO,” he said in an interview with Corriere della Sera.

Figures such as Matteo Salvini, Italy’s hard-line deputy premier, are seizing on her Atlanticist, pro-EU turn to present her as a traitor and push more hardcore policies. While Bannon didn’t criticize Meloni outright, he was at pains to portray himself as right wing — distancing himself from the term “conservative.”Harnwell was more forthright, emphasizing that the next frontier would now be a bitter struggle within the right itself.

“Meloni made the calculation that Trumpism was dead in the U.S., that Steve had fulfilled all his usefulness to her, and that her political future lay in Brussels,” he told POLITICO. “Now she’s trying to put out feelers to Trump and his associates without repudiating her position of the last two years. She feels she can have her establishment cake and — how can I make this work — eat her anti-establishment cake at the same time.But if there’s one thing that defines Bannon, it’s expectations of loyalty. “

So it’s not just the liberal establishment in Bannon’s crosshairs this time — his next goal includes owning the right-wingers who betrayed him.

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-italy-benjamin-harnwell-steve-bannon-academy-for-the-judeo-christian-west/