Have you noticed that there’s been quite a lot of criticism of the recent efforts to boot Donald Trump off the ballot in various states from the left?
For sure, there are plenty of leftists whom no one would go to for solid political advice who have cheered the recent rulings by the Colorado State Supreme Court and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. But how many people on the left really think you’re getting smart political analysis from "The View" anyway? Many level-headed Democrat experts, strategists, and even members of Congress—well, level-headed for liberals, anyway—have the knowledge and experience to not be completely blinded by their hatred of Trump.
Sure, they may still hold on to the absurd belief that Trump incited and participated in an insurrection and think Trump is "a threat to democracy,” but they get that removing a candidate from the ballot when he is beating the incumbent in the polls is anti-democratic.
And, of course, these efforts are backfiring tremendously.
“[Trump] wanted to set up a construct…which says that they’re coming after him because he’s running for president and they’re trying to prevent him from being president,” former Obama adviser David Axelrod told CNN on Friday.
He added that it’s worked well for him so far.
“We’ve run this experiment, he’s only gained since he started getting indicted,” he continued. “What you thought might be kryptonite for him has turned out to be battery packs, and this is a big one for him.”
Indeed it has. His poll numbers have improved with each bogus indictment—and not just within the Republican primary. Trump has had a lead in the RealClearPolitics average since mid-September—a feat he never accomplished during the 2020 cycle.
Related: Here We Go Again: The 'Worse Than Trump’ Gambit Returns
“I do think it would rip the country apart if he were actually prevented from running because tens of millions of people want to vote for him,” Axelrod added “I think if you’re going to beat Donald Trump, you’re going to probably have to do it at the polls."
And that’s the rub, isn’t it? At the moment, Joe Biden’s numbers are in the toilet, and Trump is crushing him in poll after poll.
And Axelrod isn't the only one concerned
“Attempts to disqualify demagogues with deep popular support often backfire,” Yascha Mounk, a professor and political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, told the New York Times. “The only way to neutralize the danger posed by authoritarian populists like Donald Trump is to beat them at the ballot box, as decisively as possible and as often as it takes.”
“Removing [Trump] from the ballot would, on its face value, seem very anti-democratic,” Steve Hobbs, the Democrat secretary of state of Washington state, agreed.
You think?
Heck, even California figured out that disqualifying Trump over a crime he hasn't been convicted of could be used against Democrats running for president in the future. In the end, the smarter leftists realize that these efforts are emboldening Trump and could propel him back to the White House.
Whether or not they truly grasp that they are becoming enemies of the very democracy they claim to want to protect...
Well, I'm not so sure of that.
