I hate calling it the “Democratic Party,” and I know I’m not alone here. This objection that many of us have goes back many years and is rooted in a variety of reasons. It just seems wrong to label a party as “democratic” when, in many respects, it acts against that very principle, whether it’s through partisan gerrymandering, their rigged presidential primaries, or their habit over the last 25 years of challenging every presidential election they don't win. And now, with the recent moves to kick Trump and other Republicans off the ballot, it's getting even harder to buy into the idea that the so-called Democratic Party truly embodies democratic values.
While the effort to remove Trump from state ballots received the most national attention, Democrats have sought to challenge the eligibility of more than 130 Republicans running for Congress who challenged the results of the 2020 election. Something many Democrats, including Democrat leaders, have done in the past.
"Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) praised the effort then-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) organized to challenge the certification of President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election. Jan. 6 committee head Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) voted to challenge it in the House,” noted constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley. "Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) sought to block certification of the 2016 election result — particularly ironic since he’s a leading voice calling for Trump to be disqualified."
More than 70 Democrats boycotted his inauguration, falsely claiming that Trump stole the 2016 election with the help of Russia. Hillary Clinton still insists the 2016 election was “stolen” from her. Joe Biden’s Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, also believes the 2016 election was stolen from Hillary, as does Nancy Pelosi. John Kerry still believes that Bush stole the 2004 election from him.
And yet, none of the Democrats who challenged the results or cast doubt on these elections they lost were ever targeted by Republican administrations with bogus criminal charges or found their eligibility for running for Congress challenged. Democrats, with their recent efforts to enshrine their own power, have opened a Pandora’s box with their misuse of the legal system. Sadly, it’s not limited to the hardcore partisans in Congress or a few leftist nonprofits.
Related: The Democrats Are Planning to Dispute the 2024 Election If Trump Wins. Here’s How We Know.
According to a new CBS News/YouGov poll, a disturbingly high number of Democrat voters, 81%, believe states should disqualify Trump from presidential ballots. That’s 81% of a party believing that Trump, who has never been charged with sedition or with participating in an insurrection, should be ineligible to run for president under the 14th Amendment.
There's a disturbing irony in that Democrats claim that they are protecting democracy by unilaterally acting as judge and jury to stop Trump and other Republicans from appearing on ballots nationwide.
“If you think about it, of all of the forms of disqualification that we have, the one that disqualifies people for engaging in insurrection is the most democratic because it’s the one where people choose themselves to be disqualified,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) recently told CNN.
As Jonathan Turley noted, "That is akin to treating every criminal charge as a consensual act of incarceration because the accused chose his path in life."
Democrats will come up with any cockamamie explanation to justify their blatantly anti-Democratic efforts, but it doesn't change the fact they fail to live up to the "democratic" part of their party's name.
