The Morning Briefing: Signs From the Far Left That the Colorado Supremes Stepped in It

Top O' the Briefing

Happy Friday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Yerzenwul felt that it was almost time to share his love of hamster haiku with everyone in Omelette Appreciation Club.

It has been a whirlwind few days since the Colorado Supreme Court took a plunge off of the progressive cliff and booted Donald Trump from the state's GOP primary ballot.

In the first 24 hours or so after the ruling, reaction predictably broke along party lines. The rabid, Trump-hating Left was ecstatic, of course. Even Republicans who aren't Trump fans thought the court had severely exceeded its authority. Everyone immediately became a legal expert and opinions were flying like Frisbees at the beach.

There were a couple of interesting developments in the skeptic camp yesterday, and they didn't come from where one might expect.

Rick wrote something yesterday about New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait wandering away from the hive mind to question the Colorado court's ruling. First, Rick explains the crux of the matter:

But "insurrectionist" is a legal term. And once the Supreme Court finds that Trump may have welcomed efforts on his behalf to change the results of the 2020 election but had no part in planning or participating in the efforts, the Colorado Supreme Court's case will fall apart and all other challenges to Trump's ballot access will fail.

I've said since January 6, 2021, that anyone who calls what happened that day an insurrection is an unhinged liar. Trump couldn't have participated in an insurrection because there was no insurrection.

Rick quotes Chait as saying that the "weak point in this argument" has to do with this insurrection angle.

For those unfamiliar with Chait, he's a leftist's leftist. The fact that he's writing a takedown of the Colorado ruling in the thoroughly liberal New York Magazine is a real red flag indicating just how awful it is.

There was an even more delicious defection on Thursday.

My friend and colleague John Sexton writes over at HotAir that The Washington Post editorial board has joined the naysayers:

People (including our own Ed Morrissey) have been saying this since the decision appeared Tuesday but I’m still a bit surprised to see the Washington Post‘s editorial board making the same case. After laying out the basis of the Colorado decision under the 14th Amendment, the board points out “the law is not so clear.” The board argues that section 3 of the Amendment should probably apply to the president (which is what the Colorado Supreme Court found) but says that doesn’t really matter unless you’ve also concluded that President Trump did in fact commit insurrection in connection with Jan. 6. And on that point, the Colorado court is way out on a limb.

WaPo is home to some of the most vitriolic, unbalanced Trump screeds on Earth, and has been since 2016. I read its Opinion section every day and can assure you that the editorial board is not mentally balanced when it comes to anything having to do with him.

This is, in the words of WaPo's least favorite American politician, "YUUUUGE." Stay tuned to see if The New York Times has a moment of clarity anytime soon.

While it is impossible to know how the Supreme Court will rule on anything, it will be stunning if it doesn't quickly throw the Colorado court's ruling on the trash heap of irresponsible jurisprudence.

What happened in Colorado is, of course, the clearest sign of the Democrats' desperation yet. They're rolling into an election year with an incumbent president who is less popular than chronic diarrhea. Even if their plan to get Trump off the ballot works, Biden would probably lose to whichever Republican wins the nomination instead. He's not even Ramaswamy-proof at this point.

For the moment, I'm going to have faith in SCOTUS and say that Trump will be on the ballot.

That's when the real fun begins.

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The Mailbag of Magnificence contributions can be sent to [email protected].

The Mailbag of Magnificence

It has been a while, my friends. Let's get right to it with this from Ken:

Stephen:
Once again you have hit the nail squarely on its head with The Rot In Academia!
You have two people here in Iowa who believe in you and read your column EVERY DAY! You are the reason we subscribe to Townhall! We are headed to Tucson for the holidays and to see the Giant Taco Drop on New Years Eve. We WILL BE READING YOUR COLUMNS EVERY DAY. Sincerely Ken and Donna.

Thank you very much, Ken and Donna! It would be fun to grab a drink or three while you're here but I'm going to be in Michigan getting in some quality time with my daughter and mom. Trust me: go to Boca Tacos y Tequila on 4th Ave while you're here!

This is from "m":

One way to clean up the rot - better late than never - is to eliminate the Dept of Education and put its entire budget into a universal voucher program. Assuming 50 million el-hi students, that's 5K / kid. Combine that with what states are already spending, and each parent gets north of 12K / kid to send 'em wherever the parents / kids wanna go. No more teachers union into the bargain ;-}

I've been advocating for the abolishment of the Dept. of Education for longer than I can remember. This is an interesting take on it. Oh, teachers' unions have GOT to go.

Friend of the Briefing Momster Mom writes:

I haven’t felt the need to respond to one of your Morning Briefing non-sequiturs in a long time. However your mention of cranburgers piqued my interest. I have put cranberry sauce on various sandwiches…usually turkey or chicken ones. But I am already turning a cranburger over in my imagination. I envision a hamburger topped with smothered onions, bleu cheese crumbles, and whole berry cranberry sauce. Mmmmmm. I will let you know how it works out.

When I wrote that I was, of course, just being my typical ridiculous self. After a minute or so I started thinking, "You know, that actually doesn't sound like a bad idea." Great minds and stuff. Please let me know how your cranburger works out!

On the topic of the daily Sine Qua Non Sequitur, Jere is not a fan:

Dear Mr. Kruiser --

With one caveat I like your regular columns on pjmedia and always agree with you when I do read past the beginning of any of them. Yours is a great conservative voice.

I wish you would omit the intentionally nonsensical word salads at the beginning of each column. The weird artificiality of them turns me off, makes me cringe, and sometimes disinclines me to read further.

Knowing human nature, I suspect other people, perhaps many others, are similarly turned off, which is a shame, given your strengths as a writer.

I greatly appreciate that you're a regular reader Jere! I've explained many times that I like to be goofy to kick things off because the news is depressing. As for your suspicions about human nature, you're way off on this one. Off the top of my head, I would say that the emails run about 15-1 (it's probably more) in favor of me keeping it going. In fact, I'll be publishing a compilation book of the second lines next year. As for my strengths as a writer, being obligated to come up with that line five days a week has been one of the greatest writing exercises I've ever done. I do hope you keep reading. It's easy to skip over two sentences if you just can't wait to get to the heavy stuff.

Thanks to those who wrote in. The emails have been a little quiet since Thanksgiving. I know...the holidays. I'll keep answering as long as you keep writing though!

Everything Isn't Awful

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Two babies! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/UHwMP9FwSE
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