Voices: It’s not up to the voters to decide if Trump can run for president

The debate over the 14th Amendment has encouraged the myth that the voters are free to choose whomever they want for president. Politicians across party lines are not addressing the merits of whether former president Donald Trump is disqualified from serving as president for engaging in the January 6 insurrection. Rather, the political class is almost uniformly proclaiming that it is up to the voters to decide if he is qualified to be president.

California governor stated: “In California, we defeat candidates at the polls. Everything else is a political distraction.” Presidential candidate and former South Carolina governor,, “I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions.” This is the politically expedient position for politicians bent on convincing voters they are not trying to eliminate their opponent for what some may view as a “mere technicality.”