Everywhere or nowhere. Donald Trump should be either eligible to be on the presidential ballot in all 50 states or he is disqualified.

Either the 14th Amendment is applicable to the former president or it is not. The United States is not an opt-out confederation — an issue decided by the Civil War. Fortunately, the narrowly decided Colorado ballot decision will likely be heard by the Supreme Court, which will hopefully make a final decision.

It’s worth noting that the 14th Amendment was ratified in the wake of the Civil War, when elected federal officeholders and serving military officers formed an alternate government, raised armies and fought a bloody war to permanently detach their states from the Union. To equate the ragtag, freakshow riot of Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s convoluted pleading with Mike Pence and his slippery rhetoric with what originally spawned the insurrection clause in the Constitution is patently ridiculous.

In addition, there is an active criminal case yet to be decided (which does not include insurrection charges). To make a decision without the benefit of the full weight of evidence that will be presented in Trump’s March federal trial is irresponsible in the extreme. If the left wants to stop Trump through the courts, they should lobby for laws that prevent ANY convicted felon from appearing on a state ballot — which all states should do anyway.

The benefit of this ruling is that it will surely be reviewed by the U.S.........

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