On Wednesday night, Seth Meyers said what we’re all thinking right about now:
“What is politics now? Like, for real, what are we all doing?”
Those important questions — which might’ve hit home a little too hard — were followed by a constitutional history lesson from Mr Meyers on how Colorado’s Supreme Court has banned former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot.
“After the Civil War, Congress ratified a section of the 14th Amendment in order to keep secessionists who were disloyal to the United States out of government,” Mr Meyers said on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
Mr Meyers is referring to section 3 of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states that no person holding government office “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
He assured viewers not to worry if they hadn’t heard of it: “It’s a Reconstruction-era amendment which high school history class always skipped over for some reason.”
The Colorado Supreme Court cited that amendment when they issued their 4-3 decision barring Mr Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot earlier this week.
“The only way this amendment could apply any more directly to Donald Trump is if it said ‘No person shall hold any office who hasn’t previously taken an oath to support the Constitution and the United States shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same including any flamboyant land-owning weirdos whose ties are too long and won’t stop complaining about how toilets don’t flush and windmills killing birds,” Mr Meyers continued.
Following his quips about Mr Trump’s previous bizarre claims, Mr Meyers cut right to the chase: “I don’t think anyone can reasonably dispute the fact that Donald Trump is an insurrection as defined by the plain text of the amendment.”
Mr Trump has already promised to appeal the Colorado decision. After the ruling, Mr Trump lashed out on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“BIDEN SHOULD DROP ALL OF THESE FAKE POLITICAL INDICTMENTS AGAINST ME, BOTH CRIMINAL & CIVIL. EVERY CASE I AM FIGHTING IS THE WORK OF THE DOJ & WHITE HOUSE. NO SUCH THING HAS EVER HAPPENED IN OUR COUNTRY BEFORE. BANANA REPUBLIC??? ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Fellow Republicans are also rejecting the decision. Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy vowed to remove himself from the Colorado ballot in protest, a move that was met with mockery on X, formerly Twitter, from fellow politicians.
In response to the decision, US President Joe Biden said there’s “no question” Mr Trump supported an insurrection during the 6 January 2021 Capitol riots.
The Office of Donald Trump did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
