On Monday, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian in which he discussed one of his many intriguing ideas. Trump lied, and if he needs to, he’ll lie again. In his job description it says, “He shouldn’t be able to run for office.” His angry reaction almost shows the hopelessness he’s feeling. Although Trump may be elected president, Reich now agrees that secretaries of state should refuse to place his name on the ballot.
Reich’s big bombshell is saved for the final lines, but readers who stay to the end will be rewarded. His penultimate piece of writing predicts that during the following six months, most states’ filing deadlines for the 2024 presidential election would arrive. Reich concludes his article by stating, “Secretaries of state, who are usually in charge of deciding who gets on the ballot, must refuse to put Donald Trump’s name on the 2024 ballot, based on the clear meaning of section three of the 14th amendment.”
But by this point, Reich has spent several pages raving about how Trump will respond if he loses the 2020 election, so he is already agitated and wound up.
As Reich puts it, Trump’s congressional supporters “agreed to question the electoral votes and move the decision to the House of Representatives.” to election day, he called a rally for his supporters in the nation’s capital and led them in a march to the United States Capitol, where they rioted.He calls what has happened here “treason.”
It’s easy to think that Democrats in the House have never gone against the will of the voters in a presidential election, but they have, most recently in 2016 with Trump’s victory. In a Senate trial that took place after Trump had already left office, he was judged not guilty on all of these charges.
Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, made light of his disappointment in the election’s outcome on his official website. Reich claims that Raskin participated in the January 6 meeting of the small group that did the “painful work.”
Paraphrasing Reich, “Can any of us who saw (or learned through the hard work of the January 6 committee) what Trump tried to do to change the results of the 2020 election doubt that he will try to do whatever it takes to get back into power again, even if it’s illegal and against the Constitution?”
Reich also elaborates on a different viewpoint that has supporters outside himself. Democrats feel anxious about challenging Trump and a few other legitimately elected Republicans using the 14th Amendment on the grounds that they are rebels and should not be allowed to enter office.
David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, filed a bill in December 2017 that would make it illegal for Trump to win the presidency again.
The panicked tone of Reich’s op-ed is clearly evident in passages like this one:
But what if Trump manages to get dependable secretaries of state and governors to rig the election in his favor? What if he uses them to discourage those who support Joe Biden from voting?
Imagine he succeeds in having them choose electors who will always vote for him notwithstanding the results of the public vote.
If Trump were to convince more than 20% of Republican senators and House members to file grievances with slates of electors who voted for Biden, the election would be effectively nullified and Trump would be elected president. If this happens, the House of Representatives, where Trump has a commanding majority, would decide the election.
Is there anyone who doesn’t think any of this is at least plausible?
Trump is not a stranger to such tactics. He is more likely to try again now that his friends have powerful positions in state and federal government.
Numerous people express doubt, particularly over the concept that there is even a “probability.”
Seeing this level of desperation could even inspire Trump and his fans, increasing his chances of winning the Republican primary and the election as a whole.