David Axelrod - the ex-advisor to former President Barack Obama - recently raised serious concerns about the various ongoing efforts to remove former President Donald Trump from 2024 ballots.
According to the Washington Examiner, Axelrod voiced these concerns during a recent appearance on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront.
Axelrod's comment comes amid legal efforts by anti-Trump groups to remove Trump from the 2024 ballots of various states.
The anti-Trump groups argue that Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution disqualifies Trump. The relevant clause, in part, states:
No person shall be . . . hold any office . . . who, having previously taken an oath . . . to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same . . ."
The claim is that Trump took such an oath when he became president and that he "engaged in insurrection" on Jan. 6, 2021.
Legal experts - at least the ones who do not harbor a clear anti-Trump bias - have suggested that this argument carries no water. Yet, the anti-Trump groups continue to try to use this argument to disqualify Trump from 2024 ballots.
The anti-Trump groups have already achieved some success, most notably in Colorado. But, many anticipate that the matter will ultimately make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices will strike down the Fourteenth Amendment argument once and for all.
In the meantime, a new development recently took place in Maine. There, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, citing the Fourteenth Amendment argument, decided herself to disqualify Trump from the state's 2024 primary ballots. There are now efforts underway to remove Bellows from office.
It is against this backdrop that Axelrod appeared on CNN to express his concern about this effort to remove Trump from 2024 ballots.
"I have very, very strong reservations about all of this. I do think it would rip the country apart if he were actually prevented from running because tens of millions of people want to vote for him," Axelrod said.
The former Obama adviser went on to highlight the fact that Trump has only become more popular since the political left has started using the law to go after him.
"What you thought might be kryptonite for him has turned out to be battery packs, and this is a big one for him. I think if you’re going to beat Donald Trump, you’re going to probably have to do it at the polls," Axelrod said.
The polls currently have Trump dominating the Republican presidential primary field and they have Trump leading President Joe Biden by 2.3 percentage points.
As Axelrod correctly pointed out, Trump's poll numbers - ever since his opponents started trying to use the legal system against him - have only gone up.
