(ConservativeSense.com) – In a move that may have surprised some of his Democratic colleagues, California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized some of his fellow party members for considering removing former President Donald Trump from the Golden State’s 2024 presidential ballot, maintaining California defeats candidates “at the polls.”
Newsom said in a statement that although he has “no doubt” that Trump “is a threat” to American liberties and democracy, that Californians “defeat candidates at the polls.” Newsom said that “everything else” happening to interrupt the election “is a political distraction.”
The question of whether or not California should follow in Colorado’s footsteps began to pick up steam following a letter sent to Dr. Shirley Weber, California Secretary of State, by Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. In the letter, Kounalakis cited the recent ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court to remove Trump from their ballot and urged Weber to “explore” every legal option to do the same thing in the Golden State. She also argues that such action “is about honoring the rule of law” in America and “protecting the fundamental pillars” of democracy.
The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court shook the nation. The justices who made the call decided that Trump’s actions related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol violated the insurrection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution.
Naturally, most Republicans condemned the action, but Newsom’s comments show that Democrats are not all in favor of it either. Some of Trump’s fellow presidential contenders rebuked the court’s decision, too, such as now-Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and newcomer GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who dropped off the Colorado ballot in protest and called on his fellow Republican challengers to do the same.
Despite being a frequent vocal opponent of Trump, Newsom chose to stand in disagreement with his lieutenant governor and to defend the former president’s right to compete in a fair election so the people may decide who should lead the country rather than the court system.
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