Then-U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to supporters near the White House on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images) (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The decision comes ahead of a highly anticipated U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Colorado challenge to the 2024 GOP front-runner’s candidacy based on the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause.
An Illinois judge ruled Wednesday that former U.S. President Donald Trump cannot appear on the state’s presidential primary and general election ballots because of his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.
Judge Tracie Porter of the State Circuit Court in Cook County sided with Illinois voters who asserted that Trump—the 2024 GOP front-runner—must be disqualified from Illinois’ March 19 primary and November 5 general election ballots due to his violation of the 14th Amendment’s so-called “insurrection clause.”
Porter, a Democrat, placed a stay on her ruling if Trump appeals by Thursday, or if the U.S. Supreme Court issues a highly anticipated ruling in a Colorado case involving a 14th Amendment challenge.
“This is a historic victory,” said Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, the co-lead counsel in the case. “Every court or official that has addressed the merits of Trump’s constitutional eligibility has found that he engaged in insurrection after taking the oath of office and is therefore disqualified from the presidency.”
Thank you @FSFP for continuing to fight for the continued viability of American democracy. https://t.co/Mn9qPdThcM
Enacted after the Civil War, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars from public office any “officer of the United States” who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution but then participates in an insurrection or rebellion against the country. The text does not require a criminal conviction for the clause to apply.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Caryn Lederer called the ruling “a critical decision that is adding to decisions in Colorado and Maine on this point.”
Last month, a Maine judge deferred a ruling on yet another insurrection clause challenge, citing the Supreme Court’s Colorado case.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign, said that “today, an activist Democrat judge in Illinois summarily overruled the state’s Board of Elections and contradicted earlier decisions from dozens of other state and federal jurisdictions.”
“This is an unconstitutional ruling that we will quickly appeal,” he added.
According to The New York Times, courts in at least 18 states have dismissed or rejected efforts to exclude Trump from the ballot on 14th Amendment grounds, while unresolved challenges remain in 15 states.
A person signs a bus wrapped with an image of former President Donald Trump during the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 22, 2024. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The event began on Feb. 21, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland, with Steve Bannon’s routine, untrue banter about how President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election, and it peaked with an angry speech from Trump three days later. In between, I sat among the MAGA masses listening to speaker after speaker express outrage about American decline – and their hope for Trump’s reelection.
Everywhere I turned, people wore MAGA regalia – hats, pins, logos and patches, many with Trump’s likeness. I spent breaks in the exhibition hall, which featured a Jan. 6 insurrection-themed pinball machine featuring “Stop the Steal,” “Political Prisoners” and “Babbitt Murder” rally modes and a bus emblazoned with Trump’s face. Admirers scribbled messages on the bus such as, “We have your back” and “You are anointed and appointed by God to be the President.”
Those on the left who dismiss the CPAC as a gathering of MAGA crazies and racists who support a wannabe dictator do not understand that, from this far-right perspective, there are compelling and even urgent reasons to support Trump. Indeed, they believe, as conservative politician Tulsi Gabbard stated in her CPAC speech on Feb. 22, that the left’s claims about Trump’s authoritarianism are “laughable.” This is because CPAC attendees falsely perceive President Joe Biden as the one who is attacking democracy.
Here are my top three takeaways from CPAC about Trump supporters’ current priorities and thinking.
People pray during the opening ceremony of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 22, 2024. Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
1. There’s a Reagan dinner – but CPAC is Trump’s party
Former President Ronald Reagan runs in CPAC’s DNA. Reagan spoke at the inaugural CPAC in 1974 and went on to speak there a dozen more times.
In 2019, the conservative advocacy group the American Political Union, which hosts CPAC, published a book of Reagan’s speeches with commentary by conservative luminaries. In the preface, Matt Schlapp, the head of the American Political Union, says he often asks himself, “What would Reagan do?”
CPAC’s pomp gala, held Friday, is still called the “Ronald Reagan Dinner.” But Reagan is otherwise hardly mentioned at the conference.
Reagan’s ideas of American exceptionalism have been supplanted by Trump’s populist story of apocalyptic decline. Reagan’s folksy tone, relative moderation and clear quips are long gone, replaced by fury, grievance and mean-spirited barbs.
2. There’s a method to the madness
Many commentators and critics, including groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, view CPAC as a frightening or bizarre gathering of white nationalists who have a nativist agenda.
Indeed, the U.S.-Mexico border was a constant topic at this year’s CPAC, which included controversial anti-immigrant speakers such as the head of Spain’s far-right Vox party and a representative of Hungary, whose leader stated at the 2022 CPAC that Europeans should not become “mixed-race.” Hungary will also host a CPAC meeting in April 2024.
Many of the sessions have alarming titles like, “Burning Down the House,” “Does Government Even Matter” and “Going Full Hungarian.” There are right-wing, populist speakers like Bannon and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Overall, the program is informed by a conservative logic that largely boils down to God, family, tradition, law and order, defense and freedom.
Of these, God looms largest. As a result, CPAC’s hardcore conservative Christian orientation is anti-abortion rights, homophobic and oriented toward traditional family structure and what it considers morality.
Schlapp co-wrote a book in 2022 that warns of the dangers of “evil forces” – what he considers to be progressives, the radical left and American Marxists. Schlapp’s book title even dubs these forces “the desecrators.” Such inflammatory language is frequently used at CPAC, including by Trump during his Saturday speech.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, left, and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, speak during CPAC on Feb. 22, 2024. Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
3. Trump believers think he is their savior
CPAC’s love of Trump is shocking to many on the left. But at CPAC, Trump is viewed as America’s savior.
According to his base, Trump delivered on abortion by appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. They believe that, despite evidence of mixed results, Trump had wide successes at securing the border and creating jobs. For example, during Trump’s time as president, the U.S. economy lost nearly 3 million jobs, and apprehensions of undocumented migrants at the border rose.
Trump’s CPAC speech, like his campaign speeches, harped on such supposed achievements – as well as Biden’s alleged “destruction” of the country.
Conservatives roll their eyes at liberal fears of Trump the despot. Like all of us, they acknowledge, Trump has flaws. They say that some of his comments about women and minorities are cringeworthy, but not evidence of an underlying misogyny and hatefulness, as many critics contend.
Ultimately, CPAC conservatives believe Trump is their best bet to defeat the radical-left “desecrators” who seek to thwart him at every turn – including, as they constantly complained at CPAC, social media bans, “fake news” takedowns, rigged voting, bogus lawsuits, unfair justice, and lies about what they call the Jan. 6, 2021, “protest”.
Despite these hurdles, Trump battles on toward the Republican nomination for presidential candidate – the hero who CPAC conservatives view as the last and best hope to save the USA.
Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on February 24, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland.
“Our country is being destroyed and the only thing standing between you and its obliteration is me,” the far-right former president declared during his speech at CPAC
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said Election Day in November this year will end up being a “judgement day” for his political opponents if he wins and vowed mass deportations on a scale never seen in the United States.
As part of a rambling and bizarre speech at the annual CPAC gathering of far-right activists and GOP operatives, Trump said, “For hardworking Americans, November 5 will be our new liberation day. But for the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and imposters who have commandeered our government, it will be judgement day.”
Watch:
Trump suggests he is God and will punish Americans who oppose him: November 5th will MAGA’s liberation day. It will be Democrats’ Judgment Day pic.twitter.com/PEZpsBzRGH
Though he previously served as the President of the United States and remains de facto head of the Republican Party, Trump cast himself to the fascist audience members as a political “dissident” who would have his “ultimate and absolute revenge” on President Joe Biden and the Democrats who he claimed had turned the nation into a “living hell.”
Federal statistics show that crime rates have fallen since 2022, but that didn’t stop Trump from characterizing the nation as a crime-ridden dystopia on verge of annihiliation.
“Our country is being destroyed and the only thing standing between you and its obliteration is me,” Trump declared, harnessing his familiar demagoguery in which he characterizes himself as an authoritarian savior.
Trump promised to enact that “largest deportation in the history of our country” if put back in the White House as he continued his vilification and dehumanization of immigrants and asylum seekers.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1761506887474749633
“We have no choice,” Trump declared. “It’s not a nice thing and I hate to say it, and those clowns in the media will say ‘Oh he’s so mean.’ No, no. [Migrants are] killing our people, they’re killing our country.”
Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that Trump and his allies are already planning ahead for an aggressve anti-immigrant plan that would include use of the military to round people up, hold them in detention camps, and remove them from the country.
“He was obsessed with having the military involved,” said one former senior administration official who spoke to the Post.
In a particularly bizarre and racist digression, Trump claimed Saturday that migrants coming into the U.S. are speaking languages “that nobody in this country has ever heard of” and carry diseases “nobody ever heard about.”
Following Trump’s CPAC speech, the Biden campaign’s rapid response director Ammar Moussa, dismissed Trump as a “loser” and said the American people have previously made clear they’ve seen enough of what he represents.
“America already had the opportunity to choose if they wanted another four years of hell with Donald Trump’s chaos, division, and crazy—they said no—and will again in November,” Moussa said.
US-POLITICS-CONSERVATIVES Argentine President Javier Milei speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on February 24, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“This is an unholy alliance,” said one critic of the pair, “mark my words.”
Disgraced former President Donald Trump of the United States and Argentina’s recently-elected libertarian President Javier Milei met and shared a warm embrace backstage at the annual CPAC gathering on Saturday.
Milei, the libertarian firebrand who vowed to “chainsaw” his nation’s social programs and usher in a new era of neoliberal austerity in the Latin American nation, was in town to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference where Trump also spoke on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a very big honor for me,” Milei said to Trump as they met, with the Argentinian seeming to thank him for political support during his campaign.
"You Are The Best President For The United States!"
Trump responded by saying, “MAGA! Make Argentina Great Again.” As they posed for photos together, Trump said, “You look fantastic” and told Milei he was doing a great job.
“I won’t forget you, I can promise you that,” Trump said.
“I’ll see you again,” said Milei. “And next time I hope you will be president.”
“I hope so too,” said Trump.
Critics of the pair, like researcher Ana M. Fuentes, suggested the meeting was an ominous one.
“Oh man. I was hoping the Milei meets Trump clip was a parody…but it’s not,” Fuentes said on social media. “This is an unholy alliance, born at CPAC, mark my words.”
Nearly two dozen campaigners with the Sunrise Movement were arrested after assembling at U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware on February 12, 2024. (Photo: Sunrise Movement/X)
“President Biden must declare a climate emergency and go all-out to stop the climate crisis,” said the youth-led movement’s campaign director.
After nearly two dozen Sunrise Movement campaigners were arrested Monday at U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, the youth-led climate group is planning over 40 protests across the country.
Next Monday, movement members plan to demonstrate at local Democratic Party offices and city halls to demand that Biden declare a national climate emergency and use the full extent of his powers to tackle the fossil fuel-driven global crisis.
“Biden can’t build renewables on Monday, approve fossil fuels on Tuesday, and then claim to be climate president. That’s not how science works, and young voters know it,” said Sunrise campaign director Kidus Girma in a statement Thursday. “President Biden must declare a climate emergency and go all-out to stop the climate crisis.”
“He could end the fossil fuel era by refusing to approve a single oil or gas well in this country.”
“There are dozens of things he could sign into law tomorrow if he wanted,” Girma noted. “He could make sure that every time a climate disaster hits, no one gets evicted and everyone has access to free healthcare. He could end the fossil fuel era by refusing to approve a single oil or gas well in this country.”
Sunrise is calling on the Democratic president to reverse the massive rise in U.S. fossil fuel production—rather than approving projects like Willow in Alaska—and to “create green union jobs by unleashing the full power of the Defense Production Act.”
The group’s plans for next week’s protests were announced as nine Democrats joined Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill intended to reverse Biden’s recent pause on approvals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, and as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rubber-stamped the Saguaro Connector Pipeline in Texas.
While Biden has faced intense criticism from campaigners and scientists for various decisions—from backing Willow and Mountain Valley Pipeline to continuing fossil fuel lease sales and skipping last year’s United Nations summit—former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, has been far more hostile toward climate policies.
Young voters like those who belong to the Sunrise Movement were key to Biden’s defeat of Trump in 2020 and to Democrats preventing the predicted “red wave” in 2022. They are expected to play a key role in this November’s elections.
