The 14th Amendment Case Against Trump, But With Jokes

What's the line between insurrection and anti-government brouhaha?

Built from a photo of Mansfield Lovell from Wikimedia Commons via the Library of Congress and a photo of Trump from Gage Skidmore.

Before I dive into the case, let me be clear about my biases:

• I think that Trump is to the American political system what Jar Jar Binks was to the Star Wars franchise. His obvious unfitness for office (Trump’s, though also Jar Jar’s) has become a secondary concern to his open hostility to small “d” democratic governance. Trump has made it very clear that he doesn’t intend to play by the rules. I fear what he might do, and I think that the “who could have foreseen this?” hand-washing from Republicans that will come after those events might drive me insane.

• Buuuut, I also think that voters’ ability to elect whatever toxic idiot they want is a basic American right. I’m very troubled by the prospect of officials striking candidates from a ballot. That’s what happens in tin pot dictatorships; eliminating candidates for heinous crimes like fishing without a license or removing the “DO NOT REMOVE” tag from a mattress is Autocracy 101. The fact that our process would be less capricious doesn’t change the fact that voters should decide who is and isn’t fit for office.