Trump attacked democracy, no matter what Eric Schmitt says. Colorado court defended it | Opinion

Sen. Eric Schmitt doesn’t want you to believe the evidence of your own eyes.

On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump will not appear on the 2024 presidential primary election ballot in that state. The ruling found that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution — which mandates that no official who has “engaged in insurrection” against the United States can hold elected federal office in this country — applies to Trump.

The reason is obvious: Trump inspired and incited the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol — the deadly culmination of his wretched and false efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

We all saw it.

But Schmitt, the Missouri Republican, wants you to believe that actually Democrats are the real threat to American democracy. Never mind what we saw on Jan. 6. Never mind what the Constitution says about insurrectionists.

Never mind the rule of law.

“The Democrats are perfectly willing to jail opponents, kick them off the ballot, censor speech, add states to the union and open up our border for raw political power,” he wrote online Tuesday night, in the hours after the court’s ruling. “They will justify anything because…Trump.”

In a later post, he added that the Colorado ruling “is a blatant threat to democracy. It is truly banana republic stuff.”

Nonsense.

Schmitt’s game here is obvious: It’s a bit of “I know you are but what am I?” reverse political psychology. Defending democracy becomes an assault on democracy. Only — again — we all saw the real assault take place live on our televisions.

Or maybe it’s merely a classic case of “projection” — that old term for accusing others of your own flaws. Don’t forget: Schmitt was part of Trump’s gambit. As Missouri attorney general, he joined a failed Texas lawsuit aimed at overturning Pennsylvania’s pro-Biden electoral votes.

Nobody should be fooled.

Schmitt wasn’t the only member of the Kansas-Missouri insurrection caucus weighed in on Tuesday night.

“Colorado Democrats: If you can’t beat him, take him off the ballot,” Sen. Roger Marshall, the Kansas Republican who voted on Jan. 6 against certifying Biden’s victory, wrote online. “This unprecedented weaponization of the 14th Amendment will only make victory that much sweeter on Nov. 5th, 2024.”

Republicans used to be the party that demanded strict fealty to the Constitution. Now they call enforcing its provisions “weaponization.” I think I liked the old version of the GOP better.

Still, let’s agree: Yes, it really is unprecedented to remove a presidential candidate from the ballot. And yes, it really is terrible that events have arrived at this point.

But we’re here because of Donald Trump’s own actions. It’s that simple.

The former president’s attempts to overturn a free and fair election were also unprecedented. They really were an affront to the Constitution. And everything happening now — the Colorado case, the criminal charges he faces in Georgia and Washington, D.C. — flows from that.

To buy the version of current events that Schmitt and Marshall are selling you, you have to believe that Jan. 6 was somehow meaningless. Or that Trump, despite the findings of dozens of court cases and inquiries, really did win in 2020.

And yeah, a lot of Americans — a lot of Republicans — do believe those things.

They’re wrong.

The only way the rest of us will get through the challenges of the coming election year will be to keep believing the evidence of our own eyes. Even — especially — when our area Republican senators keep telling us otherwise.

Joel Mathis is a regular opinion correspondent for The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle. He lives in Lawrence with his wife and son. Formerly a writer and editor at Kansas newspapers, he served nine years as a syndicated columnist.