Every state that removes Trump from the ballot tempts me more and more to vote for him.

And I think he’s an atrocious human being.

We are in a cold civil war, which is terrifying, and i think that’s an existential threat to the country while which party wins is not. So I judge political actions largely based on whether they feed the civil war.

For example, prosecuting Trump for the documents, which is a bullshit political move (tons of politicians keep docs, even if they aren’t usually so dumb about it), I think is terrible. I read it as going after political opponents with selective prosecution, which threatens our democracy.

Whereas the election denial stuff looks so extremely serious to me that prosecuting it is a pro-democracy move, even though some Trump supporters interpret it as also being political motivated.

But taking Trump off the ballot while the election denial case is still in the courts, even if there is a half-decent case for it, I judge as directly anti-democratic. Settling things at the ballot box, instead of with partisan power plays, is one of the most fundamental common values and stabilizing factors of democracy.

Not being allowed to vote for their favored candidate - who is winning in the polls - is the kind of thing that makes people feel like they are being shut out of the system, denied their most basic rights to participate, and have their back against the wall. It removes the most common and powerful argument against acting extra-judicially: “You got a fair chance to vote, like everyone else”. It hammers the chisel into the crack in our society.

As many people are saying, the last time a Presidential candidate was removed from the ballot in some states, was Abraham Lincoln. I think this is relevant, and I’d prefer we move away from civil war. I think the people who are all caught up in their outrage about Trump’s actions and feel ingroup solidarity with CO and ME “yay, we showed that traitor he can’t just try to illegally overturn an election and get away with it” are being myopic.

With the leading candidates on both sides being so bad, I am enjoying cheering for underdogs like RFK, Dean, Vivek, Haley. All of whom appeal to me much, much more than the dodderers. I am especially enjoying Vivek’s combination of punk, in your face confrontation of the powerful, and respectful engagement with citizens (check out his campaign trail videos where he invites in protestors to have a calm back and forth discussion).