Even Dems Agree Trump Should Be on Every State Ballot!

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Gene Valentino: [00:00:00] Hey friends, gene Valentino. We just wrapped up another episode of Gene Valentino’s Grassroots Truth Casts. This is what you see above the the waist, but below the waist is Mike Lindell’s. My slippers up to 80% off. Hint, hint, but use the promo code please. Gene V, enjoy the holidays. Enjoy the springtime.

Enjoy the year ahead of us in 2024. And stay cozy in a cozy slipper from MySlipper.

John Huddy: Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin has really not been shy about pulling any punches when it comes to his dislike. Of former President Trump, and it’s really no surprise that he supports the decisions in Colorado, Maine to remove Trump from the presidential ballots there. But it’s, it’s how essentially he framed those decisions, which is sparking controversy.

Here’s what he said yesterday on CNN’s [00:01:00] State of the Union, listen,

Jamie Raskin: of all the forms of disqualification we have, the one that disqualifies people for engaging in insurrection is the most democratic because it’s the one where people choose themselves. To be disqualified. Donald Trump is in that tiny, tiny number of people who’ve essentially disqualified themselves.

John Huddy: So essentially, the congressman said it’s, it’s, and you heard him, quote, democratic for a presidential candidate to be disqualified for a crime that they have not been charged with, in this case, engaging. Well, with more on this, uh, let’s bring aboard our panel to debate the issue beginning with Gene Valentino, GOP political strategist and host of the Grassroots Truthcast podcast, along with Rich Nichols, attorney and democratic strategist.

Gentlemen, uh, good afternoon to you. Happy New Year. Thanks for coming on for this spirited and hopefully friendly debate. With that, Rich, I’ll start with you. [00:02:00] So, you know, Democrats are, are, are, you know, calling Trump and constantly calling Trump a threat to democracy. We’ve heard that a lot, right? Um, but critics contend that it’s a baseless attempt to disqualify him from the presidential ballot.

So isn’t that essentially the same thing? Isn’t that, what do you

Rich Nichols: think? Well, yeah, I’m not quite sure it’s a baseless attempt. And, uh, and to, and to be clear, uh, I agree that any candidate should be able to be on the ballot and let, let democracy take its place, let voters decide who’s going to get elected.

But that being said, um, you know, Republican party likes to have. It both ways with states rights. And the bottom line is, is that it’s a state’s right to be able to create the criteria that they want to, um, uh, that they want political candidates to ascribe to in order to be on the ballot. So if Maine and Colorado and other states have determined that if, that if you have participated as an insurrectionist, That you can’t be on their ballot for [00:03:00] elective office.

That’s the state’s rights to do, and that that is democracy. I’m not quite sure what Jamie Raskin was trying to say yesterday, but the bottom line is states have the right to create the criteria required to be a candidate on the ballot, and if you don’t satisfy those criteria, you can’t be on the ballot.

John Huddy: Well, Jane, before I get your reaction, I wanna play another clip from Jamie Raskin’s appearance on CNN. And he really. You know, really double down on his assistance that this is a democratic process to disqualify Trump. Have a listen to this and then I want to get your thoughts on the back end.

Jamie Raskin: I think it’s going to be tough for some of them if they want to keep Trump on the ballot, if they’re falling for the argument that this is undemocratic. I mean, is it undemocratic that Arnold Schwarzenegger And Jennifer Granholm can’t run for president because they weren’t born in the

John Huddy: country. So Gene, it seems like a major reach by Raskin.

You know, I said, basically, what does one have to do with the other? What do you think?

Gene Valentino: [00:04:00] Well, Stalin would love Raskin’s commentary. It is a, uh, complete, um, misrepresentation of what our Founding Fathers intended. Arnold Schwarzenegger and anyone else in that category have nothing to do with the entitlement that the President of the United States has in being on every ballot.

In fact, I’ll take it a step further. There should be a constitutional amendment put out by a strong Congress in the future that makes it Consistent across all 50 states. You know, you and I have only one thing in common in terms of the voting nationwide. We have a president and we have a vice president.

We all are going to vote for. And that our governors, our senators, our legislators and district people, all different, but, but at the top of that ballot is the president and vice president. And the rules that apply to how we vote for them, how we judge [00:05:00] the efficacy of the voting process, the chain of custody, and how those ballots are managed.

And I’ll take it a step further, John. Let’s have one day of voting, not this hodgepodge going out three months after an election. Florida got it right with a Republican GOP. We had one day to vote. And we had a clear decision in place by 11 o’clock at night and it confu it was a little confusing too because there’s two two time zones in Florida.

But we need to get a good, uh, you need to copy and paste the GOP management of Florida’s governance to the other states in this nation, specifically the blue states, which are crying foul over sanctuary cities right now.

John Huddy: Rich, as a Democratic strategist, we’re hearing the contention a lot that the Democrats are doing whatever they can to keep Trump off the ballot.

Is that a fair assessment? [00:06:00] Well, I

Rich Nichols: think if you’re looking at it, it looks like it’s a fair assessment that states are trying to do what they can to keep him off the ballot. Personally, I think it’s I think it’s wrong. I think it’s a waste of time. I think it just further empowers Trump and his base to continue to be victims.

And in this case, he’d be the victim of being excluded from a ballot that the democratic process said he should be a part of. So, so I don’t agree with keeping him off the ballot. I think he should be on the ballot. Let the voters go to the polls and vote him and vote for him or don’t vote for him, but put him on the ballot so that he doesn’t have that.

Extra weapon and grievance to sell during 2024. No,

John Huddy: a lot of people agree with that. You know, you’re not wrong there. So, uh, one last note, President Biden is, is, he’s soon going to be wrapping up his week long vacation, uh, in St. Croix in the U. S. Virgin Islands. Last night on ABC’s New Year’s Eve broadcast.

He was asked about his favorite holiday foods. Listen to this and then I want to get your reaction. I’m curious, what sorts of [00:07:00] holiday foods

Rich Nichols: have you been enjoying over the last

Jamie Raskin: few days?

Joe Biden: Well, I’ve been eating everything that’s put in front of me. I’ve been eating pasta, which I love. I’ve been eating a lot of chicken, chicken parmesan.

I’ve been eating all, all Italian foods, basically. And ice cream. And

John Huddy: ice cream. Chocolate chip ice cream. Alright, so you know, look, I mean, it’s, it’s friendly, you know, I don’t, I’m not sure how many people really care about what, you know, the president is eating when a barrage of rockets are being fired from Israel.

I, and I get, I get it’s a lighthearted thing, the New Year’s Eve celebration, and, and we all understand that, but Gene, you know, a barrage of rockets fired by Hamas at Israel. You know, the Houthis continuing attacks, concerns about Iran developing a nuclear weapon, and he’s being asked about ice cream

Gene Valentino: and food.

Yeah, yeah, and how we fund Ukraine and Israel. We’ve got so many issues on the table. We are relegated to these distractions. I agree with my [00:08:00] co guest today in allowing, and I appreciate his objectivity in keeping Keeping Biden on the ballot because it’s the people’s will. It’s not a select few who are not elected by this, by the people, such as the Secretary of State in Maine, such as some Supreme Court justices in Colorado.

The people want him on the ballot and he deserves to be there, by the way. And, um, I believe that, uh, there, there’s a complete disregard. Uh, or misunderstanding about his right and entitlement to be on the ballot. These are distractions. These are Democrat distractions. Divert, deflect, and distract your attention away from these issues.

Let’s talk about ice cream and what you had for dinner on the holiday. Let’s forget about the fact that we got a national crisis with the debt approaching 30. Four trillion dollars. Economy, economy, economy. Hey, you want to compliment a [00:09:00] Democrat? It was a Democrat that said, it’s the economy, stupid. And it’s that kind of mentality that is being ignored right now.

So what, what’s going on here? Why do we have Hey,

John Huddy: Gene, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta cut you off and, and we gotta wrap up. But Rich, I want to get you, I want to allow you the last word real quick, if you could do it in 20 seconds. Are we just being mean by picking on Biden with that, with that answer, uh, you know, or, or should we?

You

Rich Nichols: know, the guy’s trying to gain a little weight for the upcoming election. It’s going to be, uh It’s going to be a tiresome year for him. He’s trying to put on some pounds, so I don’t, I don’t think you’re being mean. I think it’s okay. It’s lighthearted. It’s a new year. Let’s start it out. Let’s start it out

Gene Valentino: on a light foot.

Yeah,

John Huddy: there you go. And I appreciate the, uh, the, the, the, the civil conversation. You actually guys, you guys were agreeing more than disagreeing, but that’s okay.

Gene Valentino: Well, I leave you with a final thought. True Ender Dash Duber depression.

John Huddy: Okay. There we go. [00:10:00] All right. Well, buckle up. As, as we said last hour, it’s already shaping up to be a very intense and busy new year.

Gene Rich, thanks so much for coming on again. Happy New Year. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Same to you. Thank you, sir.

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