Donald Trump Complains His Name Being Removed From Ballot Is 'Dictatorship'

Donald Trump claimed the United States could "become a dictatorship" if bids to remove him from the 2024 ballot in multiple states based on the 14th Amendment are successful.

A court in Colorado on Monday began hearing a case filed by six Republican and unaffiliated voters who are seeking to block Trump from standing again for the White House in the state. There is a similar case due to begin in the Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday.

Section three of the 14th Amendment prohibits a person from holding "any office, civil or military" who previously took an oath "to support the Constitution" then engaged in "insurrection or rebellion." Some legal scholars believe Trump's alleged role in the January 6, 2021, storming of Congress by hundreds of his supporters attempting to prevent the 2020 presidential election from being certified, constituted an "insurrection," though this is disputed.

Trump responded with fury in a video statement, commenting: "A big trial is currently taking place to try and illegally remove my name from the ballot. I often say that 2024 will be the most important election in the history of our country. The reason for that, and that statement, is that our country is being destroyed by people that have no idea what they're doing or even worse they may very well have an idea, they may hate our country and they may want to see it destroyed. But it may also be the last election we ever have.

"If this election doesn't work, if this election is rigged and stolen, if bad things happen our country will not survive. If crooked Joe and the Democrats get away with removing my name from the ballot then there will never be a free election in America again. We will have become a dictatorship where your president is chosen for you. You will no longer have a vote, or certainly won't have a meaningful vote and you could say frankly that that has already begun. This truly is our final chance to save America."

Judge Sarah Wallace, who is overseeing the Colorado case, said she hopes to reach a conclusion before Thanksgiving. She has already rejected five bids by Trump and his allies to get the case dismissed.

The Colorado lawsuit states: "Four years after taking an oath to 'preserve, protect and defend' the Constitution as President of the United States[...]Trump tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 election, leading to a violent insurrection at the United States Capitol to stop the lawful transfer of power to his successor.

"By instigating this unprecedented assault on the American Constitutional order, Trump violated his oath and disqualified himself under the 14th Amendment from holding public office, including the office of the president."

Speaking to Newsweek, Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard University, claimed the Colorado plaintiffs have "a very strong case" against the former president.

He said: "When Trump publicly and obviously took the law into his own hands in an attempt to overturn the basic structure of four-year presidential terms that is at the core of our Constitution, he did exactly what the Disqualification Clause means by engaging in 'insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the United States,' which is the very definition of disqualifying conduct under that Clause."

Steve Bannon, a close Trump ally who briefly served as his chief White House strategist, predicted Judge Wallace will rule against the 2024 Republican frontrunner during a discussion on his War Room podcast on Monday.

Referring to the judge, he commented: "Here's what's going to happen, she's going to rule that Trump is an insurrectionist and ... [is] going to recommend to the secretary of state immediately with a court order that President Trump be removed from the ballot for 2024."

"They will break any law, they will go against any custom or tradition we've ever had, and to me, this only makes Trump more powerful," he added.

Newsweek reached out to Donald Trump for comment via the online press inquiry form on his official website.