Trump Supporters Reveal Plan to Get Him Elected If He's Removed From Ballot

Donald Trump supporters are vowing to submit write-in ballots backing the former commander-in-chief at the 2024 presidential election, if he is ruled ineligible to stand again due to the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

Under this rule, anyone who took an oath to support the constitution of the United States, but then went on to engage in insurrection or rebellion, is barred from holding any office, civil or military. In a 126-page report, Professors William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen, associated with the conservative and libertarian legal organization Federalist Society, say that the 14th Amendment "disqualified former President Donald Trump [from office], and potentially many others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 presidential election."

A number of prominent Democrats have suggested the 14th Amendment could block Trump from running in 2024. These include Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine who argued there is "a powerful argument to be made," and California Rep. Adam Schiff who said the provision "fits Donald Trump to a T."

Polling indicates Trump is by some margin the preferred potential Republican candidate with GOP voters, potentially sparking legal challenges over his eligibility to serve a second term. The former president denies any wrongdoing in connection with his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Trump has repeatedly criticized Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation and argued that it is politically motivated.

Trump supporters have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, vowing they will still back him as a write-in candidate even if he is disqualified. Charles Downs, who writes for the Alex Jones-founded site National File, wrote: "A lot of Americans will write in Trump if he is illegally removed off the ballot. That being said, it's more likely than not SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States] will block efforts to kick Trump off the ballot. In America the people, not the Deep State, choose the president."

Amy Kremer, co-founder of Women for Trump, posted a photo of the former president's Georgia mugshot, adding: "If Trump is removed from the ballot, I will write him in."

Kandiss Taylor, who launched an unsuccessful primary challenge to Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp in 2022, added: "Same!"

Most states do allow write-in ballots for president, though they generally require a potential candidate to file paperwork saying they want to run ahead of the election to be counted separately.

Adam Kamenstein is a partner with the Los Angeles-based law firm Adams, Duerk & Kamenstein and a former federal prosecutor. He told Newsweek that the case that Trump is constitutionally ineligible to serve as president is compelling.

However, Kamenstein said: "Like all legal arguments, its practical application rests on the common acceptance of certain facts. We don't have that here, today, where facts and truth vary depending on one's political point of view. Even if everyone agreed on the underlying Constitutional scholarship, we would never see agreement on the facts to which it must be applied. So, no matter how compelling the legal scholarship, it is unlikely to gain broad acceptance."

Writing on his Truth Social website on Monday, Trump rejected the claim he is ineligible to stand in 2024 due to the 14th Amendment. He said: "Almost all legal scholars have voiced opinions that the 14th Amendment has no legal basis or standing relative to the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election.

"It is just another 'trick' being used by the Radical Left Communists, Marxists, and Fascists, to again steal an Election that their candidate, the WORST, MOST INCOMPETENT, & MOST CORRUPT President in U.S. history, is incapable of winning in a Free and Fair Election."

Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump, via the press inquiry form on his official website, asking whether he would support a write-in campaign if ruled ineligible to serve a second term.