'Trump is terrified': White House reporter says ex-president is reeling after ballot boot

Former President Donald Trump is badly shaken by the Colorado Supreme Court decision removing him from the primary ballot — far more so than he is letting on, argued White House reporter Brian Karem in Salon.

"I’m pretty sure that will also lead to a few lumps of coal in Trump’s stocking, but it turns out some folks out there think I am wrong," wrote Karem. "Maggie Haberman and others who have covered Trump believe he’s actually energized by the decision. Sure, he’s going to grift off of it. Everything that happens to him is used to raise money, so ten minutes didn’t go by before he was sending out emails asking his loyal supporters to dig deeper into their pockets, and send him a Christmas present of money rather than spending it on their loved ones."

"But energized by the decision?" he continued. Not exactly — rather, "I think Trump is terrified."

The court found that Trump is actually ineligible for the Colorado ballot on the basis of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars people who have engaged in "insurrection" from the ballot except by a supermajority waiver of Congress. Judges found there was credible evidence that Trump furthered the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which under Colorado state law is the necessary standard.

Publicly, the former president and his allies have attacked the decision and are plotting how to frame it as an attack on democracy by President Joe Biden, even though he didn't have any direct involvement in this state case.

The case is all but certain to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices could find themselves in the position of deciding whether Trump is eligible for ballot access nationwide.