In a surprise move, an Illinois judge has removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s ballot based on the 14th Amendment’s so-called “insurrectionist ban.”

The decision is paused, giving Trump a short period of time to appeal.

Wednesday’s unexpected decision comes as a similar anti-Trump challenge from Colorado is pending before the US Supreme Court, which is widely expected to reject arguments that Trump is barred from office.

Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter heavily relied on the prior finding by the Colorado Supreme Court, calling Colorado’s “rationale compelling.”

  • SuperDuper
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    18510 months ago

    No it’s not. There’s something else we’re supposed to do to traitors.

    “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now”

    -Donald Trump, advocating for his own execution

    • @Xenny
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      10310 months ago

      We literally didn’t hang most of the leaders of the Confederacy after the civil war. We just gave them back their land and citizenship. Big mistake

      • GladiusB
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        3610 months ago

        Compassion should not seen as a weakness after war. Traditionally it make long term allies. This time it did not work out. But many other times it has.

        • @JustUseMint
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          3110 months ago

          See modern Germany, agreed. See post WWI for the wrong way to treat the enemy afterwards

          • @[email protected]
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            fedilink
            2910 months ago

            There was at least an attempt to denazify Germany, in the South the racist could just carry on.

          • Gumby
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            English
            910 months ago

            Yes but after WW2 we had the Nuremburg trials and the Nazi leaders were hanged. Show compassion to the society as a whole, but the leaders must still be held accountable in these situations.

        • @Burn_The_Right
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          1110 months ago

          A conservative is not capable of entering into a negotiation in good faith.

          Compassion at the end of the civil war was the wrong move. A conservative will always see compassion as weakness to exploit. They truly are unable to perceive compassion as anything other than a weakness. That is just who they are at their core.

          • Diotima
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            -310 months ago

            Interesting take, but such an absolutist stance suggests that you also see compassion as a weakness. Fact is, as evil as the GOP may now be… they are not the whole of conservative thought.

            If you want to see an example of where your desired approach leads, look at post WW I Germany and what Europe’s need for vengeance gave birth to.

        • @dejected_warp_core
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          810 months ago

          I agree and I think it’s important to review why that didn’t work, because I think it’s relevant today.

          Under normal circumstances, I would agree that compassion is the best course of action. However the Confederacy largely left the union and then went to war over the ability to own people, claiming it was a “right”. There was a whole world doing away with the practice, with abolitionists saying their peace for a long time up until war broke out. And rather than change tact, and do away with the inherently immoral practice of slavery, these guys doubled-down. To me, that’s exactly the kind of situation where you must withhold compassion, because it demonstrates both a track record and a potential future willingness to break the social contract.

        • @Damdy
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          310 months ago

          A lot of Americans seem to think their civil war was a long time ago. It was pretty recent, it may work out better soon.

      • @stoly
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        110 months ago

        Yep. Should have burned their wealth into the ground and only then let them back in.