Donald Trump is so afraid of losing the 2020 presidential election that he has manipulated several states to drop their Republican primaries. What about the three men who have taken up the gauntlet to run against him?
South Carolinian Republican voters filed a lawsuit requesting the Court protect their rights to a primary:
‘So today, Plaintiffs are asking the Court to protect their core democratic rights. Voters must have a voice in shaping their own political party. Voters must be able to vote for the presidential nominee of their choice. We’ll keep you posted. #scpol #sctweets’
Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford (R) became a contender. He told The New York Times:
‘He’s not delivering on what he said he was going to do, which is eliminate the debt. In fact, it has gone in the opposite direction.’
Former Tea Party representative and former supporter of the president Jim Walsch (R-IL) considered his run. against Trump a “moral mission:”
‘I think he’s unfit and a danger to the country. I do believe that most Republicans privately feel that way. This campaign is going to try and get them to say it publicly.’
Former representative Bob Inglis (R-SC) just filed a 26-page lawsuit against South Carolina’s Republican Party for canceling its presidential primary in 2020. Three states joined South Carolina and have canceled the Republican primary: Alaska, Kansas, and Nevada.
Inglis released a statement where he and Frank Heindel accused the Republican party of going against its own rules and state election law. It read:
‘I’m a life-long Republican, who has served as both an elected member of the House of Representatives as well as a party official. I’m participating in this lawsuit because the cancelation of the primary by a small handful of party insiders denied me—and every other South Carolina Republican—our voice in defining what the Republican Party is and who it supports. I’m fighting for all of us to get our voices back.’
The nonpartisan nonprofit United to Protect Democracy was the plantiff in this case. Its attorneys argued that withdrawing from their Republican primaries deprived citizens of their of their “famous and (particularly influential) ’First in the South’ primary.” The plantiffs argued:
‘The State Executive Committee has chosen which candidate to support by fiat, and in doing so, excluded Republican votes from the process entirely — in violation of the law and its own rules.’
Last month, South Carolina’s Congress voted almost unanimously to drop its presidential primary. Chair of the South Carolinian Republican Party Drew McKissick was named in the suit, too. He released a statement which said the primary was “unnecessary:”
‘With no legitimate primary challenger and President Trump‘s record of results, the decision was made to save South Carolina taxpayers over $1.2 million and forgo an unnecessary primary. President Trump and his administration have delivered for South Carolinians, and we look forward to ensuring that Republican candidates up and down the ballot are elected in 2020.’
Former state Republican Party communications director and former head adviser to former Governor Nikki Haley spoke told The Hill:
‘This shady backroom deal where a small group of party insiders makes a big decision that stops thousands of voters from participating in the process appears to violate party rules and is precisely the kind of thing that turns people off to politics.’
United to Protect Democracy released a statement indicating the Republican majority South Carolina legislature voted twice to make it more difficult to cancel the state’s elections. Those votes were in 2007 and 2013. The organization said:
‘Reagan and Bush were running—are flawed both because the law was entirely different and because the incumbent presidents faced no opposition in South Carolina.’
To read the lawsuit in its entirety, click on this link.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
