The US supreme court could still swing the election for Trump | Lawrence Douglas

Trump described himself as very honored' by the court's recent ruling. His sudden adoration might not be misplaced

On Monday, the US supreme court unanimously overturned the Colorado supreme court's decision to remove Trump from the Republican primary ballot. The highest court in the land predictably concluded that the insurrection clause" of the 14^th amendment did not authorize state enforcement with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency".

A contrary ruling would have been a recipe for chaos, and, worse still, would have done nothing to safeguard the nation from a potential Trump victory in November. I say this because presumably the only states that might have barred Trump from their ballot would have been those of the solidly blue variety - states Trump was going to lose anyway. And given that Republicans, particularly of the Maga-stripe, are masters of the politics of retaliation and escalation, we would have witnessed red states clamoring to remove Biden from their ballots. The result would have been an election precisely to Trump's liking - one without democratic legitimacy.

Lawrence Douglas is the author, most recently, of Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. He is a contributing opinion writer for the Guardian US and teaches at Amherst College