'Pledge to Withdraw from Colorado Primary Until...': Vivek Ramaswamy on US Court Verdict on Trump

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has promised to pull out of the Colorado primary ballot unless former US President Donald Trump is allowed to be on the ballot. His remarks came in the wake of the western US state’s historic court ruling on Tuesday declaring Trump ineligible for office for his role in the US Capitol attack.

“I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same immediately – or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country,” Ramaswamy wrote on X. Before posting a video on his X account, the Ohio-based tech entrepreneur described the court verdict as “an actual attack on democracy.”

Colorado’s top court ruled Tuesday that Trump was disqualified from serving as US president and cannot appear on the primary ballot in the state because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. The historic 4-3 ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court makes Trump the first presidential candidate deemed ineligible for the White House under a rarely used constitutional provision that bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.

Responding to the Indian American GOP candidate’s remark, the Colorado Republican Party said, “You won’t have to because we will withdraw from the Primary as a Party and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand.” In a statement after the verdict, Trump’s campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, “We will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision.”

Cheung said the “all-Democrat appointed” panel was doing the bidding of a “(George) Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden.” “Democrat Party leaders are in a state of paranoia over the growing, dominant lead President Trump has amassed in the polls. “They have lost faith in the failed Biden presidency and are now doing everything they can to stop the American voters from throwing them out of office next November.”

(With agency inputs)