Newsletter: Let’s wish for a Donald Trump-free ballot in 2024

Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. Thank you, dear subscribers, for another year of reading, interacting and anything else you do to stay informed. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion.

Donald Trump’s name does not belong on the ballot. The plain language of the 14th Amendment, barring federal officials who’ve engaged in insurrection from holding office again, makes that clear. The Colorado Supreme Court agrees. Some very smart, very conservative constitutional scholars agree. So does Maine’s secretary of state. This isn’t about politics; it’s about the Constitution setting bare-minimum qualifications for office, and Trump failing to meet those qualifications.

But I confess feeling some reluctance to say that — out of fear of appearing naive or uninformed. As an opinion journalist, I resist blurting out the first thought that comes to mind and have developed a habit of briefly suspending common sense to make time for a less obvious, much savvier opinion to emerge. Commentators have done that a lot for Trump since 2015, looking past the racism and dishonesty to explain how his appeal is rooted in economic anxiety, anti-elite backlash or anything besides what an obvious fraud was telling his followers.

I’ve long tried to argue instead that Trump’s unfitness is obvious on its face and the danger he presents is unacceptable. Thankfully, our Constitution provides a remedy that wasn’t available in 2016 — disqualification via Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — but once again we’ve turned a simple question with a simple answer into a debate among rarefied constitutional scholars and savvy opinion pundits. Their arguments I can best distill, with my non-lawyer intellect, as such: Yes, Trump led an insurrection against the government that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and yes, that should disqualify him from the presidency — but even though his actions and the wording of the Constitution are clear as day, we shouldn’t enforce the Constitution in this matter, because doing so would be hard.

This, after we were supposed to have learned the hard way that giving Trump any unwarranted legal wiggle room would backfire tremendously. Jackie Calmes, in her column on the year of accountability in Washington, perfectly articulated the risk posed by this kind of legal reasoning:

“Forget the punditry about whether the charges have backfired, helping Trump become the favorite for renomination and perhaps reelection. There’s only this question: What would it say about a democracy based on the rule of law if it didn’t hold accountable the first defeated presidential candidate to reject an election’s results and oppose the peaceful transfer of power?

“Here’s hoping that a year from now America’s glass will be full, that we will have seen the ultimate accountability: Trump’s conviction and, if he’s nominated, a second defeat.”

Ukrainians will fight Russia no matter what. Filmmaker Bernard-Henri Lévy, who has shot three documentaries from the front lines of the war, reminds us that Ukraine went months without U.S.-made weapons in 2022 and still held off Russian forces. Memories of that fight and a fierce desire to maintain independence would fuel Ukrainian resistance if U.S. and European assistance waned, but cutting off such help would only prolong the fight and cause more innocents to die, he writes.

Her 4-year-old great-niece was released by Hamas. Now, Liz Hirsh Naftali wonders when the other hostages will be freed: “All we know is that the remaining hostages are sick and gravely injured. They have gunshot wounds, broken bones, limbs blown off, and more — injuries inflicted by Hamas over two months ago. Every day that passes, they are being tortured physically and mentally, and they are starving. If we are going to save their lives, there is no time to waste.”

Not quite merry and bright — this holiday season brings conflicting feelings. Columnist Robin Abcarian embraces the season’s contradictory emotions as the new year approaches: “I loathe the way religiosity has inserted itself into so much of American life — the cruel bans on abortion that make no exception for mothers carrying babies with fatal conditions, the paranoia over children being exposed to books with sexual themes, the backlash to LGBTQ+ progress. And yet — mixed feelings alert! — I adore the iconography of Christmas.”

Solar installations are plummeting and California regulators are to blame. In a state that markets itself as the country’s climate conscience, the number of home solar installations are falling and jobs in the industry are disappearing. Blame falls squarely on the California Public Utilities Commission, which voted twice this year to slash incentives for homeowners and small businesses to install solar power systems. The Times’ editorial board says it isn’t surprising to see the market react to regulatory change, but it’s still “incredibly disappointing to see the outcome of state regulators’ wrecking-ball approach play out so predictably.”

The mighty coast redwoods are born to change. But can they evolve fast enough to survive climate warming? California is home to several notable trees that grow in highly specific climate zones, making global warming a threat to these species’ existence. Though the trees evolved over eons to thrive in these environments, evolution can also be surprisingly quick — and Caltech environmental humanities instructor Daniel Lewis says scientists are studying how the enormously complex coast redwood ecosystems are holding up in an era of rapid climate change.

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• LZ Granderson: In 2023, “The Last of Us” told the story that we needed to see
• Jonah Goldberg: 2023 was the year I started believing in the horseshoe theory of politics
• Jean Guerrero: How I relearned the power and the lost art of the handwritten love letter

From the op-ed desk

• Here’s what’s wrong with your perfectly drought-tolerant Southern California landscaping
• My client Jose was the luckiest man in an unlucky place. He got to go home for the holidays
• In the Holy Land, our Christmas is tinged with grief, but it is not without hope

From the editorial board

• Biden should protect more of California’s mountains and deserts as national monuments
• Biden’s marijuana pardons are welcome, but federal drug laws must catch up with reality
• Snow, cleaner cars, Barbie and other “gifts” we received in 2023

Letters to the editor

• People are unhoused because housing is unaffordable, not because of a court ruling
• Is your roof the best place for local solar? Probably not
• “Welcome to California, now go home” — is it finally happening?