Opinion | Why Trump’s cheating ways must be stopped for the good of US democracy

Last Thursday, Maine became the second state to remove former president Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot. Other states are also considering removing Trump as a candidate.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows ruled that Trump incited an insurrection when he spread the falsehood of a stolen election in 2020 then urged his supporters to march on the US Capitol in an apparent effort to stop the certification of the election on January 6, 2021.

While the legal question remains unresolved until the US Supreme Court rules, the developments are politically sensitive. It provides the Republicans and Trump himself fodder for their narrative of a “deep state” that is committed to putting Trump behind bars.

However, the predominant argument against removing Trump from the ballot is its supposed impact on democratic ideals. The just way, opponents argue, would be to leave the decision of whether Trump ought to be the presidential candidate up to the voters. If not, Trump will become a political martyr for millions of Americans and stir the possibility of civil unrest and political violence.

But if one believes Trump has betrayed the country – and he did – then politics should not stop the law from holding him accountable. This is particularly because politics is why we’re in this position in the first place.

If the Senate had done its job during Trump’s second impeachment, he would have been barred from public office. Then majority leader Mitch McConnell agreed that Trump was responsible for inciting the Capitol violence, but he and 42 other Republican senators acquitted Trump nonetheless for partisan reasons.