The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (12/20/2023):

3:05pm- On Tuesday night, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump is disqualified from holding office for his participation in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021—citing his engagement in what they described as an “insurrection.” Consequently, Trump will now be barred from appearing on the state’s Republican presidential primary ballot. The primary is scheduled to take place on March 5th, 2024. Jan Wolfe and Mariah Timms of The Wall Street Journal write: “The Colorado ruling disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the ballot puts a novel and highly sensitive set of constitutional questions before the Supreme Court, likely forcing the justices to intervene directly in a presidential election in a way not seen since Bush v. Gore in 2000.” You can read their full article here: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/colorado-ruling-knocking-trump-off-ballot-puts-supreme-court-in-hot-seat-de07e8f5?mod=hp_lead_pos2

3:25pm- Speaking with the press following news that the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision barring Donald Trump from holding office, President Joe Biden said it is “self-evident” that Trump “supported an insurrection.”

3:30pm- While appearing on CNN with host Abby Phillip, Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams said that—in response to the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling barring Donald Trump from appearing on the state’s ballots—he is prepared to change the state’s Republican presidential primary to a caucus system in which voters would be allowed to support Trump.  

3:40pm- MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow claimed it is the mark of a “healthy democracy” to have “some sort of disqualifying process” for people and political parties seeking to attain public office.

3:50pm- Stefan Becket and Melissa Quinn of CBS News write of the Colorado Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling against Donald Trump: “In their 133-page opinion, the four justices in the majority acknowledged that ‘we travel in uncharted territory, and that this case presents several issues of first impression.’…The three justices who were in the minority—Chief Justice Brian Boatright and Justices Carlos Samour and Maria Berkenkotter—each wrote their own opinions dissenting with the ruling. They each took issue with various portions of the court's opinion, and expressed concerns about what they saw as a lack of due process for denying Trump's access to the primary ballot. In his dissent, Boatright said that the section of Colorado's election code under which the case was brought "was not enacted to decide whether a candidate engaged in insurrection." You can read the full article here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-supreme-court-opinions-decision-trump-primary-ballot/

4:05pm- While appearing on CNN with host Pamela Brown, pollster Frank Luntz said that the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling against Donald Trump ostensibly validates the former president’s claim that the deep state is out to get him. Luntz also suggested that this ruling, barring Trump from appearing on Colorado’s presidential ballot, all but guarantees Republicans rally around him—ending Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley’s presidential campaigns.

4:10pm- In response to the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick hypothetically suggested “maybe we should take Biden off the ballot [in Texas] for allowing 8 million people to cross the border.”

4:20pm- While speaking at a campaign rally in Waterloo, Iowa, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that more needs to be done to stop the flow of migrants across the U.S. Southern border unlawfully.

4:25pm- During an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) said that an estimated 270,000 migrants are crossing the U.S. Southern border illegally every month—which, as he notes, is roughly the size of the population of Pittsburgh, PA.

4:40pm- How much would the McCallister family trip to France in the classic Christmas film Home Alone cost in 2023? Natalie B. Compton of The Washington Post answered that question in her latest article: an estimated $28,000! You can read the full article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/12/19/home-alone-paris-trip-cost/

4:50pm- Is California the next state to bar Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from their presidential ballot? David Zimmerman of National Review writes: “In a letter dated Wednesday, California lieutenant governor Eleni Kounalakis (D) urged California secretary of state Shirley Weber (D) to ‘explore every legal option to remove former President Donald Trump from California’s 2024 presidential primary ballot,’ given the Colorado supreme court’s decision.” You can read the full article here: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/california-lieutenant-governor-calls-for-trump-to-be-removed-from-state-ballot/

5:05pm- Dr. Carol Swain— Political Scientist, Legal Scholar, and Author of “The Adversity of Diversity”—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss her latest editorial in The Wall Street Journal, “Claudine Gay and My Scholarship.” Dr. Swain explains that Harvard University President “Claudine Gay has been exposed as a serial plagiarizer,”—including Gay’s failure to cite Dr. Swain’s own work, “Black Faces, Black Interests.” So, why hasn’t Gay been fired for her history of academic dishonesty? Dr. Swain says Harvard decided to “redefine what plagiarism is” in order to protect their president. You can read the full editorial here:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/claudine-gay-and-my-scholarship-plagiarism-elite-system-unearned-position-24e4a1b1

5:25pm- Vice President Kamala Harris offered up another word salad while appearing on MSNBC with host Lawrence O’Donnell—calling the 2024 presidential race “the most election of our lifetime.” No, that is not a typo!

5:40pm- On Tuesday night, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that former President Donald Trump is disqualified from holding office for his participation in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021—citing his engagement in what they described as an “insurrection.” Consequently, Trump will now be barred from appearing on the state’s Republican presidential primary ballot. The primary is scheduled to take place on March 5th, 2024. Jan Wolfe and Mariah Timms of The Wall Street Journal write: “The Colorado ruling disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the ballot puts a novel and highly sensitive set of constitutional questions before the Supreme Court, likely forcing the justices to intervene directly in a presidential election in a way not seen since Bush v. Gore in 2000.” You can read their full article here: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/colorado-ruling-knocking-trump-off-ballot-puts-supreme-court-in-hot-seat-de07e8f5?mod=hp_lead_pos2

5:55pm- Rich Zeoli hosts The Mark Levin Show!