Gingrich says Colorado close to 'becoming the new Venezuela' after barring Trump from ballot

Gingrich said Coloradans should try to remove the judges from office because they replaced "the rule of law with the rule of power" with their decision.

By Madeleine Hubbard

Published: December 20, 2023 1:55pm

Updated: December 20, 2023 2:09pm

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned Wednesday that Colorado is poised to become an authoritarian regime like Venezuela, after the state Supreme Court issued a ruling to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 presidential primary ballot.

"Colorado is on the verge of becoming the new Venezuela," Gingrich wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Four lawyers have decided that their views outweigh the 1,364,607 Coloradans who voted for Donald Trump in 2020. Keeping a political opponent from even running is the behavior of a dictatorship not a democracy."

He also said Coloradans should try to remove the judges from office because they replaced "the rule of law with the rule of power" with their decision.

"Welcome to Venezuela or Cuba or Nicaragua," Gingrich also said.

Trump vowed to appeal the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court after the state judges determined Tuesday that he is ineligible to run on the 2024 GOP primary ballot due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot because of the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause.

If the appeal fails, the Colorado Republican Party has vowed to withdraw from the state primary and hold a caucus instead.

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