Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has weighed in on X regarding the Colorado Supreme Court ruling removing former President Donald Trump from the Colorado primary ballot. His comment came as a reply to Senator Mike Lee (R-UT):

The Left invokes “democracy” to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds. SCOTUS should reverse. https://t.co/D4pCzZ7FhY

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) December 20, 2023

In comparison to other candidates’ statements, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, and Robert Kennedy Jr., it is noticeable that DeSantis does not namecheck Trump. (A side note is that Senator Lee’s tweet also did not mention Trump by name.) This is not unexpected given the prickly relationship between the Trump and DeSantis campaigns. It does open the door to Trump supporters further criticizing DeSantis for not fully supporting Trump in this legal battle. However, as noted, the existing rancor would most likely create negative commentary and friction regardless of what DeSantis did or did not say regarding the matter. DeSantis’ statement is milder than Ramaswamy’s in that there is no mention of withdrawing his name from the ballot should the court ruling against Trump be allowed to stand. In this, it mirrors Christie’s, which also makes no mention of withdrawal.

As of this writing, there has been no mention of the matter on Nikki Haley’s X account.

The Colorado branch of the GOP has publicly stated an action plan should the Colorado Supreme Court ruling stand, doing so in response to Ramaswamy’s tweet on the matter.

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.

— Colorado Republican Party (@cologop) December 20, 2023

Whether such a move is possible, if necessitated, remains to be seen. The primary date is March 5, 2024, on Super Tuesday, when 13 states besides Colorado will have their primaries (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia). The logistics of quickly arranging a caucus would doubtless be daunting, and how the Republican candidates other than Trump would respond to such a move is unknown. Given that the shift to a caucus would be in response to Trump’s removal from the ballot, one suspects charges of favoritism toward Trump would occur. Nevertheless, it is refreshing to see state party officials stand up for their candidates against politicized legal opposition.

In a perfect, or at least better, world, it would be unnecessary to note Ron DeSantis’, or any other candidate's, thoughts on Donald Trump being removed from the Colorado primary ballot because it would not have happened. It is a sad but true commentary on today’s political landscape that we must discard the notion of elections being free and fair battlegrounds of ideas, platforms, and policies alone in favor of harsh reality. The progressive movement is addicted to the maintenance and enhancement of power by all means available. Until such time as there is utilization of legal and moral force to stop its unholy advance, such is our reality.