The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 20th, 2023: Colorado Ballot Ban Bombshell & Ukraine Doubles Down Against Putin

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:     The Colorado Supreme Court made a landmark ruling yesterday, disqualifying former President Donald Trump from appearing on the state's ballots for the 2024 presidential election. The Ukrainian military has proposed a massive new mobilization of up to 500,000 citizens to aid their beleaguered ranks on the front lines, a sign that that Kyiv is deeply committed to continuing the fight against Putin. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.     Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. To kick off today's program, we need to take a look at a major development in domestic U.S. politics as the state Supreme Court of Colorado rules that former President Trump is ineligible to appear on the 2024 ballot. Also, Ukraine appears to be committed to a long fight with their Russian aggressors. as the military proposes a massive new mobilization of up to half a million citizens to aid their efforts on the front lines. But first, our afternoon spotlight.

The Colorado Supreme Court made a historic landmark ruling yesterday, disqualifying former president Donald Trump from appearing on the state's ballot for the 2024 presidential election. Now, this decision marks a pivotal moment in American electoral politics. It's the first time in history that a state's IAS court has directly impacted the eligibility of a former president to run for office. The four to three ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court focuses on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that anyone who is engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the government is ineligible to hold office. That's an amendment that was originally written to apply to former Confederates following the Civil War.

The court ruled there was substantial evidence suggesting that President Trump engaged in actions constituting insurrection, thus disqualifying him from serving as president. In their 133-page ruling, the judges wrote, quote, A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the election code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. Now, the majority went on to say, quote, we do not reach these conclusions lightly,

and we are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. It's worth noting that when the judges say the majority, they're referring to the four Democrat appointed judges. All four ruled against Trump, while the three Republicans dissented, thus a four-to-three ruling. Now, I'm sure no one will see this as a political act or as judicial activism. If this ruling survives appeal, the decision would bar Trump from the state's Republican primary ballot, which is scheduled for early March. Now, of course, the ruling is unlikely the final word on the matter. In fact, it is not the final word on the matter. The Colorado justices have paused their decision allowing Trump the opportunity to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. This move could

potentially keep his name on the state's primary ballot, especially if the appeal process goes on for a long time. Now, this isn't the only case of its kind. Courts in Minnesota and Michigan have already rejected similar suits, but the issue does remain contentious. responding to the Colorado Supreme Court's decision, former President Trump during a speech in Waterloo, Iowa, criticized the ruling, of course. He stated, quote, they're willing to violate the U.S. Constitution at levels never seen before in order to win this election. Joe Biden is a threat to democracy, end quote. Now, while the decision is obviously incendiary and further hardens partisan lines, the reality is that the U.S. Supreme Court will almost certainly overturn the decision swiftly.

The Colorado judges have essentially taken it upon themselves to disenfranchise every citizen of Colorado who was either planning on or considering voting for Trump in 2024. From a legal perspective, the decision is supposedly based on the 14th Amendment, but Trump has never been charged or convicted of anything related to the January. sixth event. Look, you can be a Trump hater, and there are many of them, but at the same time, you can be extremely concerned about judicial overreach and a clear disregard for legal process and application of the law. In attempting an end run without clear legal basis to keep Trump off the ballot, the Democrat judges have likely done nothing but bolster the former president in the

polls, pave the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of Trump and set precedent, therefore, for all 50 states, and remind voters that the hard left believes they know better than everyone else what's good for America. The state Supreme Court of Colorado has essentially demonstrated that the far left believes that you have to break democracy in order to, in their minds, save democracy. Okay, coming up after the break, the Ukrainian military has proposed. posed a massive new mobilization of up to 500,000 citizens to aid their beleaguered ranks on the front lines. That's a sign that Kiev is committed to continuing the fight against Putin's invading forces. I'll be right back. Who cares about your poops? Ollie does. That's why Ali's science

back-to-gut-health lineup helps support your family's regularity. From daily probiotics to fibergummies your kiddos will love. Find it all on Ali.com. to OLLY.com. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. We turn our attention to Ukraine, where the military has proposed mobilizing an additional 450,000 to 500,000 Ukrainians into the armed forces. Now, such a large conscription of Ukrainian citizens signals that Kiev is deeply committed to continuing their efforts to repel Putin's invasion for the foreseeable future, even in the face of dwindling war funds and unreliable international support.

Ukrainian President Zelensky stressed on Tuesday that this proposal has yet to be approved. Zelensky says he wants to hear more arguments from those who favor the mobilization before giving the plan his support and sending it on to Parliament. Specifically, Zelensky has requested concrete information on how these troops would be used in the war against Russia, as well as greater clarity from military commanders regarding troop rotations and home leave for those currently on the front lines. Speaking at an end-of-year news conference in Kiev on Tuesday, Zelensky noted that the proposal involved conscripting a very serious number of Ukrainian citizens and added that he has concerns regarding the financial feasibility of the proposal.

Zelensky's office estimates that such a large-scale mobilization would cost roughly $13.5 billion, which obviously could present significant problems for a cash-strapped Ukraine. As we've covered on the PDB, Hungary recently stalled on approving a 53 billion aid package for Ukraine from the European Union. while an aid package worth roughly $61 billion from the U.S. remains tied up in a deadlocked Congress. Both the U.S. Congress and the European Union have signaled that any decision on further aid to Ukraine will not be made until sometime in the new year. Zelensky remains optimistic about the situation. At Tuesday's press conference, he says he's confident that both the U.S. and the European bloc will eventually approve the funds.

The issue of mobilization is spotlighting some long-simmering tensions, though, among political and military leaders in Ukraine. General Valerie Zilluzni, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces who drew up the newly proposed plans, criticized Zelensky's leadership in a recent interview. The pair have had an increasingly public falling out, and reportedly rarely speak to each other. Insiders say that Zelensky sees Zeluzni as a potential political rival, given his popularity, throughout Ukraine. In his recent rebuke, Zillusioni zeroed in on Zelensky's decision to fire all of

Ukraine's regional military recruitment heads in the summer over allegations of corruption. Zoluzzii argues that this decision has had a profoundly negative impact on mobilization efforts for the war. Now, public anger is also reportedly mounting over the government's current recruitment tactics. A report from Reuters noted recent social media posts that show surprised Ukrainian citizens being served with draft notices inside resorts and gyms. It's believed that Ukraine currently has roughly 1 million people serving in some military capacity. The proposed mobilization would increase that figure by 50 percent, and comes as Russian President Putin, has vowed to increase his ranks to roughly one and a half million.

As winter sets in, both sides are settling into existing battlefield positions, with little expectation that either side can make significant gains until spring arrives. During the next few months, Ukraine will use their extended range artillery capabilities to attempt to strike at Russian supply lines and command and control centers, while Russia will likely continue their efforts to damage and degrade Ukraine's energy infrastructure in an attempt to make life as miserable as possible for Ukrainians. In the meantime, both Ukraine and Russia have manpower issues, although Russia has a decided advantage given their much larger population. Zelensky is facing numerous issues at this two-year mark

in the war. Aside from needing to conscript, train, and deploy more personnel, he's dealing with internal disagreements over the course of the war, likely increasing dissatisfaction from his population as the need for more recruits creates increased upheaval on the home front, and of course, push back from the U.S. and EU over future funding and resources. You can guarantee that Putin is watching all of this in calculating that he can simply outweighed Ukraine and the West to eventually get what he wants, which of course would be Ukraine. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 20 December. If you have any questions or comments, reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com.

I'm Mike Baker. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool.