DAN MCLAUGHLIN: Will the suicidal Democrats EVER learn? Like the endless indictments, Colorado’s bogus ruling only makes Trump stronger – and Biden look somehow even more spineless

When will Donald Trump's enemies learn?

You may be able to beat Trump at the ballot box, but you can't stop him with lawyers — and it's dangerous to try.

The polls prove it. Every time Trump's critics try to sideline him with a half-clever legal argument, they make him more popular among his base and undecided Republican voters.

As Machiavellian Obama guru David Axelrod tweeted on Wednesday, “All the legal challenges Trump has faced so far have helped him gain strength in the Republican primaries as he portrays himself as a victim.”

Even Republicans who don't like Trump are looking at the accusations, the endless indictments, the Russia investigation, the civil fraud case against his company, the sexual abuse claims, the Big Tech suppression of news stories about Hunter Biden, and all the rest as a concerted effort by establishment elites to prevent voters from getting what they want.

Tuesday night's weak ruling by Colorado's all-Democratic Supreme Court to remove Trump from the state's primary ballot will be no different.

And while his most vocal enemies will shout that they are standing up for democracy and defending themselves against vague existential threats of dictatorial rule, it is not a little ironic that they come across as fearful of what voters might democratically choose in 2024.

It's all free advertising for Trump, who plays on the mythology of the 'stolen' vote, with the Big Orange Persecuted Hero standing up for the little guy – even though the truth is that he has brought much of this legal misery on himself through misconduct and selfish arrogance.

But that doesn't seem to matter.

Trump took off in the polls after he was first indicted by Soros-backed prosecutor Alvin Bragg in March. With each subsequent charge he strengthens his lead. In fact, he already regularly beats Joe Biden in the polls.

As with Bragg's bogus case, the Colorado court's decision to invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has come under intense scrutiny.

Section 3 was added to the Constitution after the Civil War to prevent former Confederates from returning to office. It says anyone who is “guilty of insurrection or rebellion” after taking an oath will be disqualified from holding office.

There is no precedent for its contemporary use.

It has never been used to block a presidential candidate. And until the January 6 riot, it hadn't been used against anyone in more than a century.

That term 'engage' is crucial. It was defined by the Attorney General at the time Section 3 was written as “active” participation. Yet Trump is not widely accused of this endearing at the Capitol riot, rather inflammatory It.

However, the Colorado court argued that because Trump incited the rioters, it was enough to find him guilty of involvement that he sat around during the insurrection and tweeted about how Congress should overturn the votes for Biden.

Sorry, that's still not the same as participating in a riot. And it certainly sets a dangerous precedent when sharp words from politicians can be labeled as synonymous with actual violence.

Joe Biden told supporters in June 2020 that Trump was “going to try to steal this election.”

With the George Floyd riots underway that month, Kamala Harris promoted a fund “to help pay bail for those protesting on site.”

Violent street protests against the government are more common on the left than on the right. The Democrats will probably regret the fact that a ruling like this is on the books for a long time to come.

Three of the seven Democrats on the Colorado court, including the chief judge, voted against the ruling, warning of legal overreach, ignoring rules and denying Trump due process.

They are said to have complained about an “impromptu” hearing that gave Trump little time to prepare a defense and relied on reading excerpts from a report prepared by Democrats in Congress.

One of the dissenting judges wrote that the final ruling “threatened chaos in our country” and warned, “what took place here is nothing like what I have seen in a courtroom.”

Criticism from one's own side doesn't get much worse than that.

Trump can, of course, appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court — and he will.

The ruling will most likely be reversed by the majority conservative panel before Colorado's Jan. 5 deadline for listing candidates for the primary ballot. After which we will be subjected to a Trumpian victory lap, with the ex-president completely washing his hands of the January 6 accusations.

Biden, who stayed out of the case in Colorado, will find it difficult to avoid taking a position on how the Supreme Court should rule.

He is now trying to thread the needle by saying that it is “self-evident” that Trump “supported an insurrection,” but that the court must ultimately decide whether that disqualifies him from the vote.

The pressure to clarify his position will undoubtedly increase.

If he says the decision should be upheld, he will tell voters that he wants his opponent removed from the ballot — and that he will look weaker than he already is.

But if he sides with Trump, ardent Democrats will also think he is spineless.

Win-win, once again, for The Donald.