California passes anti-Trump law NJ wanted (Opinion)

A tale of two blue states. California and New Jersey (aka East California). California just passed a law that keeps any presidential candidate off the ballot who won’t share their last five years of tax returns. Yes, this is entirely designed to keep specifically Donald Trump off the ballot.

New Jersey tried the same thing but failed. Our State Senate passed it along party lines but it failed in the Assembly. You can bet a progressive like Phil Murphy would have signed it.

Now if you really want to take a hard look at the nonsense politicians waste time with this law is a great place to start.

What are the constitutional requirements to be president of the United States? You must be a natural born citizen of the United States, you have to be a resident for 14 years and you must be at least 35 years old. These requirements have not changed since the inception of the constitution.

Along comes the hubris of New Jersey and California who decide they should be able to tear up the constitution. And to what end? There had never been any legal requirement to reveal your taxes. It’s only tradition, and it does not date back further than Richard Nixon. Also, when blue states make this sort off threat it’s an empty one at best. Why? The electoral vote.

California like New Jersey is a winner take all state (which most are). From archives.gov, “all 55 of California's Electoral votes go to the winner of the state election, even if the margin of victory is only 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent.”

In other words, in these heavily blue states this law means absolutely nothing. Keeping Trump off the ballot in a state he’s almost certain to lose anyway doesn’t do anything other than scold the president.

The voters already know Trump is afraid to release his tax returns. If it doesn’t matter to them, as it didn’t in 2016, who are these state lawmakers to take away their choice. California and New Jersey have enough real problems that need attention. Shaming the president shouldn’t be a priority.

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