Story
On Jan. 1, Trump faced a ballot fight that was already in motion
Trump entered 2024 with the Colorado and Maine ballot disputes already underway, after December rulings and a fast-moving push for Supreme Court review.
Edition · January 1, 2024
New Year, Same Trump Legal Hangover
On the first day of 2024, the biggest Trump-world mess wasn’t a rally line or a meme. It was the slow, humiliating reality that two states had already moved to knock him off the ballot over January 6, and the Supreme Court was about to make him live with the question in public.
The first edition day of 2024 landed with Trump still entangled in the biggest political liability of his campaign: whether the Constitution bars him from the ballot because of January 6. Maine had already removed him, Colorado had already booted him, and the legal fight was headed straight toward the Supreme Court. That is not a debate a front-runner wants to spend New Year’s Day carrying.
Closing take
The most damaging Trump screwup on January 1 was not a fresh quote or a fresh gaffe. It was that the campaign’s defining albatross was still getting heavier, and no amount of bluster could make the calendar stop turning.
Ranked by how bad the fuckup was
5 stars means maximum fallout. 1 star means a smaller self-own.