Will Supreme Court kick Trump off the ballot? If they do, GOP is prepared to boot Biden, too.

The exercise of government on every level always has involved elements of political theater.

In Arizona these days it’s just … theater. Zero governing.

If there were governing, it would work like this:

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The Republican majority in the Arizona Legislature, knowing it can pass just about any legislation it wants but hoping to prevent those bills from being vetoed by Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, would seek the input of its brothers and sisters across the aisle and perhaps even try reach some type of compromise.

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

However, when the majority party’s interest is not governing but stagecraft, the hallowed halls of the state Capitol turn into a burlesque playhouse. With taxpayer money to put on a show.

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Trump should remain on the ballot

One recent example is House Bill 2786, sponsored by Republican Rep. Cory McGarr.

It’s a reaction to efforts in several states to bar former President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot for having violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies anyone from holding office who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or who has “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Colorado, for example, says Trump’s participation in the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, disqualifies him. There were oral arguments about this before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Experts say the nation’s highest court will favor Trump, because several justices indicated that Congress might be able to do such a thing but not individual states.

If that argument holds, Trump will survive on a technicality. I doubt anyone could seriously suggest he didn’t, at the very least, give aid and comfort to the insurrectionists.

But his ballot status should be fine.

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Arizona bill would boot Biden to save Trump

Just in case, however, McGarr’s bill says if Trump is disqualified then Biden, too, must be disqualified.

The (let’s go with) comical nature of that suggestion might best be exposed by way of a historic example in sports.

Back in 1988, at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Canada’s Ben Johnson defeated America’s Carl Lewis in the gold-medal finals of the 100-meter dash, the premiere event of the games.

Within days, however, drug testing found that Johnson had taken an anabolic steroid and he was disqualified. His gold medal was awarded to Lewis, who had finished second.

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If the International Olympic Committee followed Rep. McCarr’s logic, they would have disqualified the cheating Johnson and Lewis, who was clean.

Sadly, using the legislative process to propose such farcical BS does not disqualify McCarr from holding political office.

Even worse, the same is true for the bill’s 15 – count ’em – fifteen Republican co-sponsors.

EJ Montini is a columnist at The Arizona Republic/azcentral.com, where this column first published. Reach Montini at [email protected].

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Will Supreme Court kick Trump off the ballot? If they do, GOP is prepared to boot Biden, too.