The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, in Section 3, states:

“Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Note that this does not require a conviction by trial or any other preceding legal action.

That the US government has not widely if not universally accepted that this clause prohibits Donald Trump from legally becoming president is not only troubling, but casts in severe doubt the legitimacy of the government as a whole.

Functionally, our government has demonstrated its inability to function and to provide the civil protections it is required to furnish. As a people, we should anticipate that any action on the part of those employed in government, which does not seek to remedy this crisis, is invalid.

My aim in stating this is not to foment chaos and anarchy, but to encourage others to place greater pressure on their public servants to act appropriately.