Shots at Distillation - :Trump is Illegitimate & Here is Why... And This is What We Do About It...

D-Licious Media: 14th Amendment Video Transcript

Link to Podcast Version

Shots at Distillation - Trump is Completely and Totally Illegitimate and Here's Why...

Hello. Welcome to another installment of Shots at Distillation by D-Licious Media. 

This is a big one. I’m going to be taking a big shot with this one. I’m going to be laying something massive out about the Constitutional crisis we currently find ourselves in. I’d really like everyone to listen carefully. This has to be said and this message has to be shared far and wide. Every single American should hear and understand this message. 

So please… Listen then help share this message far and wide. I’m going to lay it out and then I’ll lay out some strategies for getting it out to as many people as possible as fast as possible. So here goes. Gonna take this shot, distill this issue, and then take a shot at getting the message out to as many people as possible as fast as possible. 

So let’s do this… [SHOT]

So, on January 6th, 2025, the United States Congress certified the 2024 Election for President of the United States, awarding the presidency to Donald J. Trump and setting the table for him to be sworn in as Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief.

There is a massive Constitutional problem with this, though. The massive, massive problem with this is… the events that took place exactly 4 years earlier. January 6th, 2021. Never forget. Always remember.

So here lies the big problem: the events of January 6th, 2021, and how they collide with our Constitution – specifically, the 14th Amendment.

We all know what happened on January 6th, 2021. I, like so many others, watched the coup attempt, insurrection, and rebellion against the Constitutional Order of the United States and the Sovereignty of the People of the United States, live on TV. There are myriad videos that document the events.

We all heard the lies that fueled the insurrection, rebellion, and attempted coup, and we all heard the rhetoric Trump and his people used to incite and direct it. Of course, there is plenty of denial about what happened that day, but it’s all nonsense. The direction and the intent are crystal clear.

I can’t spell out all the details here, but I did a piece laying it all out in an episode of my podcast, “A Little Wine a Little Time”. You can find that episode on the D-Licious Media YouTube channel.

Many deny, or are in denial, but but’s truly undeniable that January 6th, 2021 was a coup attempt.

So, here is the major Constitutional crisis: we have an individual scheduled to be sworn in as Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief who, via Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, is completely ineligible to hold that office. Have you read it? I won’t waste time reading the whole thing. You are more than capable of finding it and reading it, but the gist is this…

Donald John Trump, the former 45th President of the United States, is completely and totally disqualified from holding any elected office the United States of America. He not only participated in a coup attempt, insurrection, and rebellion – he was the leader and driving force behind it. He led it. He directed it. It was by him and for him. It was his attempt to overthrow the Constitutional order of this country and hold onto power via force.

I’ve read Section 3 of the 14th Amendment many times now. I keep asking myself, “Self, am I missing something?” The amendment is very clear. Donald Trump’s glaringly obvious role in the rebellion against the United States makes him completely and totally ineligible to hold any Constitutional office in this country.

The 14th Amendment, Section 3. It’s transparent., and so is Trump’s role in the events of January 6th, 2021. On that day, he broke his own oath to the Constitution and disqualified himself from holding office and representing the American people. 

If he is sworn in on January 20th, 2025, it will be completely illegitimate. If we allow it, the Constitution will be meaningless. His oath will mean absolutely nothing. It will mean as little to him as it meant the first time he took it. He will be as illegitimate a president as someone who is under 35 or someone not born in the United States, as is laid out in Article 2 of the Constitution.

Donald Trump is ineligible to be sworn in as President of the United States. Trump has no true claim to be the 47th president. Absolutely none.

Trump – via the events he led and directed on January 6th, 2021 – forfeited his eligibility from being sworn in on January 20th, 2025. But here is the truth: it should never have gotten to this point in the first place. In all reality, according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the moment the coup attempt, insurrection, and rebellion began, he immediately forfeited his right and privilege to hold office.

There are several means and measures that could and should have been used to hold him accountable for the events he led and directed that day, but truth be told: the moment it all began, power should have immediately been transferred to his vice president Mike Pence, and Pence should have been sworn in as soon as possible. Because Donald Trump – the moment the attack began – became an illegitimate president.

There were many other measures that could have been used – and we will get into those – but according to the 14th Amendment, none of those other measures should have been needed. Power should have immediately been transferred to Trump’s VP. Mike Pence should have been recognized as our 46th president in that moment, period.

In fact, during the attack – while seeking shelter from the paramilitary force Trump had assembled – Vice President Pence took some actions that would usually be the responsibility of the president, while Trump was watching the attack on TV and no doubt hoping the coup would succeed.

So, in that moment – and for good reason – Pence took on powers outside of the office of the Vice President and was, for a time, Acting President. Constitutionally, he should have continued in that role and should have immediately directed federal law enforcement and national security agencies to apprehend Trump.

That’s what should have happened. Vice President Pence should have immediately been sworn in. This being completely unprecedented, however – and in the chaos of the moment – this course of action may not have even occurred to anyone. It didn’t occur to me until recently, after familiarizing myself with the 14th Amendment.

There were many options, as far as holding Trump accountable goes. The first and best option to deal with the situation was something that I – and many others – were thinking about and calling for. Since Pence didn’t immediately assume the presidency – as would have been appropriate – many were calling to evoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. It shouldn’t have been necessary because of the 14th Amendment, but amidst the chaos of the coup attempt, many thought that the 25th Amendment was going to be the course of action. 

However, it was not. So, the list of individuals who broke their oath to the Constitution began to grow. 

The 25th Amendment was the clearest and best option to remedy the situation, but those who could and should have evoked it failed to do so, and so, they failed the American people by breaking their oath to the Constitution. They – like Trump on that day – disqualified themselves from holding office.

In reality, we went several weeks without having a legitimate president. From January 6th, 2021, until Joe Biden was sworn in on January 20th, 2021, the United States of America was without a legitimate executive branch.

So, there were many ways to deal with this, but all have been neglected or have failed. The most Constitutionally appropriate option was to immediately transfer power to the vice president – the vice president who had been a literal target of the coup attempt and the paramilitary force Trump had unleashed on his checks to power.

Since the 14th Amendment might not have been considered during the chaos of the insurrection, the next-best and appropriate option was to evoke the 25th Amendment. Those who had the duty and responsibility to evoke it failed, and in their failure they joined Trump in breaking their oaths and becoming Constitutionally illegitimate.

After the failures to uphold the 14th and 25th Amendments, the responsibility to appropriately address the crisis fell to Congress and the courts. The legal system can be complicated and slow, so for the sake of time, I won’t dive into all that.

No matter what method was used to hold Trump accountable, the courts should always play a part in addressing punishment. But this piece is focused on his ineligibility to hold office – so we will leave out the legal system and focus on Congress’s responsibility, and the Republican Party’s responsibility.

So, Congress… after the failure to evoke the 14th or the 25th Amendment, the next best way to hold him accountable fell to Congress. The House of Representatives voted to impeach him. It should have been unanimous, based on the situation, but only a few Republicans voted to impeach Trump. Then the case bounced to the Senate, who had the duty to convict. But the Republican majority did not convict him.

A conviction would have removed Trump and disqualified him from ever holding office again. But by failing to convict, Congress essentially joined Trump in breaking their oaths to the Constitution. In fact, any members of Congress who did not vote to impeach Trump – or who failed to convict him – have disqualified themselves from holding office, and they have failed the American people. 

Those members of Congress aided and abetted a former president who – on January 6th, 2021 – directed an attack on the country and the Constitution they swore an oath to. They are now illegitimate, and any official action or any vote they’ve cast is null and void.

The next entity that failed the country via the 14th Amendment is the Republican Party. Because of the events of January 6th, 2025 – and how that situation is addressed in the Constitution – the Republican Party nominated a candidate that was totally ineligible to hold the office of the President. Every vote cast for Trump is void because of his leadership role in a coup attempt, insurrection, and rebellion.

Members of the Electoral College also swear an oath to the Constitution, which not only makes every electoral vote for Trump void and illegitimate, but also means that all Electoral College members who cast their votes for Donald Trump broke their oath to the Constitution and the sovereignty of the American people.

Void. Illegitimate. All a violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Not only that, but any elected official who protected Trump – from members of Congress to state representatives and state-level executives – has broken their oath to the Constitution by aiding and abetting a former president who led and directed an insurrection against the United States.

So, quick summary: the moment the coup attempt started, Donald John Trump forfeited his role as the 45th President of the United States. He became an enemy of the country, its Constitution, and the sovereignty of the American people. His authority should have been stripped from him immediately. Mike Pence should have been sworn in as the 46th President.

Any elected official who failed to hold Trump accountable for breaking his Constitutional oath, has also broken their oath to the Constitution. By supporting Trump’s illegitimate campaign for re-election, they have disqualified themselves from holding office, and any official action they’ve taken since January 6th, 2021 (such as voting) is null and void.

I know this is very heavy, but there is no other way to look at it, if we still care about the United States Constitution. If Trump is sworn in on January 20th, 2025, our Constitution means absolutely nothing. This might upset many people who voted for Trump in the 2024 election. This isn’t the place to lay out just how horrible Trump is – from economics to foreign policy, etc… 

I guess people have the right to be irresponsible with their duties as American voters and as American citizens. That’s an argument for a different day. However, no one should have had the opportunity to cast votes for someone who – via our Constitution – was, is, and always will be ineligible to be president.

So, this is where we are. An individual who led and directed an insurrection against the United States is scheduled to be sworn in (illegitimately) and retake an oath he has already broken. That doesn’t take into account all the ways Trump and his people are threatening to dismantle our constitutional republic. It will all be illegitimate, but that means nothing if the Constitution is voided by swearing Trump in again.

And if he is sworn in again, this ceases to be the United States of America governed by our Constitution.

So, what do we do about it? How do we keep our constitutional republic intact?

The first step is getting this message out there as fast and as far as possible. I need your help blasting this out ASAP. We only have a few weeks to save our democracy from an individual who cares nothing about it, has already broken the first oath he took when sworn in, and will do everything possible to dismantle our constitutional order if given the means and opportunity.

Trump broke his oath in the worst way possible the first time around. His oath and the Constitution mean nothing to him, and let us not forget his relationship with a foreign dictator – a dictator whose life’s mission has been to tear down the United States, and who has supported Trump via propaganda on social media during three elections (2016, 2020, and 2024).

So yeah… we need to get this message out as far and as fast as possible. Share this everywhere. Share the 14th Amendment everywhere, and share things like January 6th footage and testimony along with it. Together we can do this, and together we can save this country from an individual who has no legitimate claim to be our Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief.

Share this with everyone you can, on every platform you can, as much as possible in the next few weeks. We can do this if we can build enough support and build a serious movement around it.

On Facebook: share it regularly on your feed. Share it in as many Facebook groups as you can. If you aren’t in Facebook groups, find groups to join and share this message in. Go to Facebook timelines of politicians, national media, and local media. Share it with people up and down comment threads and ask them to share it as well. Tag politicians and members of the media.

If enough of us do this, we could possibly get this movement on the radar of important politicians and media, and they can spread the message to their larger audiences.

We can also blast it out on Twitter (X). Tag politicians and media outlets and personalities in hopes that they see it and can help spread the message and the movement.

You can also use Instagram and TikTok. You can break down the message in videos and direct people to this piece.

Platforms like Threads and BlueSky could be useful too. They are less-used platforms, so there is less noise, and that may allow the message to get through better than on some of the more crowded platforms. Use the same strategies I mentioned for Facebook.

If we can get important politicians and big media outlets to spread the message to their audiences, we might just have a chance. We can’t not try. We can spend as much time as possible over the next few weeks blasting this message out and doing everything we can to build it into a movement. If it gets enough support, it could work.

But what are the next steps? If we can get enough people to hear this message and support the movement, the members of Congress that upheld their oaths can meet to recertify the election with only the legitimate electors who also upheld their oaths. 

All the electors who cast votes for Trump have broken their oaths via the 14th Amendment and those votes are void.

Any Congress members, governors, and state representatives who have aided and abetted Trump are currently fraudulently holding offices they are constitutionally ineligible to hold.

So, that said, the January 6th, 2025, election certification is null and void. All electoral votes for Trump are unconstitutional. The only constitutional votes are from those electors who cast their votes for Kamala Harris. 

According to the Constitution, 270 electoral votes are required to secure the presidency. Harris is short of that mark, so constitutionally, the duty of picking the next legitimate president falls on the House of Representatives. 

Because Trump has been an illegitimate president since the insurrection, any member of the House that voted against his impeachment has broken their oath to the Constitution, making them illegitimate office-holders. So, the only legitimate members who can pick the next president are those who voted to impeach. Mostly Democrats.

So that’s where we sit. To save our democracy, we need to get this message out as far and as fast as possible, in hopes of reaching the politicians and elected officials that can act accordingly, so that the remaining legitimate members of Congress can pick a qualified President of the United States. The Constitution just might save this country after all, but it’s gonna take all of us getting this message out there over the next few weeks.

That’s all I have for now. Shots at distillation. I’d love for you to subscribe to the D-Licious Media YouTube channel. I’d love for you to check out some of my other content at some point, but for the sake of the country, sharing this message is the most important thing these next few weeks. Please share, share share!

I’ll be releasing some shorter, more condensed versions of this message in the next few days as well, so please stay tuned. Like and comment. That will help drive it up in the algorithm.

Whatever happens, don’t despair. We are strong together, and we will find a way out of this Trump mess. Maybe this is it. We shall see.

Be well and stay well. Peace.