Romney to wrap up political career in 2025, lawsuit to stop Trump might prove ineffective.

Plus, Laura Boebert's temper tantrum.

WHAT YOU MISSED

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) announced today he will not pursue a second term, citing a need for a younger crop of politicians that will “step up” to “shape the world they’re going to live in.” Romney also believes that he won’t be able to accomplish much in a second term as senator, both due to his age (he’s 76) and political gridlock.

“It’s very difficult for the House to operate, from what I can tell,” he told the Washington Post. “And more importantly, we’re probably going to have either Trump or Biden as our next president. And Biden is unable to lead on important matters and Trump is unwilling to lead on important matters.”

Yesterday, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R) said that House Republicans will begin an inquiry into impeaching President Joe Biden on unsubstantiated corruption charges that the GOP has been making for months now. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said what we’re all thinking:

Attempts to keep Trump off the ballot might be a fool’s errand

On Tuesday, a coalition of Minnesota voters filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Donald Trump from the state’s presidential ballot on the grounds he violated the Constitution.

“Donald J. Trump, through his words and actions, after swearing an oath as an officer of the United States to support the Constitution, engaged in insurrection or rebellion, or gave aid and comfort to its enemies, as defined by Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the suit reads.

“He is disqualified from holding the presidency or any other office under the United States unless and until Congress provides him relief.”

This legal theory has been floated since Trump was impeached following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol — and some secretaries of state have said they’ll consider it as the 2024 election looms — but it’s far from a silver bullet. In fact, it might not even be up to the supposed arbiters the suit is hoping to reach.

“We are not the eligibility police,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D) told Politico.

“We don’t have investigators, we don’t lie in the bushes with binoculars to determine whether a candidate is really lying her head where she says she does for residency purposes. And the same is true for this kind of eligibility challenge.”

And it’s not just Simon who’s declared the secretaries of state have no jurisdiction in the matter. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger published an op-ed last week in the Wall Street Journal that was literally titled “I Can’t Keep Trump Off the Ballot.”

He also rejected the premise on philosophical grounds.

“For a secretary of state to remove a candidate would only reinforce the grievances of those who see the system as rigged and corrupt. Denying voters the opportunity to choose is fundamentally un-American,” Raffensperger writes.

“Since our founding, Americans have believed that a government is just when it has earned the consent of the governed. Taking away the ability to choose — or object to — the eligibility of candidates eliminates that consent for slightly less than half of the country.”

Looks like the most obvious way to beat Trump is at the ballot box. There’s no One Quick Trick to defeating him, and maybe that’s for the best: The broader left will be forced to build coalitions and actually participate in politics rather than looking for some kind of Get Out of Jail Free card.

GOOFUS ALERT

Surveillance footage of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) being asked to leave a performance of the “Beetlejuice” musical in Denver has been released.

The Buell Theatre’s staff accused the Colorado congresswoman of “vaping, singing, recording and ‘causing a disturbance” during the performance. Boebert initially refused to leave, and Denver police were called to the scene.

It was reported that she asked staff if they knew who she was and informed them that she would be “contacting the mayor.” Boebert can also be seen on video giving ushers the bird as she was escorted out.