The risk is what the GOP is threatening to do in Colorado. If Trump isn’t allowed on the public voting infrastructure, they’ll just caucus instead.
In which case, it’s likely that independents won’t be allowed to participate.
So for primaries, it’s likely to have the opposite effect, more likely for a Trump candidacy, by stirring up the base and locking out potential moderate voters.
For general election, Maine and Colorado don’t practically matter, they were never going to go to trump anyway. So for these two states, it’s ammunition for a persecution complex without good result. For it to be a good strategic win, it would have to be some states that Trump actually has a chance of winning.
The risk is what the GOP is threatening to do in Colorado. If Trump isn’t allowed on the public voting infrastructure, they’ll just caucus instead.
They have every right to. Again, because a primary isn’t an election for office, it’s a private entity (in this case the GOP) being allowed to borrow public infrastructure to help them decide who they want to back for the actual election.
Same reason super delegates for the Dems weren’t illegal, even if they were in bad faith.
It’s perfectly in their rights, but not what an effort seeking to prevent a Trump candidacy should want.
If the state ruled Trump can’t be on the primary ballot because he’s ineligible to be president, then he can’t be on the main ballot because he’s ineligible to be president. That means no Republican will be on the ballot, and that’s really bad for the Republicans.