Morning Consult polling shows that Donald Trump’s support among Republicans is holding steady while Joe Biden’s support among Democrats is collapsing. On the other hand, a New York Times/Siena College poll finds “nearly half the [Republican] party’s primary voters seeking someone different for president in 2024 and a significant number vowing to abandon him if he wins the nomination.”
I guess you can choose which survey to believe or what spin you want to put on their data. Last I checked, if “nearly half” of the primary electorate opposes you, you’re probably going to win every primary and the nomination of your party. Trump’s standing may not be at its strongest point, but it’s good enough for now.
Probably the most concerning part of the Morning Consult information is that only “32% of all voters — and 23% of Republicans — said they had seen, read or heard ‘a lot’ about [former White House aide Cassidy] Hutchinson’s testimony,” before the January 6 committee. But the same survey showed that “the majority of voters (56%) say they believe Trump committed a crime in his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
Fifty-six percent is a decent number but insufficient to convince Republican lawmakers to hold Trump accountable.
I continue to believe that only legal action can change these dynamics. People need to see Trump as a defendant, not as an active politician. Seeing him in court as evidence is presented against him will alter perceptions like nothing else can. Fortunately, the January 6 committee is building the kind of case the Department of Justice cannot ignore.
Time is running short, however. This show needs to get on the road.
I agree. Time is increasingly short. DOJ needs to get it together and force TFG to try to mount a defense. Given what the January 6th Commission has shown us, he’ll be going through some things if the DOJ will just do its job. Although this is crude, it’s time to “shit or get off the pot.”
I agree. I also think it’s unlikely Trump gets indicted in this calendar year. DOJ has a policy of not making indictments in political cases in the 60 days before an election. That’s just after Labor Day and it seems unlikely they’ll indict Trump before then.
DOJ’s also got a slew of trials filling their calendar for the next few months. They’ve got a new grand jury that started meeting earlier this year (replacing a grand jury that had sat for over a year). And they’re going to want to “flip” as many witnesses as they can before they go after Trump.
The good news is the evidence continues to pile up…and evidence doesn’t go away. https://masscommons.wordpress.com/2022/06/17/how-the-good-guys-finally-won-paper-cuts/
The bad news is the clock is ticking on Republicans regaining control of Congress.
Agreed. This has to get going, and get going ASAP.
I am more optimistic about the speed with which Garland will move. I think indictments are likely coming sooner rather than later. The witness tampering allegations lights a fire under DOJ. They can’t have the target of their investigation interfering with that investigation.
I don’t think the objective should be to force Trump to mount a defense – he will just double down on the lies and do everything he can to delay the day of reckoning. The objective should be to shut Trump up. Arrest him and use the witness tampering to fight to deny him bail. At the very least make bail conditional on a gag order. Take away Trump’s microphone.