I did a piece yesterday asking …..
For most (Not All) Republicans?
The answer is Yes…..
Most Americans….
No….
Republicans are showing increased loyalty to the former president as he campaigns for reelection and fights criminal charges over his attempt to stay in power after losing in 2020. They are now less likely to believe that Jan. 6 participants were “mostly violent,” less likely to believe Trump bears responsibility for the attack and are slightly less likely to view Joe Biden’s election as legitimate than they were in a December 2021 Post-UMD survey.
In follow-up interviews, some said their views have changed because they now believe the riot was instigated by law enforcement to suppress political dissent — a baseless conspiracy theory that has been promoted heavily in right-wing media and by Trump in his speeches and in his legal fight against the four-count federal indictment he faces in D.C.
“From a historical perspective, these results would be chilling to many analysts,” said Michael J. Hanmer, director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland.
But Republican views are more fractured than those of Democrats, who remain largely in agreement that the riot was a violent threat to democracy for which Trump bears responsibility. “In the current context of hyper-partisanship, there seem to be some divisions among Republicans,” Hanmer said. Independents, according to the poll, mostly side with Democrats.
As Trump leads the Republican field for president by a wide margin, the poll reveals several key takeaways….
…
Most Americans, 55 percent, believe the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was “an attack on democracy that should never be forgotten,” with majorities of Democrats and independents holding this view. But most Republicans and Trump voters reject this view…
…
Republicans today also feel more defensive of Trump than they did in 2021. Two years ago, 60 percent of Americans overall said Trump bears “a great deal” or “a good amount” of responsibility for the attack; now, 53 percent do. Again, Republicans are driving that change — 14 percent assign him a great or good amount of culpability, about half as many as did in 2021 (27 percent)…
….
A 56 percent majority of Americans say Trump is probably guilty of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results through false claims of voter fraud, including 40 percent who believe he is “definitely guilty.” Republicans are less united than Democrats. Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats believe Trump is guilty, while nearly 7 in 10 Republicans think he is innocent. Among independents, nearly twice as many think Trump is guilty as think he is innocent….
…
Just over a quarter of Americans are confident that Trump would accept the results of the election if he loses the next presidential race, while 65 percent think President Biden would. A 71 percent majority are not confident Trump will accept losing in 2024, which is more than twice the share who say this of Biden. Nearly half of Republicans doubt Trump will accept the election if he loses, rising to 73 percent among independents and 93 percent of Democrats….
…
In case anyone thinks the two runner ups to Trump are REALLY fighting the guy like Christie IS?
“I would pardon Trump if he is found guilty,” Haley told a crowd in Plymouth, N.H., on Thursday… DeSantis, who has blamed Trump’s dominance in the polls in part on the string of criminal indictments, said Friday that he would pardon a convicted Trump because “we got to move on as a country.” Speaking with reporters after a campaign stop in Elkader, Iowa, DeSantis echoed Haley’s commitment, invoking the only previous time a U.S. president has received a pardon. “It’s like Ford did to Nixon,” DeSantis said, referencing Gerald Ford’s 1974 pardon of disgraced former president Richard M. Nixon. “Because you just, you know, the divisions are just not in the country’s interest….
More…
If you pardon Trump, it would only be fair to pardon those (or at least most of those) who now serve substantial sentences for following Trump’s direction.
Had Hitler survived to be pardoned, would it have been fair to condemn those who followed his direction?
Marshal Philippe Pétain (after voluntarily returning to France from Switzerland) was convicted after trial, as was his prime minister, Pierre Laval, for the crimes of Vichy France.
Laval was executed, and the sentence of Pétain (already turning senile) was commuted to life imprisonment at the instance of de Gaulle (who had served under the Hero of Verdun in World War I) and many other veterans of the Resistance.
Many other lesser functionaries were imprisoned and convicted for collaborating with the policies and directives of Vichy and the German occupiers. One couldn’t justly do so without convicting and imprisoning Vichy’s leaders.
Trump HAS in fact promised to do just that for Jan. 6 types……..
Yes…
In OTHER places….
Trying to overthrow those in power for their sins results in MUCH harsher consequences….
On the other hand, the Plumbers, Ehlichman, Haldeman, John Dean & co. went to prison while Richard Nixon got a full pre-emptive pardon.
Same COULD be case with Trump, eh?
SEVERAL of Trump’s cohorts HAVE made trips before State and Federal judges after being criminally charged for actions connected to Trump’s actions…: