Jack Smith is convincing Americans Donald Trump is guilty
A new Politico-Ipsos poll Tuesday showed Americans' perception of former President Donald Trump's criminal cases, with a notable shift among independents.
The poll, based on responses from 1,024 adults in the general U.S. population, found that about half of Americans believe that Trump is guilty in each of the four criminal cases he is facing: the Manhattan "hush money" case, the Mar-a-Lago documents case, the Georgia election interference case and the federal election interference case. Ipsos noted in its reports that the numbers are fairly steady compared to a similar poll from August 2023, conducted shortly after the most recent of the four indictments was brought.
Also steady were the results along party lines for Democrats and Republicans. Among respondents, those who identified as Democrats heavily favored the belief that Trump is guilty, ranging between 86 percent and 87 percent for each case. Republicans, conversely, favored the belief that Trump is not guilty, though to a less pronounced degree, between 60 percent and 67 percent for each case.
The thing that bakes my noodle about J6 is that I wonder if the right wing would still have been able to spin it if the Capitol Police had been less effective and the crowd had gotten their hands on Members of Congress. Watching Congressmen and women get taken hostage, assaulted, or possibly killed on live television would have upped the stakes considerably. Still not sure if it would have been enough to overcome Trump's widespread support and/or the spin machine that enables him.
"Mostly peaceful with a few bad apples (who were actually Antifa)" already worked, and I'm not sure even more graphic and horrifying footage would have changed things on the right. They already condemned Trump immediately after J6, then reversed course when the base stayed with him.
There is a sense of momentum to these sorts of events. If they were able to exert violence on federal lawmakers, it would show the country how easy it could be and people would be marching into state capitols by the 7th, maybe quicker.
If shit turned that way, they would have been forced to douse the fire with water. Not sure if that would escalate things like a grease fire or immediately extinguish.