OPINION | If Trump Wants to Make Jan 6 A Cornerstone of His Campaign, He’ll Lose
Outside of MAGA faithful, Americans continue to recoil at the violence at the Capitol
At a campaign rally last weekend in Ohio, Donald Trump stood onstage and his hand raised in solemn salute to the brim of his red MAGA hat, as a recorded chorus of prisoners in jail for their roles in the January 6 attack sang the national anthem.
With equal seriousness, an announcer asked the crowd to please rise “for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6th hostages.”
And the crowd of Trump faithful did, and sang along.
As the recording of what, in reality, was a group of convicted felons, ended, Trump declared, “They were unbelievable patriots.”
Having previously committing to pardon this group of often violent rioters, in Ohio Trump promised to help them “the first day we get into office.”
For the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, the January 6 attack is no mere afterthought.
Rather, a group of Associated Press reporters just published a piece that Trump intends to make it a “cornerstone” of his bid to return to the White House.
If that’s true, I say, “Good, we should let him.”
Doing so almost certainly will cause Trump to lose in November.
Trump, and his allies both in Congress and in right-wing media have spent the last couple of years in a concerted effort to try to convince Americans not to believe their own lying eyes and come around to the idea that the violent and deadly insurrection of January 6 wasn't so bad.
The thing is that while they unfortunately succeeded in persuading many other Republicans, even now most Americans remain aghast at the lawless and brutal actions which occurred that day in an attempt to help Trump illegally hold on to the White House.
Public opinion polling consistently reveals how Americans view that day. And, aside from the MAGA faithful who have been brainwashed, they don’t look kindly on it.
A strong majority of voters overall (61 percent) say that January 6 was “a violent insurrection,” according to a poll this year.
But, for Trump, it’s worse than that.
Some 55 percent of voters say they are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about the events of January 6 happening again after the next presidential election in November.
And they are less likely — not more — to vote against a candidate who supports the January 6 attack.
Even about a quarter of Republicans won’t vote for someone who backs the insurrection.
But perhaps more crucially, a full 57 percent of political independents say they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supports the January 6 attack.
That’s perhaps the worst news for Trump. He can’t get elected based solely on the support of the MAGA crowd.
When Trump won the White House in 2016, it was based on very narrow numbers in a handful of states. And that relied on the support of a razor-thin margin of independents.
Without support from those independents in places like Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, Trump can’t win.
So sure, let Trump keep saying nice things about the insurrection, and the insurrectionists.
It only will continue to remind Americans who not to vote for on Election Day.
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