![]() ![]() Though public sentiment in the immediate aftermath of the storming of the Capitol was united in overwhelming disdain, that consensus has eroded over the last two and half years - especially among Republicans. One clear sign of Trump’s threat to the principle of accountability in a democracy comes from public opinion over the legacy of January 6 itself. It all raises an important question: Can a polarized democratic society hold its leaders accountable, or is it doomed to see any attempt at accountability through the prism of partisan politics? Public opinion on January 6 and Trump is murky - but shifting But Trump’s ability to just campaign through the charges, including those centered around a plot to overturn an election, shows just how much he has changed how Americans think about politics, think about accountability, and think about him. It’s possible that this indictment - Trump’s third, with a fourth waiting in the wings - might actually register in polls. That’s the shifting political moment surrounding special counsel Jack Smith’s new indictment. “The extent to which people are going to be considering this to be a truly unique event in American history is going to be influenced by the extent to which people are reminded that it was an extremely dangerous moment.” “It is certainly pretty worrisome,” Lilliana Mason, an associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University who studies partisanship, told me. But partisanship, and Trump’s unique candidacy, may be contributing as well. As we drift further away from that date, the less its horrors register in the public consciousness. Trump’s support in the Republican presidential primary has only grown since his first indictment in New York, and his favorability ratings have remained pretty static since January 6.īut the general public has also shown signs of, if not rejection, at least apathy about that event: Public opinion over the last two years indicates an increasing desire among Americans to move on from January 6. The change is most clear among Republicans. What was once an event that united the public in horror has become just another contested item on our polarized national agenda. In the two and a half years since the insurrection at the US Capitol, public opinion on and political rhetoric about that day have followed a predictable path. Some evidence suggests those arguments are working. The Justice Department’s investigation into the January 6 attacks.The Georgia investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.The New York Stormy Daniels hush money case.The Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.The investigations into Trump, explained: In the run-up to the most recent federal charges, the former president resorted to similar tactics: arguing to Republican voters that “they’re not indicting me, they’re indicting you,” and calling the probes “ Election Interference.” Trump allies like Greene have used that line of defense to muddy the waters around the last two Trump indictments - a move they have, predictably, been using again. Her statement came less than two weeks before the Republican Party’s unofficial leader was indicted Tuesday on four counts in a federal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election - an investigation that Republicans have been working hard to discredit as a part of a politically motivated plot to punish President Joe Biden’s main political opponent. ![]() Marjorie Taylor Greene unintentionally summed up a core principle of liberal democracy: “When evidence and proof of a crime is presented, no prosecution should be denied no matter who the person is.” A few weeks ago, while chasing unproven criminal connections between the president and his son, far-right Georgia Rep. ![]()
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