Pluralities of Americans support second Trump indictment, say charges are politically motivated: POLL
There are sharp partisan differences, according to the survey
A plurality of Americans think that former President Donald Trump should have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to his handling of classified documents, yet a near equal number say the charges are politically motivated, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll.
Trump willfully retained documents containing the nation’s most sensitive intelligence after he left office, exhibited some of them on at least two occasions and then tried to obstruct the investigation into their whereabouts, prosecutors allege in the indictment. Trump has repeatedly denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
Nearly half — 48{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5} — of Americans think Trump should have been charged in this case, whereas 35{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5} think he should not have been and 17{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5} saying they do not know, per the ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
More from that ABC poll, and look at the indies:
Not surprisingly, an overwhelming majority (86{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5}) of self-identified Democrats believe the former president should have been charged. On the other hand, Republicans remain mostly loyal to Trump, with two in three (67{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5}) saying the former president and current frontrunner for the Republican nomination should not have been charged. Independents are more divided, with 45{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5} believing he should have been charged, a third saying he should not have been, and 22{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5} saying they don’t know.
Overall, a solid majority of over three in five Americans find the charges either very (42{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5}) or somewhat serious (19{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5}), while only 28{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5} of the public say it’s not too serious or not serious at all. One in ten say they don’t know. And party splits are expectedly polarized, with about nine in 10 Democrats saying the charges are very or somewhat serious while half of Republicans find them to be not too serious or not serious at all. A majority of independents (63{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5}) find the charges very or somewhat serious, while 38{dec8eed80f8408bfe0c8cb968907362b371b4140b1eb4f4e531a2b1c1a9556e5} say they are not too serious or not serious at all.
After Trump indictment, most see security risk, but Republicans see politics
At this stage of the race, it’s always important to consider what the electorate wants even more than any horse race. And on that front, despite the rhetoric from the campaign, GOP voters prioritize economics over so-called culture war issues.
They put a lot more importance on a candidate having a plan to lower inflation and lower taxes than they do on topics being discussed on the trail like, for instance, limiting the rights of transgender people and a national abortion ban (compared in the graphic below).
…
But here’s the needle other Republican candidates need to thread: in yet another sign of Trump’s influence on the party, even if he were not the nominee, Republican voters overwhelmingly say they’d like a candidate similar to him.
That’s the problem. Republican voters don’t mind having a crook, a grifter, a liar and an insurrectionist (same guy). Until they do, he’ll do okay in a Republican primary.
The general election, however, is a different story altogether.
Help me, Aileen Cannon. You’re my only hope.
Mark Joseph Stern/Slate:
Judge Aileen Cannon Can Absolutely Sink the Federal Prosecution of Trump
Imagine, though, that Cannon does preside over this case. She has infinite tools at her disposal to thwart the prosecution at nearly every turn. Big swings, like tossing out the whole case—a very real possibility in her courtroom of chaos—can be appealed and overturned. But at every step, there are opportunities for sabotage. Cannon can try to rig voir dire to help the defense stack the jury with Trump supporters. She can exclude evidence and testimony that’s especially damning to Trump. She can disqualify witnesses who are favorable to the prosecution. She can sustain the defense’s frivolous objections and overrule the prosecution’s meritorious ones. She can direct a verdict of acquittal to render the jury superfluous. She can declare a mistrial prematurely for any number of reasons, including lengthy juror deliberations, and stretch out various deadlines to run out the clock. Many of these procedural moves could not be appealed until the proceedings have drawn to a close; appeals courts do not referee every little dispute in a jury trial as they happen. Cannon will be in control.
The DOJ has been known to challenge her, though. And win. So let’s see.
Judge Aileen Cannon may have been appointed by Trump, but he’ll turn on her if she ever sides against him during his criminal case, former prosecutors say
“This is Donald Trump — everyone is fair game,” Mark Bederow, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, told Insider. “He will criticize anyone who doesn’t do what he wants to do, whether it’s former staff members, former lawyers, former press secretaries, former political colleagues, former vice presidents to when he was president, you name it. It’s just a matter of time.”
Well, yeah. That’s his M.O.
Phillips P. OBrien/Substack:
Counteroffensive First Few Days (Sometimes a Picture isn’t Worth 1000 words); Nova Kakhovka Dam and the Ordinariness of War Crimes
Though the Normandy campaign ended up being a significant marker on the road to Allied victory in World War II, it resulted, particularly in its opening phases, in major losses of Allied equipment. Pressing out of the Normandy beachheads, the Allies saw huge numbers of their tanks and other vehicles knocked out by German firepower, often operating from well-prepared defensive positions. This happens in war.
And it happened near the start of this phase of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. A Ukrainian armored detachment seemed to have stumbled into a Russian minefield which led to equipment damage and loss of mobility, so much so that a number of advanced vehicles including tanks and some Bradley fighting vehicles had to be abandoned (it seems that their crews survived).
The fact that the Ukrainians did not immediately steamroller the Russian lines seemed to give pause to those wanting Ukrainian victory and heart to pro-Russianists. In this case, it was a rather extreme over-reaction to one engagement.
What the Ukrainians are trying to do now is both extremely difficult and it will take time. Its not going to result in an immediate collapse in Russian forces, so people need to be patient and allow events to unfold.
