Sheila Markin June 1, 2024

Many rightwing media outlets and Republicans in Congress including Marco Rubio, JD Vance, Ted Cruz. Michael Johnson, Speaker of the House, and others are not just rallying around Trump, but sounding psychotic about their rage over this 34 count felony conviction. They are calling for the DA to be subpoenaed and appear before the House for questioning and demanding that the Supreme Court overturn this conviction. Meanwhile, Trump is calling the judge the “devil” and once again defying the gag order by attacking witnesses and the judge’s daughter (who has nothing to do with this case.)

The gag order is still in effect and Trump’s violations could make the difference in his punishment, which will be determined by the same judge that Trump is relentlessly attacking on social media and in his verbal rants. This is the same judge that already sent the Trump Organization CEO, Allen Weisselberg, to jail for 5 months even though he is an older man than Trump.

While Trump’s congressional supporters and right wing media are claiming the verdict was unfair or a sham, some of Trump’s formerly loyal voters have had enough. They wish the GOP would cut it out and just choose another candidate.

We’re following the political fallout of Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 criminal charges. Laura Barrón-López listened to Republican voters about how this impacts their thoughts on the former president and the upcoming election.

Amna Nawaz:

So you watched this focus group today with a group of voters the day after that guilty verdict. How were they reacting?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Amna, this focus group was of voters who voted for Donald Trump twice in 2016 and in 2020. And they were slightly already a little souring on him, but some of them could have very well gone back to him.

And it was conducted by a group run by Republican strategist Sarah Longwell. And so after this verdict, they said, about six of them, there were nine total, about six of those voters said that the fact that these were felonies that Trump was convicted of carried more weight for them than if they had been misdemeanors.

And out of those nine voters, five of them said that this made them less likely to support Donald Trump, including 52-year-old Michele from Florida.

Michele, Florida:

I’m tired of the lies. I’m tired of the nonsense. And I believed the testimony. And that is why I am happy that the jury found him guilty. And I think also, now that he is a convicted felon, he’s completely unfit. He can’t pass a basic security clearance at this point.

I’m not sure if he can vote in Florida.  He may not be allowed to go to different countries as a felon. This is not appropriate. Knock it off, Republicans. Find somebody else.

Markin Report Comment: He will be able to vote in Florida because the law of the location of the conviction determines that issue: In New York you can vote after being convicted. Trump will, however, have to ask his probation officer for approval to leave the district where he resides every single time he wants to travel anywhere outside the district where he lives. In addition, 30 countries including many of our allies do not allow felons to enter their country.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

And Michele, that voter, Amna, Michele, she had voted for Republicans her entire life, voted for Trump twice. But this verdict carried a lot of weight with her. It carried a lot of weight with a number of the other voters, who also some of them raised January 6 as something — the insurrection as something that had started to convince them that they maybe couldn’t vote for Trump again.

Amna Nawaz:

So, Michele from Florida less likely to vote for him as a result of the verdict.

Was anyone pushed further towards Mr. Trump as a result of the verdict?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

One out of the nine voters in this focus group said that this verdict made him more likely to support Donald Trump.

And that’s Mark, 54, from Florida — sorry — from Georgia, and he called it a sham trial.

Mark, Georgia:

It’s a double standard. It was a politicized prosecution. It was the elevation of what are misdemeanors into felonies just for political purposes.

Markin Report comment: Donald Trump is not the only person arraigned in New York for felony charges of falsifying business records, in which there is a violation of NY state penal law 175.10. There were 9,794 other charges in which a misdemeanor rose to the level of felony for falsifying business records in the first degree in New York since 2015. ALM LAW.COM

Laura Barron-Lopez:

And the voters were also asked whether or not this verdict made them trust the justice system more, trust the justice system less, or it didn’t change their mind.

And three of them said that it made them trust the justice system more. Most said it didn’t change how they viewed the system. Mark, who we just heard from in Georgia, said that it made him not trust the justice system as much.

But as for whether or not they thought that Donald Trump should go to jail, Valerie, 64, also from Georgia, had a very strong response to that.

Valerie, Georgia:

He should start jail time, the crime — the — pay paid the penalty for the crime. We all know what’s going to happen. They’re going to negotiate and renegotiate. And he’s not going to serve any time, but he will get more time on television right here at election time.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

And, at the end of the day, they were asked, if you had to pick between President Biden or Donald Trump, who would you pick come November? And roughly six of them said that they would vote for Joe Biden. One, Mark, who we heard from, said that he would vote for Trump.

And one to two of them were basically unsure or said that they may not vote.

By the numbers: A Morning Consult poll out this morning — one of the first polls since Trump’s conviction — finds 49% of independents and 15% of Republicans said Trump should end his campaign because of the conviction.
    54% of registered voters “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the guilty verdict compared to 34% who “strongly or “somewhat” disapprove.

Markin Report comment: Former Trump voters should know that other former Trump supporters are moving on from him. Sometimes people need a permission structure that allows them to change their minds without forcing them to change their minds about how good something was in the past.

The next election will be won or lost in the battleground states: Michigan, PA, Wisconsin, AZ, Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada.

There are two key groups of voters in those battleground states who will decide the future of our nation:

1. Former Trump voters who are tired of the chaos or think the MAGAs are too scary and too extreme.

2. Persuadable voters and/or independent voters who have not yet decided who to vote for and may not think it’s a great idea to vote for a convicted felon for president.

The other key element that will determine who will win the presidency will be the level of motivation of the Democratic base to get out the vote for Democrats.

This is an important moment in our history. What kind of country do we want to live in? Do we want sanity or chaos? Do we want normal or crazy? Do we want a democracy or a dictatorship?

Trump’s trials were never going to answer this question for us. It will be answered by the way we vote.
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