Republicans — From House Speaker to People on the Street — Decrying Trump Trial as Illegitimate and Political

The jury is out on the political fallout from President Trump’s felony conviction yesterday, even as a surge in fundraising appears to show that Trump’s loyalists are standing behind the first criminally convicted president.In a winding press conference at Trump Tower, a deflated looking Trump aired his grievances with the case that led to his conviction on 34 felony counts.Trump took the opportunity Friday morning to call Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the case, “a tyrant” and President Biden “the dumbest president we’ve ever had.”Trump also claimed that Mr. Biden and the Department of Justice orchestrated the trial and indictment at Manhattan, though he didn’t provide any evidence for his claim.“We will continue the fight, we’re going to make America great again, very simple,” Trump said. “It’s my honor to be doing this, it really is.”Trump’s press conference comes after a night that saw the Republican apparatus rev up to spin the conviction as an illegitimate political persecution. Leading Republicans in Congress, like Speaker Johnson, said in a statement that the trial “was a purely political exercise, not a legal one.”The Senate minority leader, Senator McConnell, said that “These charges never should have been brought in the first place,” adding that he expects “the conviction to be overturned on appeal.”As Republicans denounced the conviction and the trial, Trump’s campaign fundraised on the conviction, pulling in $39 million overnight, according to Trump.“A record $39 million in a ten hour period,” Trump said at a press conference. “I like those people.”Trump also touted a poll conducted by J.L Partners for the Daily Mail, saying that “we’re up 6 points” at the press conference. The survey contacted about 400 respondents online.Trump is referring to a poll reported exclusively by the Daily Mail that found that 22 percent of respondents said they viewed Trump more positively after the verdict and 16 percent said they viewed him more negatively.The survey, however, did not release their methodology or crosstabs, so it’s unclear whether the poll’s findings reflect Republicans feeling even more positively about Trump or how the pollster recruited respondents.Broadly, surveys have suggested that Americans mostly had their minds made up about Trump and his criminality ahead with a PBS NewsHouse/NPR/Marist poll finding ahead of the trial that 67 percent of respondents said a conviction would make no difference in how they would vote.The same survey asked more than 1,000 registered voters how they would react to a conviction and found that 17 percent of respondents said they were less likely to vote for Trump in the case of a conviction and that 15 percent said they were more likely to vote for him in the case of conviction.In total, the survey found that 7 percent of self-identified Trump supporters said they were less likely to vote for him in the event of a conviction in New York, a small but potentially significant portion of the vote.A snap poll of voters conducted in the wake of the conviction by YouGov asked about 2,600 Americans how the conviction would impact their vote and found that 26 percent said it would make them more likely to vote for him and 27 percent said it would make them less likely to vote for him.On one hand, 50 percent of Republicans, 21 percent of independents, and 9 percent of Democrats said the conviction made them more likely to vote for Trump. On the other hand, 44 percent of Democrats, 27 percent of independents, and 10 percent of Republicans said it would make them less likely to vote for Trump. The plurality of respondents, 39 percent, said it made no difference in their leaning.Supporters of the former president who watched Trump leave the courthouse Thursday evening almost unanimously said that the conviction would help the former president and that it solidified their resolve in supporting him.“I think Donald Trump will benefit from this in the polls,” a 30 year old Queens resident, Eric Franklin, tells the Sun. “A lot of people are not going to view this as legitimate.”Mr. Franklin, who works in law, said that “I personally am surprised they’re getting him on all 34 counts, I thought they’d get him on some but not all of them.”Another supporter of Trump, Bijaya Acharya, says that “it’s political — all politics,” with the 32-year-old Uber driver adding that the case was led “by the crooked Joe Biden, that’s all.” “He can appeal — it’s going to help him,” Mr. Acharya says. “But we know that he’s going to win again.”

Republicans — From House Speaker to People on the Street — Decrying Trump Trial as Illegitimate and Political

Republicans — From House Speaker to People on the Street — Decrying Trump Trial as Illegitimate and Political

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