Donald Trump is even more screwed than we thought
Two new polls demonstrate that not only do voters think just about any registered Democrat in the U.S. would make a better president than Donald Trump, a majority of Americans – including 33 percent of Republicans – believe that Trump has broken the law either before or after becoming president.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has Trump seven points behind a generic opponent now, a gap that should logically widen as his crimes become more and more exposed. As Palmer Report has pointed out, a House Oversight Committee document request has sent scores of Trump allies and toadies into a frenzy that is sure to lead to further legal issues as some jump ship, while others sink with it, maneuvering and backstabbing along the way.
Allen Weisselberg appears to have stopped participating in Trump’s illegal Cohen payoffs as early as 2017, and Congress is likely targeting him for a public hearing. And everyone saw how affected Trump was by Cohen’s testimony, leading to his disastrous early exit from the already pointless Kim Jong Un summit. Americans generally don’t respond well in the polls to clear diplomatic losses to dictators, especially when the president admits that he lost because he was rattled by congressional oversight.
This is how Trump’s ouster is going to happen: death by 1,000 cuts rather than one or two major bombshells. While Trump may very well be forced out of office before next year’s election, he’s reportedly looking at reelection as the only way to save himself. That’s why this poll matters, along with serving as a somewhat useful, yet rough, way to track the public’s feelings about Trump as multiple investigations continue.
But it’s a new Quinnipiac poll that really stands out, as it demonstrates that most Americans believe that Trump has committed crimes at some point in his life. Those polled were not as willing to say that they believe Trump has committed crimes while in office, but it indicates that Americans won’t be surprised if it comes to light that he has.
Not only does such polling provide a small bit of relief for frustrated Americans on the 2020 front, it makes investigators’ jobs easier, whether they’re working for Robert Mueller, the State of New York, or House Democrats. Taking down a president, even one so obviously corrupt and damaging as Donald Trump, is a heavy political lift. The more public support for Trump’s removal, the lighter it gets, and if Americans already believe that Trump committed past crimes, they’re much more likely to be compelled by evidence of new ones. And if he survives to run again next year, a lot of Democrats in the running now are favored to send him home so he can face justice as a private citizen.
Chuck is a former community reporter, columnist, and Army veteran