Hindsight is 2020
“Hindsight is 20-20” is a cliché for a reason. According to Newsweek, some Republicans are suffering from hindsight. Newsweek looked at recent polling, and based on those polls, they believe one in three Republicans think Donald Trump was the wrong candidate. Really? Something about that reminds me of Captain Obvious. People shouldn’t just vote along party lines without considering the candidate. Of course, Donald Trump is one candidate who has made me never want to cross the line again, especially given that Trump and all his sycophants have hijacked the Republican party. Are his primary voters having buyer’s remorse or did they just wake up one morning and figure out their nominee is a disgusting criminal? This “vote for my party or die” nonsense is just that. Nikki Haley has declared that she will vote for Trump. Come on, now. She despises Trump. I guess she’ll hold her nose and push the button rather than choose the alternate candidate because he’s a Democrat.
Interestingly, these polls were conducted prior to Trump’s guilty verdict on 34 counts but expect them to continue to decline. In fact, Newsweek shares that in four post-verdict polls, Trump is being bombarded with bad news. The funny thing is that Trump was a criminal long before he was convicted in this case. He is famous for not paying contractors after they’ve completed jobs for him, and call it what you want, but he stole from taxpayers by insisting the Secret Service stay at his properties with jacked up rates. So, how have the polls changed since his conviction? According to Newsweek, it ain’t pretty.
Even as Trump’s son Eric claims that the guilty verdict will help Trump in the election, the polls discussed by Newsweek show the opposite to be true. In every poll examined, President Biden has taken the lead. The outlet reviewed polls from Ipsos/Reuters, Echelon, and Morning Consult. Mark Shanahan, who teaches American politics at the University of Surrey in the U.K., spoke with Newsweek last week: “Opinion on Trump is pretty much baked on across the country already, and last night’s verdict won’t change that. In the short term his polling, and indeed his fundraising, may get a boost, but this may dissipate in the weeks and months to come as voters get beyond the emotion of the court’s decision and focus on the fact that the former president was convicted by a jury of his peers: 12 citizens who weighed the evidence and simply did not believe him.” You all know how I feel about polls, but this is an interesting case study. More interesting are letters to the editor to the Telegraph that all agree that Donald Trump is unfit to hold office.
Donald Trump is indeed unfit for office, but he always has been. This verdict changes nothing other than that he is being held accountable for his outlandish, unacceptable behavior. Hopefully, his (first) conviction will change the minds of some and cause others to get off the fence onto the right side. There is too much as stake for this man to “lead” our country.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years