Beyond a reasonable doubt: Trump's criminal conviction matters politically

[marmar]

Beyond a reasonable doubt: Trump's criminal conviction matters politically
The master of branding has just branded himself a criminal

By DENNIS AFTERGUT - DONALD AYER
PUBLISHED JUNE 8, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) Donald Trump’s recent conviction on 34 felony counts hands the master of branding with short vignettes a very heavy dose of his own medicine.

“Convicted felon” packs a mighty punch in our society – at least equal, one would think, to Trump’s all-time winners like “Crooked Hillary,” and “fake news.” And its impact is all the more powerful, one might hope, since it is based here on real facts and not made-up nonsense.

....(snip)....

For a very long time, American voters have, understandably, been more than hesitant to cast their ballots for convicted criminals. Polling data indicates that such Americans include the young and the nonwhite voters who have been drifting away from President Biden. As the New York Times’ election analyst Nate Cohn has written, the pre-verdict polls “suggest that [those groups] might be especially prone to revert to their traditional [Democratic] leanings in the event of a conviction.” Indeed, a Gallup Poll taken in late January 2024 reported that 71% of Americans said they would not vote for an otherwise well-qualified candidate who was charged with a felony, and 77% gave the same response as to one with such a conviction. Even among Republicans, 65% said they would not vote for a person with a felony conviction.

It is telling that Trump and his shameless allies are working overtime to try to negate the verdict in voters’ minds with dangerous and untenable assertions. As Stuart Stevens has observed, these efforts “to spin that there is some non-MAGA pool of voters who can’t wait to vote for a convicted felon” is “transparently desperate.” ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/06/08/beyond-a-reasonable-doubt-criminal-conviction-matters-politically/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Vote for convicted felon Donald Trump - so he can steal everything you've got. /nt