Washington, Aug 26
Former US President Donald Trump is virtually painting the country red releasing his angry mug shot of surrender at Atlanta, in an effort to unleash a 'Red Tsunami' to build up his profile as a 'martyr'.
According to analysts, Trump is unaware that his heroic theatrics is boomeranging on him as latest polls calls for "Lock Him UP" cries from the public.
Trump, as indefatigable and indomitable in spirits as he may be despite four indictments and 100 counts of felony by juries of various courts on cases ranging from tax fraud, to hush money to election meddling, has nevertheless earned the ignominy of being the first president in the US history to be fingerprinted and mugshot like any ordinary accused criminal.
The mug shot that has gone viral on the social media after Trump deliberately released has invoked a backlash as an new Politico/IPSO poll turns in bad news as the upcoming hurricane of indictments are going to take a heavy toll on his general election prospects, though he is still the frontrunner in the party for nomination in 2024.
Majority of Americans are not none too happy with the fact that he has set an unhealthy unprecedented trend of having the high office of a president being mug shot and they are now taking the cases against him very seriously, with the DOJ ones topping the list of concerns, media reports said.
Most people in the US are rather very skeptical of Trump's claim to be the victim of a legally baseless witch hunt or an elaborate, multi-jurisdictional effort to "weaponize" law enforcement authorities against him.
Shockingly for Trump, public sentiment in certain areas of the country is moving at hyper speed on how quickly Trump should be brought to trial and if he should be incarcerated when convicted.
This is in sharp contrast to a previous poll by Politico magazine and IPSO polls in June conducted from August 18-21, roughly two-and-a-half weeks after Trump's 2nd federal indictment and several days after he was criminally charged in Fulton County in Atlanta under the notorious RICO act. The numbers were much less then at that time.
After his 4th indictment, Trump proudly said at a dinner meeting with friends "I will never surrender".
The poll covered 1,032 adults, age 18 or older, interviewed online; it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points for all respondents.
Some of the findings will be shocking to Trump who is "delusional in the belief that posting his mug shot would garner sympathy and boost his poll prospects", reports said.
Most Americans believe Trump should stand trial before the 2024 election
Coming Monday, Trump's lawyers will face off against federal prosecutors before US District Judge Tanya Chutkan over when to schedule his trial in the Justice Department’s 2020 election case.
Described as a high-stakes dispute that could have dramatic implications for the 2024 election, Politico said, Federal prosecutors have proposed that the trial begin on January 2, 2024, even as Trump's lawyers have countered that the trial should take place in April 2026.
About half of the country believes Trump is guilty in the pending prosecutions
Trump's claims of a "witch hunt" also seem to be having little impact on the views of Americans across the vast spectrum of population. Because, half of the country -- including a large percentage of Democrats and roughly half of independents --believe that Trump is guilty of the series of charges. Independents form the swing vote in American elections.
A conviction in DOJ's 2020 election case would hurt Trump in the general election
The Politico IPSO poll clearly says that it would be unhelpful for Trump’s presidential bid if he is federally convicted of a criminal scheme to steal the 2020 election at the same time he asks America to re-elect him and put him in charge of the White House to clear up the so called mess created he claims that President Joe Biden has done messing up the economy.
Half of America believes Trump should go to prison if convicted in DOJ's January 6 case
Overall, more people believe Trump is guilty of weaponing the legal system than Biden.
Fifty-three per cent of respondents -- including 56 per cent of independents -- said that the Trump administration actively used the Justice Department to investigate political enemies with little or no evidence of actual wrongdoing.
The comparable number for the Biden administration was 45 per cent across all respondents, including 43 per cent of independents, the poll indicated.
