'He’s probably guilty, but it doesn’t matter': Trump fans aren't scared off by 4 criminal indictments
September 16, 2023
In interviews with CNN, supporters of Donald Trump — who is facing criminal trials in Florida; Washington, D.C.; Manhattan and Georgia — blew off concerns he could be a convicted felon by the time the 2024 presidential election rolls around.
The report, from CNN's Kate Sullivan, notes that so-called "MAGA voters" questioned in the key states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Alabama, South Dakota and Texas expressed no loss of support for their man, with many feeling he is the victim of his oft-proclaimed "witch hunt."
As Sullivan wrote, Trump supporters "said the 91 criminal charges in four separate cases against him have only deepened their support of the former president," adding, "A majority of Americans think that the charges against Trump are valid and that he should be prosecuted, recent polls show, but Trump maintains a tight grip on the Republican Party and his front-runner status in the 2024 GOP presidential primary is undisputed."
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Case in point is voter Corey Bonner of Texas who complained, "What they’re doing to him is persecution. They’re going after an old American president, they’ve been going after him since the beginning, they haven’t stopped, and they’re not going to stop. And this is where we have to stand up and fight.”
Eighty-one-year-old retired schoolteacher Carolyn McNeese called the prosecutors who are taking the former president to court "evil," and continued, "They want him out because they’re scared of him.”
Sullivan wrote, "some said that perhaps Trump did commit crimes, but it didn’t change their opinion of him because, as Texas resident Bobby Wilson put it, 'We all have sinned; we all have some things that we’ve done.'"
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South Dakota construction worker Jace Kirschenman agreed, telling CNN, "He’s probably guilty, but it doesn’t matter,” before adding he'll vote for Trump no matter what happens in the courtrooms.
Frank Yurisic, 76, who recently attended a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, was considerably more candid and said he expects violence if the former president is convicted.
"This country’s a powder keg. You know, we’ve ‘bout had it,” he remarked. "I think there could very well possibly be violence. If they march on Washington, I’ll be one of the ones there. I don’t think they realize how upset the people are in this country about what’s going on.”
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