A few weeks ago, while chasing unproven criminal connections between the president and his son, far-right Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene unintentionally summed up a core principle of liberal democracy: “When evidence and proof of a crime is presented, no prosecution should be denied no matter who the person is.”
Her statement came less than two weeks before the Republican Party’s unofficial leader was indicted Tuesday on four counts in a federal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election — an investigation that Republicans have been working hard to discredit as a part of a politically motivated plot to punish President Joe Biden’s main political opponent.
Trump allies like Greene have used that line of defense to muddy the waters around the last two Trump indictments — a move they have, predictably, been using again. In the run-up to the most recent federal charges, the former president resorted to similar tactics: arguing to Republican voters that “they’re not indicting me, they’re indicting you,” and calling the probes “Election Interference.”
Some evidence suggests those arguments are working. In the two and a half years since the insurrection at the US Capitol, public opinion on and political rhetoric about that day have followed a predictable path. What was once an event that united the public in horror has become just another contested item on our polarized national agenda.
The change is most clear among Republicans. Trump’s support in the Republican presidential primary has only grown since his first indictment in New York, and his favorability ratings have remained pretty static since January 6.
But the general public has also shown signs of, if not rejection, at least apathy about that event: Public opinion over the last two years indicates an increasing desire among Americans to move on from January 6.
Time may be causing some of this shift. As we drift further away from that date,…
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