Trump declares himself willing to go to jail but does not believe that “the public will accept it”

The Republican candidate for the United States elections, former President Donald Trump, is willing to take political and economic advantage of his guilty verdict. And to brag about it. Just 48 hours after a 12-person jury in Manhattan convicted him of 34 counts of forgery related to the illegal payment to a porn actress in 2016, a crowd bath was taking place at a wrestling match in Newark, New York. Sweater. In an interview given to his favorite television station, the very conservative Fox News, he declared himself willing to go to jail; But he clarified: “I don’t think the public would accept it.”

Don, the Teflon, as Trump is nicknamed by some for his ability to repel any negative consequences to acts and accusations that would have sunk any other politician, believes that the verdict is going to give him even more points among Republican voters than in the Hours immediately after the jury’s decision, they donated $35 million to him.

It is an opinion also shared by other party leaders, who have closed ranks around their candidate. At a fundraiser this weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson described him as a “symbol”: Trump “is not just our candidate, he is not just an individual running for president.” . I think he is already perceived as someone willing to fight corruption and the goings-on of the State.”

This weekend, the former president launched an account on TikTok, the Chinese-owned platform threatened with closure in the United States if it does not sell its business in this country to new owners, and which Trump himself considered closing in 2020 because he considered that it threatened the National security. In a matter of hours, he had already accumulated more than two million followers – six times more than the campaign of his Democratic rival, President Joe Biden – on this social network of short videos used by more than 170 million Americans, most of them youths.

His first video showed him attending the wrestling match and greeting his supporters who were there. In 13 seconds she is seen arriving at the pavilion acclaimed by the fans, mainly men, while the song plays American Bad Ass by Kid Rock. A post in which he offers the kind of testosterone-filled image that Trump and his campaign like to spread.

On TikTok, in addition, it mainly addresses the younger voter, who according to surveys is disenchanted with Biden for his support for Israel in the war in Gaza, among other issues. “We are not going to leave any front to defend. “This represents a continuation of our outreach to a younger audience that consumes pro-Trump and anti-Biden content,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

The former president was also defiant in his interview on Fox News. “I don’t care,” he responded when asked about possible punishments after being found guilty, and facing the prospect of ending up in jail or under house arrest. “I saw one of my lawyers the other day on television saying, ‘oh, no, you don’t want to do that to the president.’ I replied: ‘Don’t ask for favors.’”

But the Republican candidate also warned that, if he does not mind ending up in a penitentiary, each charge carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison, although it is not clear that the judge in charge of the case, Juan Merchan, will send him to prison. prison when he announces his sentence on July 11 – his supporters do care. “I think it would be difficult for the public to accept, at a certain point, there comes a moment when things jump,” he said.

He insisted that he has not committed any crime. “I am fighting for the Constitution,” she said. And he lashed out at the “evil people” who have been involved in his trial and his guilty plea. Regarding the possibility of political revenge if he wins in the November elections, he considered that mere victory would be “beautiful,” but that limiting himself to it would be “tremendously difficult.”

Although the verdict does seem to have galvanized Trump’s followers—that third of the electorate that the Republican presumes would vote for him even if he shot someone in downtown New York—it is less clear that it has managed to attract new supporters among those who They are the great objective of both parties facing the November elections: the independents and the undecided.

A survey published this Sunday by the ABC television network found that 50% of citizens agree with the verdict. 51% believe that he deliberately did something wrong and 49% think that the former president should resign from his electoral campaign after being found guilty. The favorable opinion towards him continues at previous levels, before the outcome of the trial was known, at 31%.

Among independents, a majority (52%) believe the verdict was correct. The same proportion believe that Trump should end his campaign. Within this group of voters, there are those who declare that they detest both candidates equally (double haters); Of them, 65% believe that it is appropriate to have declared the former president guilty of the 34 charges. And 67% believe he should withdraw from the White House race.

In total, 47% of Americans think that the charges against Trump are politically motivated, while 38% think they are not. 19% believe that the Republican candidate has not committed any crime.

Follow all the information about the elections in the United States on our weekly newsletter.

_