A Washington Post–ABC News poll released Friday morning shows a majority of Americans want outgoing and twice-impeached President Donald Trump to face criminal charges for inciting the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol last week, an attack that left five people dead.
According to the new survey, 54% of Americans — including one in eight Republicans — feel that Trump “should be charged with the crime of inciting a riot” for delivering an unhinged speech ahead of the attack urging his supporters to march on Capitol Hill and “show strength.”
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” Trump said as Congress prepared to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. “The radical left knows exactly what they were doing. They are ruthless and it’s time that somebody did something about it.”
While Trump earlier this week denied any responsibility for the mob attack and claimed his remarks were “totally appropriate,” the Post-ABC poll found that 57% of Americans believe the lame-duck president bears a “great deal” or a “good amount” of blame for the deadly invasion of the Capitol Building.
The survey also found that 56% of Americans want the Senate to remove Trump and bar him from holding office again in the future.
The poll results come two days after the Democrat-controlled House on Wednesday made Trump the first-ever U.S. president to be impeached twice, approving by a 232-197 vote a resolution charging him with “inciting violence against the government of the United States.”
With Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refusing to reconvene the Senate early to begin the trial before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has yet to transmit the article of impeachment to the upper chamber, leaving the timeline for the beginning of the conviction proceedings unclear.
“Calling the Senate back into session, convicting Trump, and removing him from office for inciting insurrection can’t wait,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, tweeted Thursday. “Mitch McConnell needs to act now.”
Angry, shocked, overwhelmed? Take action: Support independent media.
We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
It will be a long fight ahead. And as nonprofit movement media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.
As we undertake this life-sustaining work, we appeal for your support. Our fundraiser ends at midnight tonight! We still need 200 new monthly donors to hit our goal. Please, if you find value in what we do, join our community of sustainers by making a monthly or one-time gift.