According to a CNN-commissioned poll, three out of four Americans believe “politics played a role” in the criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump. Only 14 percent said they believe it played “no role at all.”
When asked, “How big a role, if at all, do you think politics played in the decision to indict Trump?” 76 percent answered either “a major role” (52 percent) or “a minor role” (23 percent). As noted above, a mere 14 percent said “no role at all.” And another ten percent said they were “not sure.”
It appears there is a very small gap between those who admit they are ignorant and those who are ignorant of their ignorance.
When the numbers are broken down by party affiliation, they show that while most of those who believe politics played at least some role are Republicans or Independents, a large number of Democrats agree with that statement. A whopping 60 percent of Democrats polled said they believe politics played “a major role” or “a minor role” in the indictment.
Among Democrat respondents, 60 percent think politics contributed to “the decision to indict Trump” to varying degrees. Those who think politics held a “major role” in the indictment made up 25 percent of Democrats, while 35 percent think politics played a “minor role.”
Ninety-three percent of Republicans believe the indictment was politically driven, including 83 percent who think politics played a pivotal role.
Not surprisingly, CNN’s reporting on the poll buries the lead. The data on Americans’ opinions of the political nature of the indictment is hidden halfway deep in CNN’s report. The liberal network — shown in recent years to be a purveyor of fake news — chose to lead with the strange and inflammatory findings of the poll showing that “sixty percent of Americans approve of the indictment of former President Donald Trump.” CNN breaks it down this way:
Independents largely line up in support of the indictment — 62% approve of it and 38% disapprove. Democrats are near universal in their support for the indictment (94% approve, including 71% who strongly approve of the indictment), with Republicans less unified in opposition (79% disapprove, with 54% strongly disapproving).
While views on the indictment are split along party lines, the poll finds that majorities across major demographic divides all approve of the decision to indict the former president. That includes gender (62% of women, 58% of men), racial and ethnic groups (82% of Black adults, 71% of Hispanic adults, 51% of White adults), generational lines (69% under age 35; 62% age 35-49; 53% age 50-64; 54% 65 or older) and educational levels (68% with college degrees, 56% with some college or less).
Furthermore, as to the question of whether Trump’s payment to Stormy Daniels to remain silent about her allegations of an affair a decade before Trump ran for the White House were “illegal,” “unethical,” or neither, CNN reports:
A scant 10% overall see Trump as blameless regarding payments made to Daniels, but Americans are divided about whether his actions were illegal or merely unethical. About 4 in 10 say he acted illegally (37%), 33% unethically but not illegally, and another 20% say they aren’t sure. Only 8% of political independents say Trump did nothing wrong, and among the rest, they are mostly on board with the indictment even if they aren’t already convinced Trump did something illegal.
Even among those who disapprove of the indictment, the perception that Trump’s actions were questionable is fairly widespread, with about half in that group saying Trump did something wrong regarding payments to Daniels (52%). Far more in that group say he acted unethically rather than illegally, though (49% unethical, 3% illegal), with the remainder split between thinking he did nothing wrong (23%) and not being sure (24%). Among those who approve of the decision to indict Trump, just 1% say his actions were not wrong at all, while 59% call them illegal and 23% unethical.
So, the poll seems to show that while 76 percent of Americans believe that Trump’s indictment was politically motivated and only 37 percent believe he did anything illegal (with the lion’s share of those being Democrats), 62 percent of those same Americans approve of the indictment.
Now this writer does not claim to have an advanced degree in mathematics, but that just does not add up. If 62 percent of Americans approve of an indictment that 76 percent of them believe was politically motivated in a case where only 37 percent of them believe any law was broken, the obvious takeaway is that the majority of Americans are ignorant of the American system of justice.
That degree of ignorance leaves America ripe for the picking by our enemies — both foreign and domestic. Because it means that no one is safe from a politically motivated prosecution even when no law is broken, so long as the political machine pushes hard enough for it with an assist from the media. It also means that legislation that threatens Americans’ liberty can be passed the same way. It means our rights are not secure, as an ignorant people are easily stripped of their rights. And this poll seems to confirm what informed Americans have long believed — the majority are ignorant.
So, what is the solution? Well, if ignorance is the problem, education — true education — is the only solution. This nation was founded at a time when the average American was informed about and engaged in the welfare of his nation. Thomas Jefferson famously wrote:
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information.
Echoing those sentiments, Robert Welch — the founder of this magazine’s parent organization, The John Birch Society (JBS) — said of the JBS, “Education is our total strategy, and truth is our only weapon.” Since 1958, the JBS has been working via local chapters under the direction of its national headquarters to preserve and defend liberty by creating an educational activist army made up of good, moral, patriotic Americans using education as their total strategy and truth as their only weapon. The JBS motto is, “Less government, more responsibility, and — with God’s help — a better world.”
If you are already a member of the JBS, now is the time to redouble your efforts. If you are not already a member, now is the time to reach out to the JBS and learn how to become one.
Together, we must overcome the ignorance that has been imposed upon us by our would-be masters. And we must do so before it is too late.
