What will impact be with voters if Trump is forced to take a mug shot?

[Dill]

(09-06-2023, 08:12 PM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: 1/6 was an attempt to invalidate a presidential election, a disruption of the succession of power for
the entire United States. That's not the same as breaking into a laundromat to steal quarters or burn down
a gas station.
Your analogy is like comparing an assassination attempt on a president to a drive by shooting. The former has
infinitely greater consequences for the nation.

yes, it is worse to me. Anyone that thought Trump could over throw the government is a fool. He WISHES he had that kind of power.
Rioters were out there destroying private property, looting small businesses and hurting their cause all at the same time. Causing people to feel unsafe in areas where they used to not feel that way. Are you going to shop in an area where you feel unsafe? Businesses are closing cause of it, Innocent people that were trying to make a living supporting their family.  So yea, that's way more important to me than Trump dreaming of overthrowing the Gov. I am not happy that people got killed or hurt from it, that part pisses me off.

Couple things here.

1. I'm not sure Trump's coup attempt could have worked, but I give it a better chance than you do. In any case, it's not just about whether it would have worked. Had Pence decided not to certify the valid votes and send them back to the 7 states in question, that would have been "proof" for millions that something REALLY WAS wrong with the election. We don't know what would have happened in those states which had already had valid elections; certainly millions would have demanded more investigations, recounts, or maybe even a re-vote--all that after the system had worked and the votes properly counted.

All democrats would have claimed the fake electors invalid; it's not clear how many Republicans would agree. Lynn Cheney and a few maybe; most would have to know they wouldn't be re-elected. Trump DOES have THAT kind of power. How many Republicans would have agreed that the only way to solve the problem was to "follow the Constitution" and send the election to the House, where each represented state gets one vote, throwing the election to Trump? And if they didn't get their way, Fox (knowing the steal was a lie) and Newsmax would be blaring "stolen" every day. "Dems are preventing us from finding the truth." 

Now we are living in a world in which 50 million+ Republicans believe Trump's lie and want him back in the White House. Polling has him tied with Biden for the moment, so it certainly could happen.

A man who criminally engineered an autogolpe would be back in charge, "weaponizing" the entire government with the backing of millions of misguided followers. That makes me feel "unsafe" in an area where I'm not used to feeling that way--the entire U.S. You don't forsee all manner of divisions, conflicts, firings and resignations in critical DoJ institutions if Trump wins, with all the social fallout that goes with that--protests, paralysis of law enforcement and government, and then more VIOLENT protests?

2. Why do you assume the "rioters" were hurting their cause? I've always assumed that most or all of the rioters were not BLM, but locals taking advantage of the chaos which followed the protests and clashes with police.

By the way, thousands of protestors were arrested, just mostly for violating curfew and failure to disperse orders. But in those few places (percentage wise) where rioters were damaging property, many were arrested and charged. Those arrested for minor offenses were often let go and not prosecuted. But so far as I know, that was not the case with people charged with burglary and property damage.

https://apnews.com/article/american-protests-us-news-arrests-minnesota-burglary-bb2404f9b13c8b53b94c73f818f6a0b7

Trump and Barr wanted BLM members prosecuted to the full extent of the law, that's for sure.
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/20/1029625793/black-lives-matter-protesters-targeted