The Democrat’s plot to impeach former President Trump failed last week as he was acquitted in the Senate.
Now, a new poll shows America is not on the Democrat’s side.
Rasmussen Reports survey asked: “Should public figures be punished for saying they believe the 2020 election was stolen?”
Fifty-four percent of likely voters said “no,” followed by 35 percent who said “yes” they should be punished and 11 percent who remain unsure.
A majority of Democrats, 54 percent, believe public figures who made such claims should be punished, compared to 21 percent of Republicans.
Twenty-eight percent of those unaffiliated with either major party agreed.
A majority of Republicans and independents, 73 percent and 59 percent, respectively, do not believe that those figures should be punished.
Late last week, Harvard professor and legal expert Alan Dershowitz said House managers arguing at the Senate impeachment trial “really blew it” and harmed their own case.
“Today the Democrats really blew it. Maybe now they’ll regain their strength but up to now, today was a complete waste of time,” Dershowitz told co-hosts Bob Sellers and Heather Childers.
“They made a very effective emotional argument [Wednesday], and instead of leaving it, they went on and droned on and on and on and repeated what they said yesterday and showed the same things and made the same arguments,” he said.
House managers argued the Trump defense could not claim First Amendment protection for what the former president said during a Jan. 6 rally before rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Dershowitz strongly disagreed.
“They going to cite 144 law professors who say that to even offer the First Amendment argument is frivolous, and legally frivolous, and shouldn’t even be allowed,” Dershowitz said.
“They’re going to argue, they already have, Jamie Raskin taught Constitutional law, and he would never accept that argument in his class,” he added.
“Well, I’ve also taught law and constitutional law, and practiced it and litigated more First Amendment cases than anybody in that room, and let me tell you, the First Amendment argument is strong, powerful, overwhelming, and correct,” Dershowitz continued.
Dershowitz said Democrats did not display a basic rule taught in law schools.
“The first thing you teach a good lawyer is, ‘You have to know when to sit down and when to shut up.’ The Democrats just didn’t know when to sit down and shut up,” Dershowitz said. “They would have been much better advised if they had just started today by saying, ‘Let’s get to the First Amendment issue. Let’s anticipate.”
“I’m not sure whether they get a rebuttal. If they get rebuttal then they really shouldn’t even raise the First Amendment issue. They should wait until it’s raised by the Trump defense and then rebut it. If they don’t get rebuttal, if their arguments are over today and then the defense gets the last word, then they have to anticipate it,” he added.
The Senate voted 57-43 to acquit Trump on Saturday, with 7 Republicans flipping and voting to convict the president.
