Americans remain divided 3 years after Jan. 6 Capitol riot as Trump set to stand trial

​​​​​​​By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON, United States (AA) - It has been three years since pro-Donald Trump protesters violently stormed the Capitol building in Washington D.C. to try to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the next president.

That flashpoint in American history has drastically changed the political climate in the US.

To this point, more than 1,200 defendants have been charged with crimes for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack with more than 700 already pleading guilty to mostly misdemeanors such as illegal picketing and destruction of property. More than 100 have been convicted for more serious crimes such as assaulting police officers and a rare Civil War-era count of sedition, according to CBS News.

Investigators said 140 police officers were assaulted that day and the FBI is still trying to track down others involved in the attack, including more than 80 people accused of violent crimes who have not yet been identified.

The FBI is offering a $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons who planted pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican national party headquarters in the nation's capital the day before the riot.

While those convicted of misdemeanors have been sentenced to minimal terms ranging from probation to months in prison, some of the more serious offenders have landed lengthy prison terms.

The two longest sentences were handed down to the leaders of well-known US militant groups who supported Trump. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 21 years in prison and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes received 18 years behind bars.

US Attorney Matthew Graves said members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were the ones who lit the flames that quickly spread through the riot.

Trump has been accused of inciting the insurrection on that infamous day and the former president is now set to stand trial for his alleged part in the riot.

He has been charged with four federal counts, including obstructing an official proceeding and three counts of conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is expected to stand trial in March, although the date could be pushed back pending multiple appeals.

While special counsel Jack Smith, who sought the indictment against Trump, did not directly charge the former president with facilitating or promoting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, court filings revealed that Smith could introduce evidence at trial showing that the events of the riot are "exactly what (Trump) intended" to happen.

Trump's political standing in the wake of the riot is a paradox in and of itself because, despite the serious nature of the charges against him, the attack has seemingly fortified his base of supporters to the point where Trump is currently the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

A Washington Post/University of Maryland poll released Tuesday showed that a little more than 50% of voters said Trump bears either "a great deal" or "a good amount" of responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack, which is down 10% from Dec. 2021 when 60% of voters held the former president responsible.

While the numbers are distinctly divided between party lines, 14% of Republicans now say Trump bears responsibility for the riot versus 27% in 2021. On the flipside, 86% of Democrats blame Trump for the attack, down from 92% in 2021.

The Texas Politics Project Poll conducted by the University of Texas at Austin (UT) also released its latest findings on Friday regarding the riot and Trump's current political standing with Texas voters.

The results, which were taken from 10 polls between February 2022 and December 2023, gave insight as to why Trump's popularity remains so high three years after the attack.

"A bare majority of Texas voters, between 52% and 57%, said they believed that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election," said the authors of the study -- professors Jim Henson and Joshua Blank.

The numbers go hand-in-hand with Texas, often touted as being the reddest or most Republican state in the US. The UT study exemplified that Trump's stronghold in a Republican-led state places a partisan divide that goes well beyond voters' views on just the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

"Donald Trump is both the root of these divisions and, as the frontrunner in the presidential nominating contest, a beneficiary of them," according to the authors. "At no point during his tumultuous and unprecedented presidency -- not during his two impeachments, multiple scandals and investigations, his often bizarre mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic -- did his approval rating among Texas Republicans dip below 78%."

Trump continues to make headlines regarding the Capitol riot, as two states recently decided to keep the former president off the 2024 Republican primary ballot.

Colorado and Maine ruled that Trump was ineligible to run for office because of the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which says individuals "who engaged in insurrection or rebellion" should be disqualified from holding office.

But late Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to review the Colorado case and Trump will officially appear on that state's 2024 Republican primary ballot.

Trump's representatives said they will also file an appeal so that he can remain on Maine's primary ballot.

There are a lot of scenarios to be played out between now and Election Day on Nov. 5, including the results of Trump's multiple criminal and civil cases, including the trial regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

But if Texas is a litmus test as to how Trump is being received by voters, the former president appears to not have to worry about losing support, especially from his base.

"Trump faces no serious challenge so far in his efforts to win Texas' primary votes," according to the UT study. "Nearly two-thirds of potential Republican voters, 65%, said that they would be supporting Trump, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trailing far, far behind at 12%," it said.

As to how Trump would be affected by a conviction in any of the criminal trials underway, the UT study offered that there is "little evidence his legal problems are currently hurting his standing in a significant way" with 70% of Texas Republicans indicating that "these charges are mostly based on politics."