CNN’s Chris Wallace Ticks Through Stunning Trump Polls Post-Arrest — ‘Very Risky’ For GOPers To ‘Side With’ Justice Over Trump

CNN anchor Chris Wallace ticked through stunning polls showing ex-President Donald Trump with a gargantuan lead even after his arrest and indictment, and pegged that dominance as the reason GOP candidates dance around condemning Trump.

In one poll taken since the indictment, Trump led his nearest challenger by nearly forty points.

In his first appearance on CNN Tonight  following Trump’s arrest and arraignment on 37 counts related to violations of the Espionage Act, Wallace told anchor Abby Phillip that Trump’s dominance in the polls even after the indictment and arrest makes it tough, politically, for Republicans to side against Trump, and with what GOP voters see as President Joe Biden’s Justice Department:

PHILLIP: So, Chris, this idea of pardoning Trump has now paradoxically become the GOP loyalty pledge, even though all of these people are running against him.

CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST: Yes. This is really a tough one for those GOP opponents, contenders, again, challengers of Donald Trump. In polls that have been taken since the indictment was announced Trump was up by at least 30 points over Ron DeSantis and all the others are in the single digits. And the CBS poll that has been taken since the indictment, Trump is at 61 percent, DeSantis is at 23 percent. That’s a 31-point margin against the second place contender and a lot more against everybody else.

And if you look at the internals of the polls, Abby, it’s even tougher for these challengers because while 38 percent of Republicans say that the charges are serious in the indictment, 80 percent, four out of five Republicans are saying they believe the charges are politically motivated. So, to take in any, shape or form the side of the Biden Justice Department against Donald Trump is a very risky strategy at this point. PHILLIP: It seems so. I mean, that’s so interesting that Republicans who are running against Trump even in that environment seem to want to disarm themselves on this issue, but we’re also seeing now some Republicans maybe having a change of tune in how they talk about it. Some of them are flip-flopping over the indictment. Does that kind of signal to you that they have to basically walk a tightrope here, maybe condemning the conduct, the handling of national security information but not going so far as to condemn Trump personally.

WALLACE: Yes. I think sort of like good parenting, criticize the act not the child. But even more than that, they very much are putting caveats on if true. And, I mean, you take a case like Nikki Haley, who has gradually toughened up, and she said most recently that this is incredibly reckless with our national security but she also said that she’d be inclined to pardon the former president who engaged in what she calls incredibly reckless behavior.

So, look, it’s just a tough nut.

And I think, you know, for the feeling of a lot of these people, it’s the old adage, if your opponent is digging a hole, don’t stop him and don’t get in the way. And they’re kind of hoping to the degree that this indictment and the charges are going to hurt Donald Trump, that it will be the Justice Department and the facts of the case and they don’t have to get their hands dirty and tick off a lot of Trump supporters in the base.

PHILLIP: Well, they seem like maybe they’re even taking the shovel out of his hands at this point. But, I mean, politically speaking, I mean, we are now more than 24 hours out from Trump appearing in his arraignment and after his remarks last night, which were full of lies and, you know, misdirection and all of that. But do you think that in this primary, where he is running almost 40 points ahead of the next guy, do these indictments help him consolidate the base politically?

WALLACE: The answer is yes and no, and let me explain. I think on the one hand — and we saw this with the New York indictment on the hush money, now with the Miami indictment about the documents — that the initial reaction is to rally around the flag, to support the former president against what is seen as politically motivated actions, weaponization of the Justice Department.

On the other hand, I think one of the arguments that some of the challengers are making, people like Chris Christie particularly, that, really, since 2016 and his surprise victory in that election, Donald Trump led to the loss of the House in 2018, lost the presidency in 2020, lost the Senate and had very disappointing results in the 2022 midterms.

So, you know, one of the arguments that you can make against Trump without taking the side of the Justice Department is rightly or wrongly, he’s got a lot of baggage, and is he going to win? And do you want to take the chance on nominating one of the few people who I think Republicans feel of this field could actually lose to Joe Biden?

Watch above via CNN Tonight.