BETHLEHEM, Pa. — As former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election, a familiar scene played out at the corner of Eighth Avenue and West Union Boulevard.
Buffeted by supportive car horns and angry shouts, nine veteran protesters rallied for the Justice Department, looking to draw support for the historic charges.
- A rally in support of the Justice Department's charging of former President Donald Trump drew nine people
- Political science expert Christopher Borick said he wasn't surprised by the tepid response
- Early polls put Trump as the clear frontrunner for the Republican Party's 2024 candidate for president
An annoyed homeowner called police over the disturbance. No one at the rally was arrested.
If it seemed old hat, it should have. The group has been protesting in the Lehigh Valley over Trump, his policies and his alleged crimes for the better part of seven years.
They said they were relieved to see Special Prosecutor Jack Smith finally take action against the 45th president.
"We need to show support. No one is above the law," said Tim Gruber, of Salisbury Township.
Bill Bekkenhuis, a registered Republican who said he's opposed Trump from the start, clung to an American flag while leaning on an umbrella like a cane. He said he's frustrated by how most of his party continued to back Trump in spite of what Bekkenhuis called his anti-democratic leanings and criminal behavior.
Back in the 1970s, Republican lawmakers pushed President Richard Nixon to resign over the Watergate scandal, but the current crop of GOP leadership has failed to live up to their example, he said.
"They put the country before the party then. They don't do it anymore," Bekkenhuis said.
Will historic charges move the political needle?
While diehards like Bekkenhuis and Gruber took to the streets, the indictment failed to generate significant protests in the Lehigh Valley. A similar rally at Seventh and Hamilton streets in Allentown drew barely a few people.
The relative calm met the expectations of Christopher Borick, professor of political science and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. Over the last two-and-a-half years, Americans have witnessed Trump's legal challenges to the 2020 election, the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, his impeachment and the political fallout of it all, he said.
"Does it have a different impact than those less historic incidents? I don’t necessarily think it will," Borick said.
The political polls for the 2024 presidential election appear to back his point. Early surveys show Trump lapping the rest of the Republican field. Trump has largely remade the party, Borick said. It seems unlikely his backers would abandon him now, even after a civil jury found him liable for sexual assault and he faces other criminal charges for his business dealings in New York and his handling of classified documents in Florida.
The latest charges allege Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election, which would have disenfranchised millions of American voters. In addition, it alleges he obstructed the official certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021, when an angry mob of his supporters forced its way into the Capitol.
In some states, including Pennsylvania, Trump and his supporters backed efforts to present fraudulent electors as part of the electoral college system, the indictment states. The fraudulent electors from Pennsylvania included two Lehigh Valley conservatives — William Bachenberg, co-owner of Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in North Whitehall Township, and Tom Carroll, a former candidate for Northampton County judge and district attorney. Bachenberg served as the chairperson for the Pennsylvania fraudulent electors and was subpoenaed to testify before the U.S. House Committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack.
"I don't think you can find an American who will change their opinion about Donald Trump between now and November 2024."Glenn Geissinger, chair of the Northampton County Republican Committee
While the new charges may not cause Trump's backers to reconsider their approach, Borick questioned how it could possibly help him.
Since his upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, Trump and his handpicked candidates have lost high-profile races in 2018, 2020 and 2022. President Joe Biden was able to defeat Trump because he was the more palatable candidate for swing voters.
"It’s going to be hard to rehabilitate Trump’s image for many, many voters. What’s important for Trump to win in 2024 is to make sure that Biden is as weak as possible," Borick said.
But the timing of the charges and Biden's own challenges make that possible, said Glenn Geissinger, chair of the Northampton County Republican Committee.
Hunter Biden, the president's son, has been under federal investigation for years, and he was set to plead guilty last week to failing to pay at least $1.1 million in federal taxes. The deal fell through, however, when the two sides couldn't agree on whether the plea deal protected Hunter Biden from future prosecutions for potentially violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act. The law, which several Trump allies fell afoul of, requires people lobbying on behalf of foreign governments to register with the federal government.
"I don't mean to be cynical, but maybe just a little bit of cynicism in this affair is called for," Geissinger said.
Trump supporters have long questioned whether Trump's political enemies have weaponized the federal government to attack him. The latest charges against the former president will only make his followers circle the wagons and defend him more, Geissinger said. The only thing that would shake their belief, he speculated, was seeing Hunter Biden behind bars and a thorough investigation of whether Joe Biden was aware of his son's dealings. It would show the Justice Department is treating all sides equally and not playing favorites.
Short of that, Geissinger said the indictment alone won't change the calculus of the GOP primary. Trump has retained his hardcore supporters, and his detractors will continue to stand against him.
"At this point, I don't think it changes anything," he said. "I don't think you can find an American who will change their opinion about Donald Trump between now and November 2024."
