DO TRUMP SUPPORTERS REALLY WANT HIM TO BE A "LAWLESS" PRESIDENT?

A few days ago, Greg Sargent published this at The New Republic:

Is that what MAGA voters want from Trump? "Wanton lawbreaking"?

I don't think so, or at least I don't think that's how they'd see it. I think they want him to be a law unto himself. But that's not quite the same thing.

Sargents conflates several ideas. He notes that Trump has demanded that the Supreme Court grant him "COMPLETE & TOTAL IMMUNITY" (as he's put it, in all caps, on Truth Social) for his actions when he was president. Obviously Trump wants to be told that his crimes while in office weren't crimes. But he and his base don't think he's actually committed any crimes, ever -- not in his Stormy Daniels cover-up (the subject of his first indictment), not in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and not in his handling of classified documents (the subjects of his other indictments). They don't think he's guilty of improper business practices and they don't think he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll or any other woman (the subjects of the civil suits he faces). Do they want him to be granted permission to break the law? I think they believe he's a remarkably honest and virtuous man who couldn't possibly have ever broken the law. They think he's up on charges only because a corrupt, depraved, America-hating set of prosecutors has said he broke the law.

Sargent writes:

Trump has reportedly told friends and allies that he wants the Justice Department to investigate a range of former Trump advisers turned critics. Again and again, Trump has publicly vowed to prosecute Joe Biden and his family based on a series of invented crimes.

... Trump is relentlessly conditioning his supporters to expect a second term in which he will bend or break the law to wield the machinery of the state to persecute his opponents....

But Trump's followers don't believe that the alleged crimes of Joe Biden and his family are "invented." They think those crimes are very real, even if they can't name them or point to any solid evidence that crimes were committed. They're not counting on Trump to make up a transparently fake set of charges against President Biden. They think he's guilty of actual crimes, and should be tried and sentenced for those crimes.

And Trump doesn't need "COMPLETE & TOTAL IMMUNITY" in a second term in order to prosecute Biden (and other political enemies) on charges you and I know are phony. He just needs a thoroughly politicized Justice Department. He can have that -- he probably will have that -- sinmply as a consequence of being elected and having a Republican-controlled Senate to rubber-stamp his appointees, whether or not he has immunity.

In horror, Sargent writes:

... a recent CBS poll found that a stunning 55 percent of self-identified MAGA voters think that if Trump wins reelection, he should “get revenge by criminally charging political opponents.”

Again, I'm sure this is because they believe that Trump's political opponents have actually committed crimes -- or at least have done things that should be crimes. Consider the fact that fifteen House resolutions have been filed -- six of them by Marjorie Taylor Greene -- calling for the impeachment of President Biden. What are the "high crimes and misdemeanors" alleged against Biden? Wikipedia offers a summary:

Issues that have been floated by prominent proponents have included Biden's handling of illegal immigration at the United States–Mexico border, the handling of the United States' withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Biden's extension of a federal COVID-19 eviction moratorium, other COVID-19 pandemic-related actions of Biden, business dealings of Biden's son Hunter ..., Biden's energy policy, the Joe Biden classified documents incident, and the accusation that Biden is "weaponizing" the government.

MAGA voters believe all of these things are real "high crimes." They believe the 2020 election was a massive Democratic crime spree.

MAGA voters don't want "lawlessness." They live in a fantasy world, and they want simple justice for the fantasy crimes they believe their enemies have committed. They might get this warped version of justice from Trump if he's elected, and even if he doesn't have "COMPLETE & TOTAL IMMUNITY," it might all be perfectly legal.