Even Trump voters say it would be a 'terrible idea' to fire Mueller

Trump has continued his attacks against special counsel Robert Mueller as the one-year anniversary of his appointment approaches. But a lot of Trump’s voters, including some who hate Mueller, are telling him to leave Mueller alone.

Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani plans to use the anniversary to suggest Mueller “whitewash” his investigation into Trump. And he said the Trump team is ready to respond if Mueller disregards that suggestion.

“We don’t want to signal our action if this doesn’t work — we are going to hope they listen to us — but obviously we have a Plan B and C,” Giuliani said in an interview with Bloomberg.

But Trump voters in a Milwaukee focus group Tuesday night said Trump should not fire Mueller, if only for self-serving reasons:

“People would be suspicious,” said Betsy Novak, 55, a greenhouse worker who voted for Trump.

 

“It [would be] hiding something,” said Curt Hetzel, 48, a shipping and receiving manager who also voted for Trump.

 

“Politically, it would be a terrible idea,” said yet another Trump backer, Sam Goldner, 25, a warehouse manager.

In fact, not firing Mueller was the only thing the group was able to agree on, according to Peter Hart, who conducted it.

And those Trump supporters certainly had no love for Mueller. They described him as “unethical,” “desperate,” “partisan,” and “a liar.”

Yet the group’s stance on firing Mueller largely reflects recent polling of Republican voters on the issue. An April Quinnipiac poll found only 22 percent of Republicans thought Trump should fire Mueller.

And earlier this month, an Economist/YouGov poll found that even among Trump voters, only 38 percent think Trump should fire the special counsel. Sixty-two percent responded either “no” or “unsure.” Among all voters, only 19 percent said “yes.”

Trump has continued to make threats, and has already tried to fire Mueller on at least two separate occasions. Last month, four Republican senators joined Democrats to pass a bill to protect Mueller out of the Judiciary Committee. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to block a vote on the measure.

If Trump ever does get around to Giuliani’s “plan C,” it’ll take more than just four Republicans to stop him.