George Stephanopoulos suggested Sunday that even though Hillary Clinton supporters did not recognize the 2016 election as legitimate, they did not take the “same action” as Trump supporters after the 2020 election.
In a roundtable discussion on “This Week,” Stephanopoulos seemed to agree with his guest, CEO of Democracy For America Yvette Simpson, when she claimed that there was “no precedent” for the January 6th riots at the U.S. Capitol. The two were discussing a poll which showed that one-third of Americans felt violence against the government was “justified.”
“I mean, this is purely in the Republican camp. The reality is, is even the poll suggested the Democrats agree that this was not about democracy. This is about ruining democracy, not protecting it,” Simpson argued. (RELATED: Anti-Trump Hysteria Is Destroying America)
“Twenty-five percent of Democrats said violence was acceptable in that poll,” ABC Analyst Sarah Isgur countered. “In 2017, a third of Hillary Clinton voters said Donald Trump was not legitimately elected. You’re saying this is unprecedented?”
Stephanopoulos interjected that Hillary Clinton supporters “did not take the same action.”
WATCH:
Police arrested more than 200 rioters in Washington, D.C., in January 2017 as riots ensued immediately after President Trump’s swearing in ceremony. Four businesses underwent “significant damage” due to vandalism, six police officers sustained minor injuries, and one limousine was torched on Inauguration Day, NBC News reported at the time. (RELATED: Watch Anti-Trump Rioters Clash With Police, Destroy Property)
Anti-Trump protests also erupted in New York, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago and Portland, resulting in at least one man being shot in Seattle, CNN reported. Liberal groups praised the work of protesters, many of whom traveled from around the country to rail against Trump’s “illegitimate” election, inspiring the Women’s March later that month.
What had begun as a Facebook post just after Trump’s election, the Women’s March, according to the New York Times, was the start of what organizers hoped would be a sustained campaign of protest in Trump’s America. It was at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. where Madonna told a crowd of thousands that she had “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”
Despite its violent and divisive rhetoric, many Democratic leaders and politicians attended the march, including Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren who told the crowd,“We can whimper, we can whine or we can fight back. Me, I’m here to fight back.”
Hillary Clinton even expressed her support for the march in a tweet.
Thanks for standing, speaking & marching for our values @womensmarch. Important as ever. I truly believe we’re always Stronger Together.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 21, 2017
“We’re very focused on January 6,” Isgur stated. “Again, I am all for every prosecution that’s going on. There are 700 indictments out there. That is good. But when I look forward to 2024, I’m deeply concerned by these numbers because what it says to me is that people on both sides are not ready to accept the results of the next election.”
When Stephanopoulos asked her to clarify if she indeed meant both sides, Isgur maintained that she “absolutely” believed it to be the case.
“You look back at 2017, look at the ABC poll on whether Trump was legitimately elected. It was about six to eight points off of this one right now, not that far off. Hillary Clinton asked in 2017, was Trump legitimately elected, point blank. She did not say yes. She said she had questions,” Isgur explained.
“You think Democrats, if Donald Trump runs again, if Donald Trump wins in 2024, you think Democrats are going to think he was legitimately elected? You got to be kidding me,” Isgur concluded.