In lowest moment of Trump's presidency, millions stick by him

TUCSON, Ariz. – After f our years of President Trump, Betsy Smith has no trouble reciting many of his faults.

“He's inartful. He has a big personality. He uses the wrong words. He makes people angry,” said Smith, who worked for 29 years as a police officer in suburban Chicago before moving to Tucson and launching a police training company.

But despite t he many scandals, racist invective, lies and violence that have left Trump with his lowest approval ratings, fewer allies than ever in Congress and a looming Senate trial as the only p re sident to be impeached twice, Smith has no regrets about voting for him.

“Trump has done so much for this country and my family ,” said Smith, 61. “I mean, this is the first time in ages we had a president who so unabashedly supported police. For us, that is huge. And that's just one thing.”

Tens of millions of voters like Smith have remained loyal even after Trump in cited the Jan .6 insurrection at the Capitol that left five people dead and will almost certainly be t he defining moment of his presidency. Them ob, which included factions of white supremacists, was but a tiny fraction of the 74 million people who cast ballots for Trump in November.

In dozens of interviews across the country, supporters spoke of Trump in reverential terms as the only president in memory who stood for working people rather than the elite. They said they never doubted his claims that he won the election—a fiction echoed for weeks by right-wing media outlets and many Republican law makers. And they pointed to the economy before the COVID- 19 pandemic to argue that he deserves a second term, even if that means waiting until the next election.