Last March, when Donald Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges, his reelection campaign saw a huge surge in donations. Even political rivals rushed to support him. There was no dent in his front-runner status after the state charges in New York. Now...
apnews.com
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The prospect that someone under indictment — twice — could somehow still be considered a viable presidential candidate underscores Trump’s grip on the Republican Party and the ways that he has fundamentally transformed democratic norms in America.
It also illustrates just how effective he has become at inoculating himself against political fallout by setting expectations and controlling the narrative. And it reflects growing Republican hostility toward the federal government and particularly the Justice Department, which Trump has now spent the better part of a decade maligning.
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Republican leaders in Congress, as they have time after time, sprang to Trump’s defense as if in choreographed unison.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the indictment marked “a dark day for the United States of America” and a “grave injustice.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise accused President Biden of ”weaponizing his Department of Justice against his own political rival” with a “sham indictment” that was “the continuation of the endless political persecution of Donald Trump.”
