In the topsy-turvy world of 2024 Republican politics, Donald J. Trump’s rivals had been preparing for weeks for his second impeachment with more fear than any sense of opportunity.
After years of back-and-forth scandals, the immediate instincts of so many Republican voters are deeply rooted. They stick to the defense of Mr. Trump, no matter how outrageous the charges or whoever makes them: Democrats, the media, local or now federal prosecutors. Donations surged after the first indictment of Mr. Trump in Manhattan. And it consolidated support in the polls.
Even prominent Republicans eager for the party to dump Mr. Trump in 2024 were worried before the impeachment. They have long been exasperated by the immunity of Mr. Trump to almost any attack or argument, swarming to neutralize any perceived political threat almost out of habit.
“There are a lot of people who just don’t buy any of it,” Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire who announced this week that he is not running for president in 2024, said in a recent interview. “Democrats are like the child cried the wolf. ‘Oh, no, no. But this is real’”.
He added: “It has created a situation where many Republican voters intuitively reject any criticism of the former president.”
Thursday evening, the rivals of Mr. Trump immediately faced the uncomfortable choice of joining the chorus of conservatives who quickly rallied behind Mr. Trump, or pretend they weren’t on Team GOP at a time of heightened tribal politics. Those who did speak mostly came to the defense of the candidate who dominated them in the polls.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said “the arming of federal law enforcement poses a deadly threat to a free society,” though he did not explicitly defend Mr. Trump.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina also denounced the “weaponization of the Justice Department” in an interview with Fox News that was scheduled before the impeachment. “You don’t have to be a Republican to see the injustice,” he said.
And Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman running a hard-line but long-term candidacy, went further, pledging: “I pledge to pardon Trump quickly on January 20, 2025.”
The exception was Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas who clung to the fringes of the race as a bastion of old-guard Republicanism. He asked Mr. Trump to end his campaign.
Most Republicans, conservative commentators and Trump allies immediately stepped up pressure to close ranks behind a former president facing charges stemming from a special counsel appointed by the Justice Department that reports to President Biden. “PEAK WITCH HUNT,” blared the banner headline at Breitbart. A pro-Trump super PAC circulated statements of support from more than 50 elected officials and conservative figures in the four hours after Mr. Trump announced his own impeachment.
“This is just going to cause a firestorm of support,” Steve Bannon, the former Trump strategist who hosts the live “War Room” show that is popular among the party’s right-wing base, wrote in a text message. “Rivals would be wise to ‘get off it.’
Mr. Trump raised $4 million in the first 24 hours after his latest indictment. His campaign sent out its first email plea for cash less than 30 minutes after it went live.
There are long-term questions about the political fallout of the indictment, which adds another piece of baggage for a former president now twice indicted and twice indicted. Then there’s the question of actual legal jeopardy: The specific charges include knowingly withholding national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
But on Fox News, the cable channel that serves as the information circulation system for millions of Republican primary voters, Thursday’s coverage was almost universally horrified by the seven federal counts he faces Trump, even if the details have not been made public. yet. Host Mark Levin said “June 8, the day of the uprising, not January 6.” Breaking news banners and repeat segments heralded Democratic defections and scandals from Hillary Clinton to President Biden that did not result in prosecution.
Pete Hegseth, the host of Fox News, goaded rivals of Mr. Trump in 2024 to travel in solidarity to Florida, where Mr. Trump said he had been subpoenaed in federal court next week: “All the Republican candidates should be in Miami Tuesday night. — standing back — standing up for justice in the country, saying, “I might run for the presidency” — Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, whoever, Ron DeSantis — “but this is an injustice.”
Mr Hegseth added: “I don’t think they have a chance now given what Trump is up against.”
Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, a Republican who has at times been an outspoken critic of Mr. Trump, made a similar note on the same network. “I think tonight Joe Biden just secured the nomination for Donald Trump for the Republicans in 2024,” said Ms. mace
The highest-ranking elected Republican in the United States, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, was among those who put unification behind Mr. Trump as beyond parochial political considerations.
“I and all Americans who believe in the rule of law,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter, “stand with President Trump.”
