The Indictment of Former President Donald Trump was only hours away and the details of the charges are not yet known. Nevertheless, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice offered his unwavering defense.
“I am so sad,” Justice wrote under a letterhead bearing his initials and an image showing the sun peeking through behind the mountains of his state, “at Trump’s witch hunt.” I am so saddened at the lack respect for us — OUR America.
A conservative Democrat-turned-Republican whom the former president affectionately calls “Big Jim,” Justice closed with a shout-out to Trump’s sons, his “huntin’ buddies, Don Jr. and Eric,” and a parting word of encouragement for their father: “Pour it on CHAMP!”
Justice’s outrage and reverential sorrow would be heard by morning along with other statements of support , curated by Trump’s super PAC — an act of strength by allies to the first ex-President of the United States to face criminal charges.
Justice is considering a bid to fill the Senate seat that the Republicans hope to flip in 2024. This performance demonstrates Trump’s continued influence over the party. One year after Trump was heavily involved in competitive Senate primaries, in many cases elevating problematic nominees and losing in winnable state elections, potential candidates are still sensitive to alienating Trump and the voters who depend on him for advice on down-ballot races.
“Candidates, elected officials, and President Trump quickly jumped to defend him against the politically motivated prosecution proves that Trump is still the strongest voice and endorsement in this country,” Emily Moreno Miller (executive chair of the Cuyahoga Country Republican Party in Ohio) told NBC News. She was a former Trump campaign aide.
Ohio was the site of Republican Senate hopefuls 2022 engaging in constant one upmanship to impress Trump. Those considering a run in 2024 against Democratic Sen. Sherrod brown quickly made public their support with words of support.
Bernie Moreno , a businessman, is likely to be the candidate . Miller’s father, , tweeted that Trump was indicted because he made an incorrect claim about “record-setting crimes” in Manhattan. While scolding Alvin Bragg, District Attorney, for continuing the Trump case.
“This is what happens if liberal activists take over our mechanisms we use for justice,” tweeted LaRose . He was once aligned with No Labels a bipartisan organization that embraces centrist politics and avoids incendiary speech. America is tired.”
Even Matt Dolan the only GOP Senate hopeful from Ohio, who has not embraced Trump, expressed sympathy in a statement circulated his campaign.
Dolan, a state senator, stated that “there is no doubt that the actions taken in New York today are politically motivated.” “Let’s not forget that Democrats and the media want 2024 to be about endless investigations and show trials. We need a Republican nominee who will defeat Sherrod brown, not someone who willfully play into his hands.
Other Senate battlegrounds saw Republicans display varying degrees of loyalty and rage.
Kari Lake, a potential Senate candidate in Arizona, refuses to admit she lost her bid last year for governor. attacked with a statement accusing the “radical left” of trying to destroy Donald J. Trump’s 45th and most likely 47th presidents.
In Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano lost the race for governor and has indicated interest for a 2024 Senate run, and later retweeted a supporter , who criticised Dave McCormick (who lost the state’s GOP Senate primary last May but may run again), for remaining silent on the matter.
Meanwhile, in Justice’s West Virginia the governor’s chief rival for the GOP Senate nomination, Rep. Alex Mooney fired off his statement contempt accusing Bragg with committing a “disgusting misuse of power.”
Mooney said that “This is an effort to appease a radical libertarian base who personally hates Donald Trump and his followers.” Justice, however, has not officially launched a Senate campaign. “Only in a banana republic does one party arrest a candidate from the opposing party.”
