‘They’re coming after you’: Trump tells NC supporters indictment is threat to them, too
Former President Donald Trump, speaking at the NCGOP convention one day after federal prosecutors unsealed a historic 37-count indictment against him over his handling of classified documents, vowed that the charges would only energize his bid for a second term in office.
Trump last week became the first former president to face federal criminal charges, an unprecedented development that will likely cast a shadow over the GOP primaries and general election next year. He was quick to bring up the indictment during his speech before North Carolina Republicans in Greensboro Saturday night.
“These criminals cannot be rewarded, they must be defeated. We must defeat them soundly,” Trump said of federal prosecutors that filed the newest set of charges against him. “In the end they’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you, and I’m just standing in the way.”
Trump said he’s been a victim of political persecution, and that he is being targeted by “Marxist leftists,” later calling Jack Smith, the Department of Justice’s special counsel, “deranged.” He called the indictment “baseless,” and said it was a form of “election interference” and represented one of “the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country.”
“I put everything on the line, I will never yield, I will never be deterred, I will never stop fighting for you,” Trump said to loud cheers from a packed ballroom at the Koury Convention Center.
NC Republicans also hear from DeSantis and Pence
Earlier on Saturday, convention delegates heard from former Vice President Mike Pence, who said that Trump being indicted marked “a very sad day for the country,” and undermined confidence in the federal justice system, but criticized Trump for pressuring him not to certify the results of the 2020 election.
“Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States,” Pence said to a quiet room.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the most popular GOP alternative to Trump in the polls right now, addressed the convention Friday night. Without naming the former president, DeSantis sought to contrast himself with Trump.
He cited his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and aggressive pursuit of an unabashedly conservative agenda as governor as evidence for why GOP voters should back him to take on President Joe Biden and reclaim the White House for Republicans.
“A leader doesn’t put their finger in the wind and try to follow the polls, a leader sets out a vision, executes on the vision, delivers results, and guess what, the polls change in your favor once you’re getting things done,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis, Pence and several other GOP candidates who have decided to challenge Trump for the Republican nomination face an uphill battle. Trump continues to maintain high levels of popularity in the party.
The warm receptions for candidates not named Trump were a contrast to the other Republican event Trump spoke at on Saturday, the Georgia GOP convention in Columbus, where Pence was originally scheduled to speak but later canceled, and was replaced by Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor in Arizona last year who refused to concede her election loss.
And while top Georgia Republicans like Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger skipped their party’s convention and its embrace of Trump, several top North Carolina Republicans were present at the NCGOP convention throughout the weekend, including Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, House Speaker Tim Moore, and many members of the House and Senate Republican caucuses.
Trump voters dismiss indictment as ‘political theater’
In the face of Trump’s indictment, many attendees’ support of the former president did not waver.
Angelique Boylan, 66, has been to every Trump rally in North Carolina since 2015, she said, in what was a tradition with her father until he died in January. She expected the speech to be just as memorable as the others, the Pasquotank County delegate said.
She described his bid for president a “spiritual battle,” and said the crowd supports him.
“I really want him to hear from us that we love him, that we’re behind him” Boylan said.
Her view on the indictment was much less favorable, calling it “a joke.” Boylan likened the indictment to the jailing of political opponents in developing countries.
“We’re just not a land of justice right now,” she said. “The same thing that happens for you should happen for me.”
Judy Lomax, 75, said she was at the convention because she liked “the energy. I like being with people who love their country and who believe in faith, family and freedom.”
She said she would vote for whichever Republican candidate dominated but her preference is for Trump, saying she liked “his record, I like where we were back when he was in office. I like that he tells the truth. I hate what’s happening to him,” she said referencing his indictment.
He’s been “treated unfairly from day one, even before” the indictment, she said.
Others at the convention were open to other Republican candidates.
Denise Speight, 51, from Richmond County, said that “the current administration is just doing a horrible job and I believe that we definitely need some change.”
She said she was oscillating between Trump and DeSantis and “hated” that the two were competing against each other.
“I think the unpredictability of Trump is in his favor. Where sometimes, I think he could tone it down a little bit,” she said. Meanwhile, “I know this contradicts myself but I also like that DeSantis is very much more calm.”
Trump has demonstrated he “can get things done” despite political opposition, said Bill McGaha, a Macon County delegate. However, he said as of Friday night, he is still waiting to decide who he will vote for in the primaries, and that comes down to electability.
When it came to his opinion on Trump’s indictment, McGaha had two words.
“Political theater,” he said.
This story was originally published June 10, 2023 at 8:17 PM with the headline "‘They’re coming after you’: Trump tells NC supporters indictment is threat to them, too."
