After listening to witness after witness in court about his alleged misdeeds, former President Donald Trump began grumbling several weeks ago about his lack of support outside the courtroom. Almost immediately, a steady stream of friends, advisors and Republican elected officials from across the country began to trickle in.
Over the past two weeks, it has become a cavalcade of defenders, with almost everyone, anyone in contemporary Republican politics, making the pilgrimage to Manhattan to kiss the ring and complain to television cameras about the unfairness of the proceedings.
They’re there in part to say what Trump can’t say because of his gag order — a range of talking points that include, but are not limited to: Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter’s political leanings, the problem with New York’s liberal jury pool , the character of several witnesses and prosecutor Susan Hoffinger’s donations to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
The trip to the Manhattan courthouse has become a MAGA test, but also a window into how we can move forward in the Trump-era Republican Party.
In one theatrical measure of the raw ambition on display here, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) became the first Republican member of Congress to emerge in support of Trump. Scott, who is up for re-election this year, drove with Trump from Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue to the courthouse in Lower Manhattan and then sat in the front row of the courtroom before leaving to speak to the cameras.
Two weeks later, he announced his plan to run for Republican leader in the Senate — and his case for selection is based largely on listening to Trump.
The following week there was a House Freedom Caucus road trip to Manhattan. There, nearly a dozen of the thirstiest and most controversial members of the House of Representatives — including Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who is pushing to win the Republican primary in a new House district — protested from across the street against the process. led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
Gaetz, the tormentor of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who was reportedly eyeing a 2026 gubernatorial bid, labeled the indictment “the Mr. Potato Head doll of crimes where they had to keep a bunch of things together that didn’t belong together. .”
Days earlier, House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has been working to build his relationship with Trump ahead of the possibility of the former president returning to office, appeared on the scene.
A lawsuit over hush money payments to a porn star seems an unlikely place for the government’s most powerful evangelical Christian to position himself — especially since Johnson once claimed that Trump “lacks the character and moral center we so desperately need back in the White House.” . .”
But Johnson, who is fending off an impeachment attempt from the right, made clear he felt it was important to support “a friend.”
“I wanted to be here myself and shout out what a travesty of justice this is.” he said, about a week after Trump publicly urged Republicans to unite behind Johnson and help extinguish the threat to his speakership.
To some extent, the blocks outside 10 Center Street have become something akin to Trump’s famous boardroom in “The Apprentice.” Vice presidential candidates, including North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Florida Representative Byron Donalds and Ohio Senator JD Vance, have all traveled far from their home states to pay tribute to Trump, aiming to in his good to come to grace.
If Trump is indeed found guilty next week, Merchan won’t have to send him to prison; most first-time offenders of non-violent crimes receive probation or a fine. In any case, Trump would appeal. So very soon he will be free of the Manhattan courthouse that he has so many complaints about.
The former president has made clear that he pays attention to the loyalists serving in his vanguard in Manhattan and appreciates their service. “I have a lot of surrogates and they speak very nicely,” Trump said on Tuesday. “They come from all over Washington, are highly respected and think this is the biggest scam they have ever seen.”
They also seem to think this is the biggest opportunity.
This article first appeared in POLITICO Nightly.
