While speaking to supporters at a campaign rally in Rapid City, South Dakota, on Friday, garnering support for the 2024 election, former President Donald Trump said that he considers the four criminal indictments he is currently facing to be a “badge of honor.”
“Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists, and fascists indict me, I consider it a great badge of honor,” Trump said. “And I’m being indicted for you. I am being indicted for you. I’m not too thrilled about that. But that’s part of the job description, isn’t it?”
Between his numerous indictments, the 45th president faces a total of 91 separate charges in this year alone, with the total maximum sentence sitting at nearly 700 years in prison.
When asked for further clarification on the statements by Newsweek, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said that the former president’s remarks were related to “the job of being a leader and standing up against [President] Joe Biden and the Deep State who weaponize the justice system to interfere in an election.”
Trump has seen rising support from other Republicans, including Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), who gave an impassioned speech in support of Trump in her endorsement of the former president, calling him the only candidate who fully supports the “little people.”
“To him, every American is worth fighting for. No one is better than anyone else,” she said of Trump. “And he will never forget about us, the little people in the little states that are the backbone of this country.”
Noem is believed to be in consideration as a running mate alongside Trump, and her recent endorsement of the former president suggests the same. When asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity about whether or not she would consider running with Trump in 2024, she replied, “Of course, I would consider it.”
Noem flipped from her stance in the 2022 midterms, where she expressed her belief that the former president might not be the best choice for the 2024 election.
According to a recent CNN poll, 43% of likely Republican voters intend to vote for Trump in the coming GOP primaries, and the majority of Republicans have said that the criminal indictments against him will not influence their vote.
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