NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – At an election eve campaign rally in North Charleston the feelings were unanimous among those attending: they will support Donald Trump no matter the legal woes he attracts.
Facing 91 felony counts in four indictments, the cult of personality surrounding Donald Trump appears to be as strong as it was in 2016 and 2020.
About 46% of Americans believe that the charges against the former president are politically motivated, according to an August 2023 poll conducted by ABC News/Ipsos.
The Team Trump South Carolina headquarters in North Charleston were abuzz this weekend, as about 50 people crowded into the room to drum up support for their candidate.
“The fact that he can still function with all this worldly stuff attacking him, to me, is incredible,” said Kathleen Crewes, a volunteer at the phone banking center. “He’s a great role model and I hope and pray they leave him alone.”
A few donned paraphernalia depicting Trump behind bars, reinforcing the idea that these charges motivated turnout for his fan base.
Cries of support rang out when Donald Trump Jr. falsely proclaimed to the crowd that January 6th was “the first unarmed insurrection in the history of insurrections.” (Several Jan. 6 defendants have already pleaded guilty to being armed, and many others have been convicted of assaulting officers.)
Purcell said she voted for Trump in 2016 and the various trials will not sway her from voting for him in 2024.
“They want to get rid of him because he wants to do the right thing,” Crewes said. “He wants to save America.”
Trump is the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination after winning yet another primary this weekend by securing about 60% of the votes in South Carolina.
“If Donald Trump doesn’t get in, we lose this whole country,” Crewes said.
The former president is a part of a highly contentious Supreme Court case trying to remove him from the Republican primary ballot in Colorado, which will vote on March 5, Super Tuesday.
Deb Purcell, who was at another election eve rally in Charleston, said that even if Trump was removed from the ballot, she would write in Trump’s name, claiming that “a million of [them] would do the same.”
“They are to keep him off the ballot and they are trying to destroy him so he can’t run for president,” Purcell said.
She traveled from Florida to attend both the primary events where Donald Trump Jr. appeared. As long as Trump runs for president, he can count on Purcell for a vote.
Trump is also waiting to see if the Supreme Court will step in on his claim that he has presidential immunity in the federal case that accuses him of trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
