Amid swirling rumors of a possible indictment by a New York City prosecutor, former President Donald Trump has announced his first big 2024 campaign rally will take place this Saturday in Waco, Texas.
Make America Great Again Rally in Waco, TX
When: Saturday, March 25, 2023
Time: 6:00 pm ET (5:00 pm CT)
Where: Waco Regional Airport in Waco, Texas (Directions)
Tickets: Available Here
Texas has never been Trump’s strongest electoral state though it does hold pockets of deep red support, especially in and around the Waco area making the setting a natural spot for a large, kickoff event:
Texas is the first stop on the 2024 presidential campaign trail for Donald Trump, the former president’s team announced Friday. In this third consecutive bid for the White House, Trump will hold a rally March 25 at the Waco Regional Airport.
While facing criminal charges and less vocal support from Texas GOP leaders, Trump hopes to lock in the loyalty of Lone Star State voters before more Republicans join the primary race.
“It is undisputed that Texas is Trump Country after electing 37 Trump Endorsed Candidates and recent polling among Texas primary voters,” his campaign staff wrote in a news release announcing the event. Trump’s campaign cited a tweet from Interactive Polls, a conservative media company, as evidence that in polls Texans favor Trump over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican nominee.
According to February polling from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, 56% of Republicans surveyed said the former president should run again.
As for the criminal charges pending this week in New York City, there has not yet been an official statement from the District Attorney’s office in Manhattan, only a message from Trump on his Truth Social platform indicating a possible impending arrest:
Trump on Saturday said that he expects to be arrested this week on charges by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is investigating whether Trump falsified business records by concealing his reimbursement of his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment Cohen made to p-rn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
The payment, made during the waning weeks of Trump’s 2016 campaign for the White House, was intended to secure Daniels’ silence about an affair she said she had with Trump, prosecutors said. A spokesman for Bragg declined to comment on Saturday.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday and called on his supporters to protest.
There have been some small protests and more are planned this week, but from an observational standpoint, the issue seems to be making a fairly small splash so far in the political world.
Whether the case would hurt or harm Trump’s primary chances are debatable. For the moment, the consensus seems to be that the issue might actually help Trump by giving him another enemy to fight with:
Whether an indictment would hurt Trump’s campaign is a separate issue. Trump certainly does not think it would end his reelection bid. In fact, he told the Associated Press that criminal charges wouldn’t deter him in the slightest. “Oh, absolutely, I won’t even think about leaving,” he said this week. “Probably, it’ll enhance my numbers.”
That may sound like just another outlandish Trumpian brag, but it’s actually entirely plausible — in the short term at least. There is no reason to assume that a criminal indictment will change any minds among the MAGA faithful. Trump clearly benefited from both of his congressional impeachments among rank-and-file Republicans. And Trump’s base has been instructed for years that the “deep state,” with its tentacles extending into every branch of government, is determined to remove him from the picture in order to resume its persecution of “patriots” and its globalist destruction of the U.S.
None of the cases that could lead to charges against Trump will shock or offend his supporters.
The District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, has been pressured internally for months to bring charges against Trump by using practically any means necessary. The actual violation Trump could be charged with is typically viewed as a misdemeanor and can only be upgraded to a felony when attached to another crime. In this case, the DA’s office is trying to link the alleged hush money payment to a tax evasion case for the purposes of charging it as a felony.
It’s an action that appears to be politically motivated with Bragg himself having already politicized his office and his vendetta against Trump, whatever does happen this week likely won’t move the needle much in terms of Trump’s primary support.
As for the Waco rally, follow the Trump rally schedule for details and the live stream on Saturday.
