‘The indictment is a shame – but folks like myself would rather Trump let someone else take over’

After former president Donald Trump’s indictment, many Republican officials and other supporters rallied around him, with some arguing the latest controversy will bolster his standing in the GOP and propel him back into the White House.

But just outside the city where Trump was arraigned last Tuesday, Republican voters in this competitive House district say that while they think the indictment is “politically motivated”, it isn’t the deciding factor in whether they will support Trump in 2024.

“It’s unprecedented. It’s a shame,” Marc Fromowitz, 52, a Rockland County small-business owner and registered Republican who voted for Trump twice, says of the indictment. “But there are folks like myself ... [who would] rather Trump just go away and open a library in New York or Florida, wherever his residence is, and let someone else take over and lead the charge to save America.”

New York’s 17th Congressional District, while in a solidly Democratic state, is similar to places Trump needs to retain support, and win over new voters, to take the Republican presidential primary. The district includes some of the suburbs of New York City and stretches upstate into the Hudson River Valley. In the 2020 election, President Biden won most of the counties within the district en route to winning the state by more than 20 points.

But it also has shown that its voters are malleable. In 2022, the once strongly Democratic district flipped red, in part because of redistricting. Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney had served five terms in the house and was chair of the powerful Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee when he lost his seat to Republican Michael Lawler, a New York state assemblyman. Lawler was one of four Republicans who flipped Democratic seats in New York, helping Republicans gain control of the house. In the latest sign of how competitive the district has become, Liz Whitmer Gereghty, the sister of Democrat Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, is reportedly considering a run against Lawler in 2024, Politico reported.

Trump has sought to turn his indictment into a campaign rallying cry, using remarks at recent events and social media missives to criticise the lead prosecutor and judge in the case. The former president appeared at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday 4 April and faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege Trump participated in an effort to falsify documents with the intent of hiding a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actor, in an attempt to silence her about an alleged sexual encounter the two had.

Trump is also under investigation by the Justice Department over his handling of documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating whether Trump and his allies conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

In Putnam County, the heart of Trump’s support in the district, several Republicans agreed that the indictment was a “charade”, with some claiming that what President Bill Clinton did was much worse, referencing Clinton’s involvement with Monica Lewinsky.

But even here, where Trump topped Biden by nearly 8 percentage points in 2020, the indictment isn’t the driving factor in how Republicans feel about Trump.

Joanne DeThomasis, 59, a Putnam County resident who voted for Trump twice, says she wants to see who else is running before deciding on whom she will vote for to become the Republican presidential nominee.

“There are really some up-and-coming stars,” she says. “I just want to know that we’re not going to be weak in the world. We’re being crushed by China, and I don’t think that would have happened if we had Trump in the White House.”

Others cite Trump’s behavior for their desire to possibly look elsewhere, mentioning his “ego” and how he “belittles” people.

“I’m tired of the drama,” says Dawn Lafasciano, 50, a Republican resident of Rockland County who voted for Trump twice. Lafasciano says she will support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in 2024 if he decides to run for president.

“I don’t like the backstabbing and everything,” she says about Trump. “I want that to change.”

Still, the indictment has moved some Republicans to solidify their support for Trump. A recent Yahoo-YouGov poll found that since Trump’s indictment, more Republicans support him over DeSantis, with Trump leading the Florida governor by 26 percentage points – up from an 8-point lead in their previous poll.

“If it even happened, it was a misdemeanor, and you had to do something in two years. It’s now, what, seven, eight years, and nothing has been done. And now they’re going to bring it back,” says Anthony Scannapieco Jr, who voted to Trump twice and chaired the Putnam County Republican Committee for more than a decade. Scannapieco says the indictment has moved him toward backing Trump.

“I would probably vote for Trump just because of the way things are going,” he said.

But even for people who say they plan to support Trump in 2024, several say they felt that way before the indictment.

“Four years ago, I was doing pretty well, and I think other people were doing well,” says Paul Murray, 63, a Rockland County resident who voted for Trump in 2020. “And things were going good, the economy was good. People were making money, and now they’re not ... you may not like what he said, but he actually did what he said he was going to do.”

Sandi Barney, a retiree who says she was a registered Democrat all her life but voted for Trump twice, says she thinks Trump still has a strong chance of becoming the 2024 GOP presidential nominee despite the indictment.

“I believed in him from the start ... and look at what a wonderful country we had for the past few years. We had everything, nobody had a want for anything, and now people are struggling.”

Barney adds that the outcome of the indictment will not affect her decision on whether to support Trump in 2024.

Asked if she would vote for Trump a third time, Barney responds: “Absolutely. Without a doubt.”

Emily Guskin contributed to this report

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