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Politics

Trump’s GOP Grip Forces Rivals Into Contortions After Indictment

  • Some candidates criticize prosecution without mentioning Trump
  • Candidates risk alienating Trump’s hard-core supporters in GOP
Attendees wait to enter a campaign event for former US President Donald Trump in Waco, Texas, on March 25. 

Attendees wait to enter a campaign event for former US President Donald Trump in Waco, Texas, on March 25. 

Photographer: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg
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Donald Trump’s indictment laid bare his complicated relationship with Republicans, forcing them to thread a needle between expressing full-throated fealty and attacking the Democratic prosecutor who brought the case to suit their own agendas. 

Republicans — including those considering a White House bid, themselves — almost unanimously condemned the prosecution and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as politically motivated. But subtleties in the pronouncements reveal the fear within the Republican Party of getting cross-wise with Trump’s hard-core supporters, crucial in a primary.