'Try getting arrested': Book reveals GOP left Trump 'shocked' after indictments

Facing a wave of indictments after his first term, President Trump was reportedly “surprised” by the subsequent surge of support from inside the GOP — support that ultimately secured him a return to the White House, a new book published Tuesday revealed.

“I was a little surprised,” Trump told the authors of “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” written by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf. “I was impressed because they were campaigning against me.”

The book, which was reported on by The Bulwark, chronicles Trump’s pathway back into the White House, though more specifically, how support from the Republican Party, particularly following indictments and other controversies, enabled his return to power.

One anecdote chronicles how just one day after the violent mob stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, alongside several Republican lawmakers, called Trump while on speakerphone and let “him hear them shout ‘we love you!’”

Trump’s support among Republican voters also grew with each of the president’s legal setbacks. Following his indictment in a New York courtroom over a series of hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, Trump was reportedly pleased to see his support among Republican voters eclipsed 50%, and was growing.

Republican support for Trump went on to grow with each development in the president’s legal troubles, so much so that Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), according to the book, decided against pursuing a presidential bid after research he commissioned revealed how Trump’s popularity with Republicans had only increased.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ brief bid for the White House was another victim of Trump’s surging support from within the party, so much so that his campaign aids, according to the book, “began to joke that maybe DeSantis should try getting arrested.”

When the first Republican president primary debates commenced, many candidates, viewing the writing on the wall, had already declared the contest to be over, among them former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was one of two candidates that declined to commit to vote for Trump should he become the nominee.

“The fact that these folks would absolutely prostitute themselves that way… that’s the day the primary ended,” Christie told the authors of the book.