ABERDEEN, S.D.—People in agricultural Aberdeen, South Dakota, had things to say about Donald Trump’s latest indictment and his 2024 presidential bid, some positive, some not so positive.
“As far as I’m concerned, they’ve gone back and forth so long” with criminal investigations that “it’s getting old,” said Betty Rall, a shopper from Forbes, North Dakota, about 47 miles north of Aberdeen.
“People are getting tired of it. I think it will bring Trump up [in the polls] because they keep doing this to him.”
Lucille, a lifelong conservative Democrat originally from Minnesota, took a more hardline approach with the latest allegations that Trump made false statements to federal investigators, concealed documents, and conspired to obstruct justice after he left office in 2021.
“If he did the crime, he should do the time. I don’t care who he is,” Lucille told The Epoch Times. “Do I dare tell what I think? There are enough stupid people who would vote for him,” in 2024.
The newly unsealed indictment on June 8 accuses the 45th president of breaking federal law by taking “scores of boxes” of documents, many of them classified, to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after Joe Biden assumed the presidency on Jan. 20, 2021.
The 49-page indictment claims the resort kept authorized documents in locations that included Trump’s bedroom and a ballroom, and that he showed classified materials to others at the golf club in 2021.
“You don’t want to hear what I have to say,” said a woman walking to her car in the parking lot at Aberdeen’s Walmart Supercenter.
“I like Trump,” another woman said without further comment, although she admitted she hadn’t heard about the latest indictment.
“He’s getting what he deserves,” a man said as he exited the store on June 9. “He'd been an [expletive] all his life; why would he change now?”
A resident, Ruth, had more to say about problems with the current system of mail-in ballot voting, the southern border crisis, and Biden’s policy of allowing thousands of daily illegal crossings.
‘New Blood’ In 2024?
Trump’s indictment was “a long time coming,” said Jay Hill, an independent voter originally from Detroit, Michigan.“Obviously, the evidence is still building today. I don’t care if you’re Republican [or Democrat]. If you do wrong, you do wrong.”
In terms of his character, Hill thinks Trump is a “terrible person.
“That’s because my many friends in New York City work construction. He never pays his bills.”
Hill said he is also hopeful there'll be “new blood” in the 2024 presidential election.
“I would hope neither [Trump nor Biden],” Hill told The Epoch Times. “We need new, young energy. I’m not particular about any candidate so far. Hopefully, another dark horse comes out—young, fresh new ideas to bring this country together.”
Biden is “kind of what I expected. He’s still part of the system. Many people I get excited about for the presidential election never get the money behind them. I think there are some good young Republicans” out of Texas, like Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw.
“I’m independent. I voted for Bush for president. I voted for Obama for president. I went either way. I want to see someone bringing something fresh and wanting to move the country forward.”
Rall believes the political establishment in Washington has been trying to get rid of Trump since “the day he [took office].”
The same establishment now wants to prevent his 2024 presidential run, she said, so she’s not surprised by the latest indictment accusing him of criminal wrongdoing.
“They keep going with it. It’s stupid. Downright stupid,” Rall told The Epoch Times.
“It’s such a mixed-up mess. My feelings are so mixed. I’m ready to scream at someone.”
