And vice versa.

By now, you’ve surely heard that former President Donald Trump was indicted yesterday by a New York grand jury that determined he should stand trial over charges related to paying off porn star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about their sexual encounter. 

The recent rumblings about a possible indictment or arrest sent us scrambling through the Arkansas Times archives and elsewhere for stories about how Arkansas legislators have embraced the controversial reality star-turned-president-turned-criminal-defendant over the years. We found some doozies. 

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The best of all, which had slipped our minds, was that the first Arkansas legislator to endorse Trump was Jon Woods. That’s the same Jon Woods who was sentenced to more than 18 years in federal prison after being convicted in a kickback scheme involving a state fund and Ecclesia College in Springdale. Woods would eventually ask Trump for a suspended sentence in exchange for working on Trump’s border wall. Yes, really. A conservative columnist urged for a pardon for Woods as well but Trump didn’t offer one. So much for that early endorsement, I guess. 

After Woods threw his support behind Trump, the Arkansas Times’ David Ramsey caught up with Woods to ask him about it. Here’s a snippet: 

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I asked Woods what issues were most important to him in the campaign. 

“I think the reason why he’s doing so well,” Woods responded, “is that he tells it like it is. He calls individuals and organizations out for what they are. He knows how to deal with bullies. And I think a lot of people know what it’s like to be bullied. A lot of people see him as being bullied. That makes people gravitate toward him more. He’s someone who can take a tremendous amount of pressure and heat and not back down, which is rare. That’s a big turn-on for a lot of people, that appeals to a lot of folks.” 

There’s also the tweet where Woods extolled his favorite tie, which was from the Donald Trump collection: 

In addition to Woods, obviously, there’s Governor Sarah Sanders who worked as Trump’s combative press secretary. There are plenty of instances of Sanders praising Trump, but let’s limit this to the criminal matter at hand. In 2018, Trump was reportedly upset with how Sanders responded to questions about the president’s affair with Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford). When asked if the president knew his attorney Michael Cohen had paid Daniels $130,000, Sanders told the media “not that I’m aware of.” 

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Former state Sen. Trent Garner was also a big Arkansas Trumpian, telling Andrew DeMillo of the Associated Press that Arkansas is now basically Trumpland and that then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson was a “relic of the past.” Garner, full of bombast and venom for a while, has quietly faded away after his bid to become a public defender didn’t go as planned

There was the time Sen. Missy Irvin urged the Arkansas Legislative Council to pass a resolution condemning Congress for impeaching Trump. In her testimony before the committee, Irvin seemed more bothered by the impeachment process than she did Trump’s holding back of military aid to Ukraine in exchange for political pressure on his opponent Joe Biden. Irvin said she was speaking up for Arkansans who were bothered by what they were seeing. Twenty-six Arkansas Republican legislators signed on to Irvin’s resolution.  

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Finally, remember the hubbub Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) caused when he refused to endorse Trump on stage at the Republican National Convention in 2016? Here’s a video of then-state Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Bigelow) being confronted by Cruz supporters on the convention floor. Rapert had first supported former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee before turning to Cruz. Rapert eventually landed on Trump, tweeting “never experienced more arrogance than I just endured from #NeverTrump backers. Very sad to see GOP members behave that way. I’ve committed everything I have to support the #GOP to elect conservatives to save our nation – we MUST now support Trump.” 

These are just a few of the greatest hits of Arkansas’s most prominent Trump supporters. Have any other favorite moments of Arkansas pols praising the twice-impeached, once-indicted former president? Add them in the comments.

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