In the topsy-turvy world of 2024 Republican politics, rivals of Donald J. Trump had been bracing for weeks for his second indictment with extra dread than any sense of alternative.

After years of successive scandals, the instant instincts of so many Republican voters are completely ingrained. They snap to Mr. Trump’s protection, irrespective of how outrageous the fees are or who’s making them — Democrats, the news media, native prosecutors or, now, federal ones. Donations surged after Mr. Trump’s first indictment in Manhattan. And he consolidated assist within the polls.

Even distinguished Republicans longing for the occasion to forged apart Mr. Trump in 2024 had been involved forward of the indictment. They have lengthy been exasperated by the immunity of Mr. Trump’s base to nearly any assault or argument, swarming to neutralize any perceived political risk nearly by behavior.

“There’s a lot of folks who just don’t buy any of it,” Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire who introduced this week that he wouldn’t run for president in 2024, mentioned in a latest interview. “Democrats are like the boy who cried wolf. ‘Oh, no, no. But this is real.’”

He added, “It’s created a situation where a lot of Republican voters intuitively dismiss any criticism at the former president.”

On Thursday night, Mr. Trump’s rivals instantly confronted the uncomfortable selection of becoming a member of the refrain of conservatives who rapidly rallied behind Mr. Trump, or trying like they weren’t on Team G.O.P. at a second of heightened tribal politics. Those who did communicate got here largely to the protection of the candidate dominating them within the polls.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida mentioned “the weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,” although he didn’t explicitly defend Mr. Trump.

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina additionally decried “the weaponization of the Department of Justice” in an interview on Fox News that had been scheduled earlier than the indictment. “You don’t have to be a Republican to see injustice,” he mentioned.

And Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur operating a hard-line however long-shot candidacy, went additional, pledging, “I commit to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025.”

The exception was Asa Hutchinson, the previous Arkansas governor clinging to the margins of the race as a bastion of old-guard Republicanism. He known as for Mr. Trump to finish his marketing campaign.

Most Republicans, conservative commentators and Trump allies ratcheted up strain instantly to shut ranks behind a former president dealing with costs that emanated from a particular counsel appointed by a Justice Department that stories to President Biden. “PEAK WITCH HUNT,” blared the banner headline on Breitbart. A professional-Trump tremendous PAC circulated supportive statements from greater than 50 elected officers and conservative figures inside 4 hours of Mr. Trump’s saying his personal indictment.

“This will only cause a firestorm of support,” Steve Bannon, the previous Trump strategist who hosts the streaming “War Room” program that’s well-liked with the occasion’s right-wing base, wrote in a textual content message. “Rivals would be wise to ‘heave-to.’”

Mr. Trump raised $4 million within the first 24 hours after his final indictment. His marketing campaign despatched out its first emailed plea for money lower than half-hour after publicizing this one.

There are longer-term questions concerning the political fallout from the indictment, which provides yet one more piece of bags for a now twice-impeached and twice-indicted former president. Then there may be the problem of precise authorized jeopardy: The particular costs include willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Yet on Fox News, the cable channel that serves as the data circulatory system for hundreds of thousands of Republican major voters, the protection on Thursday was nearly universally aghast on the seven federal counts Mr. Trump is dealing with, even when the main points haven’t been made public but. The host Mark Levin known as “June 8th, the day of insurrection, not January 6th.” Breaking-news banners and repeated segments trumpeted Democratic apostasies and scandals, from Hillary Clinton to President Biden, that didn’t lead to prosecution.

Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host, goaded Mr. Trump’s 2024 rivals to journey in solidarity to Florida, the place Mr. Trump mentioned he had been summoned to a federal courthouse subsequent week: “Every single Republican nominee should be down in Miami on Tuesday night — standing behind — standing for justice in the country, saying ‘I may be running for president’ — Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, whoever, Ron DeSantis — ‘but this is injustice.’”

Mr. Hegseth added, “I don’t think they have a chance now considering what Trump is up against.”

Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina, a Republican who at occasions has been an outspoken critic of Mr. Trump, sounded an identical notice on the identical community. “I do believe tonight that Joe Biden just secured Donald Trump’s nomination for Republicans in 2024,” Ms. Mace mentioned.

The highest-ranking elected Republican in America, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, was amongst those that forged unifying behind Mr. Trump as past parochial political issues.

“I, and every American who believes in the rule of law,” Mr. McCarthy wrote on Twitter, “stand with President Trump.”