That’s the story unfolding this morning as we wait for the former governor’s expected announcement that he’ll once again run for president.
KUT’s Ben Philpott joins the Texas Standard from the Addison Airport just outside of Dallas, where Perry will be speaking later this morning.
On who attended Perry’s announcement:
“He is going to be talking up his military experience – having the widow of one of the most famous, if not the most famous recent military veteran in Chris Kyle…that’s your military cache for this announcement. And of course there will be the people who supported Perry to the bitter end in 2012.”
On Perry’s indictment:
“Unless it goes to trial and unless he is convicted of these crimes I don’t know that the indictment itself is something that will hurt him in the republican primary. I think you can make the argument that the republican base, the very conservative republican base that will be coming out and voting in these presidential primaries and caucuses across the country, they follow the whole idea that this is a liberal democratic plot to get him from Austin, Texas. That’s something that makes sense to them. Unless he goes to trial and loses this case I don’t know how much it necessarily hurts him on the campaign trail.”
Listen to the full interview in the player above.