The Apocalypse in America

After the Watergate scandal went the sitting president, Richard Nixon, in disgrace in 1974 and will forever be remembered as a scoundrel. But Nixon was never impeached. It was feared that it would divide the United States in the foreseeable future. Instead, Nixon was pardoned, boarded Air Force One and returned home to California to build his presidential library.

The damage has already been done under Donald Trump. The United States is deeply divided after seven years of political civil war, investigations and investigations into the most controversial president of all time. It can hardly get worse.

The indictment from New York still came as a shock. Now, what many were prepared for, but few could grasp the significance of, has actually happened. Otherwise eloquent historians are unable to say anything other than that this is very, very historic, and it is actually the first time in the almost 250-year history of the United States that a sitting or former president has been indicted.

How will the US and American voters deal with it?

It looks dark. Donald Trump has already warned that an indictment would mean “death and depravity” and told people to take to the streets. He has been screaming non-stop about witch-hunts since he was elected, and in recent days his message on “Truth Social” has been downright apocalyptic and threatening. A majority of Republican voters agree with him that the so-called “Stormy Daniels” case is politically motivated, but an equally large majority believe he is guilty without seeming to bother them.

Democrats probably wish another indictment had come first. The case of kickbacks to the porn star ahead of the 2016 election is initially considered a misdemeanor. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison for paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about having sex with Trump, but his sentence also included other offenses. Interestingly, the judgment states that it is aggravating that the payment was made to mislead American voters.

That is what the case is ultimately about, that Trump tried to hide the fact that he paid a porn star, probably in violation of election campaign laws, to win a presidential election. It’s hardly the first time Trump has paid someone to remove a problem, and it’s not illegal, but as a presidential candidate and president, there are other rules that even he has to follow. This is what Attorney General Alvin Bragg was elected on, that he should hold Trump accountable. Because no one is above the law. It goes without saying that the indictment contains several counts of business fraud in the state of New York.

Israel’s “Wagner Group”

The American legal system is undeniably vulnerable to accusations of political witch-hunting. State attorneys general are politically elected, and instead of an independent attorney general, it is Attorney General Merrick Garland who has appointed special investigator Jack Smith to investigate both Trump’s involvement in the storming of Congress and the case of classified documents at the Trump property, Mar-a-lago, in Florida.

A fourth case concerns attempted voter fraud in Fulton County, Georgia. Many may remember the audio recording in which Trump, after the 2020 election, asks the Republican governor to find exactly 11,780 votes, which he lacked to win Georgia. The last three cases are considered heavier and more serious, and Democrats fear that the milder Stormy Daniels case will confuse the understanding of the seriousness of the others.

Of the four cases, lawyers believe that Trump is in the greatest danger of being convicted in Georgia, while most seem to doubt that he will be prosecuted for having contributed to the attack on Congress. Regardless, the cases will put confidence in the American justice system to the test of time.

In familiar style, Trump pretends like he loves the fuss and the drama but it’s game to the gallery. He has said he wants to be arrested in full public view and handcuffed. It won’t happen, but already next week one of history’s most famous “mug shots” will be taken when Trump has to register in his hometown of New York, where he was once king.

It is not positive for a presidential candidate to be charged with an offence. Sworn Trumpists will scream in unison about witch-hunts, but independent voters are not so blind. It is also not fanciful to predict that Trump in the rest of the election campaign will be even drier and darker, a destructive spiral that will repel even more people. The process will be true hell with the help of the UltraMaga clan in Congress.

After Watergate, Americans felt deep shame to have had a president like Nixon. The case almost became a national trauma. That feeling is gone. Under Trump, America has become as shameless as him.