The news that a Manhattan grand jury has returned an indictment of Donald Trump — the first criminal charge against a former president in the nation’s history — is monumental in itself. We should pause for a moment to appreciate the giant step that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has taken toward accountability for a man who has shown nothing but contempt for the rule of law.
But Thursday’s announcement also ushers in a new normal that will be among the most strange and stressful periods in America’s legal and political annals. The charges in the New York case, along with others likely to follow from Georgia and the federal government, will be caught up in a presidential campaign through which Trump is seeking vindication.
Trump’s instinct will be to put as much stress as possible on the prosecution and its prosecutors, claiming at every turn renewed proof of a political vendetta against him and his supporters. In recent months, he has exhorted his followers to see the charges as an attack on them and to see him as their salvation and retribution. This quasi-religious posturing will only intensify as trial dates approach.
