Trump Indictment in Documents Case Divides the Country

When news of Donald Trump’s indictment in the case over his handling of classified documents broke on Thursday, the former president went on social media to vent his anger at the decision. "I am an innocent man," he wrote in all caps, calling the decision to indict him "election interference" and "a continuation of "the greatest witch hunt of all time." Fellow Republicans mirrored Trump's outrage, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy called the decision a "weaponization of power."

These reactions highlight the political significance of the latest indictment, made even more complicated by the fact that Trump is not only a former president but also frontrunner to be the Republican candidate in 2024. “Legal processes establish and maintain legitimacy by the appearance of impartiality. But when a public figure associated with one political party is prosecuted by officials associated with another, such appearances can become impossible to uphold,” Damon Linker sums up the problem in an opinion piece for the New York Times. “That’s a scenario seemingly tailor-made to confirm and vindicate Mr. Trump’s longstanding claim that he’s the victim of a politically motivated witch hunt,” Linker adds, arguing that Trump’s indictment on federal charges could even help him in the Republican primaries.

What is clear (and totally unsurprising) is the fact that the nation is once again deeply divided. When YouGov and The Economist asked 1,500 Americans whether Trump should face criminal charges for his handling of classified documents, 83 percent of Democratic respondents said yes, while only 16 percent of Republicans thought he should be prosecuted and 68 percent were firmly against it. Interestingly, that doesn’t mean Republicans condone the former president’s actions: 44 percent of Republican respondents said they disapproved of Trump taking presidential records to his private residence and 63 percent agreed that it’s a serious matter for a former president to keep classified documents after leaving office.