Today, the former president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, is expected to appear before a New York City court where he has been charged in a case involving alleged payments of hush money to an erstwhile adult entertainment star. This is only one of the many cases that Mr Trump faces before a slew of courts. But it is the only one, so far, in which he has been indicted, setting the stage for his potential arrest in the coming days. As with everything else involving the 45th president of the US, the indictment has sharply divided American opinion. To many people who were unable to stomach Mr Trump’s provocative politics and personal behaviour, the prospect that he might go to jail represents a moment of comeuppance for the former president. To his millions of loyal supporters, in the meantime, the legal proceedings are nothing more than political vendetta engineered by Democratic Party leaders and officials to target Mr Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election, which he plans to contest. Yet, irrespective of politics, the indictment and the response to it demonstrate two powerful messages that resonate beyond the US.
The unprecedented action against Mr Trump should serve as a reminder to the world’s most powerful leaders that they too could perhaps face justice if they commit crimes. To be sure, in the US, as elsewhere, this case is an aberration: the rich and influential rarely face the same legal scrutiny for their actions as ordinary people. But Mr Trump’s case shows how firmly the tables can turn, and perhaps, this will make other leaders more cautious. At the same time, it is clear that the indictment also represents the deep polarisation of American politics. That phenomenon is mirrored in many major democracies today, including in India, where the Opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, has been expelled from Parliament after a conviction in a defamation case. On the one hand, the breakdown of the backroom understanding that elites across parties have long had cutting across political positions could force the emergence of a new politics, whether in the US or in India. But untethered, these divisions could also erode trust in the independence of institutions vital for democracy to function. That is why how Mr Trump is treated will be watched around the world.