Donald Trump belongs behind bars. Almost everyone in Germany would probably agree with this statement. And even in the USA, where despite everything he still has many ardent supporters, he wants to according to polls at least a majority that he withdraws from politics.
Now it is clear: For the first time in the more than 200-year history of the United States, criminal proceedings will be opened against a former US President. This news is a turning point and nothing that will happen in the coming days, weeks and months can change that.
Trump will show up in New York, he will have to be fingerprinted and mugshot. He may be seen in handcuffs. There may be violent protests from his supporters. Trump called on them to do this two weeks ago.
Will he end up in prison? Nobody can know at this point. The likelihood that the affair about hush money payments to a porn actress will bring him down in the 2016 election campaign is not too great.
But the 76-year-old is guilty of many things. His attempt to stop the democratic transfer of power through a mafia-style pressure campaign, his indifference to whether human lives are harmed is reason enough to put him on trial. And there’s more.
There may well be further charges. The legal reappraisal of the Trump era is ongoing on many levels and is far from complete.
Until then, Trump is also a presidential candidate from one of the two major parties in the United States. Three-fourths of Republican supporters don’t think the Stormy Daniels case should stop him from running again. You think it’s a private matter.
These voters follow Trump’s claim that the ruling Democrats are using the judiciary to take out a dangerous competitor, just as they rigged elections to gain power. Like cultists, these voters have locked themselves into their alternate reality and trust the other side with anything.
They also believe these conspiracy theories because Trump has shown them for years how easy and apparently inconsequential it is to influence the judiciary. Trump resorted to threats and firings when his wishes were opposed. He broke every imaginable rule and norm and boasted about it. And got away with it for far too long.
Breaking open this partisan bunker will be one of the greatest challenges for the United States in the coming years. Should the Republican Party actually enter the race for the White House with a candidate with one or more indictments pending, that would be the next censorship.
But all this is no reason to prevent the judiciary from doing its work or to question the motivation of prosecutors, judges and juries. No one is above the law, not even a former president. That is the main message of this week. Trump has long acted as if this rule does not apply to him.
It would be desirable for American democracy that the verdict on him would be unequivocal. That the evidence is sufficient and he will be held accountable. And: that the voters can follow the reasoning, regardless of their political beliefs.
Democracies are based on the separation of powers, on the independence of the judiciary. If these elements are questioned, something is rotten in the state. It’s about nothing less.
The truth is actually that simple. Trump’s renewed candidacy is for one essential reason: as president, he would have political immunity again. This calculation must not add up. The White House must not become a haven for criminals.
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