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In the wake of Donald Trump’s latest criminal indictment, there’s been quite a bit of commentary about “tests.” Americans are seeing a test of our political system. A test of our judicial system. A test for the rule of law. A test of the courts. A test of the integrity of our democracy. A test of the nation itself.
A New York Times analysis published over the weekend summarized the landscape this way:
History’s first federal indictment against a former president poses one of the gravest challenges to democracy the country has ever faced. It represents either a validation of the rule-of-law principle that even the most powerful face accountability for their actions or the moment when a vast swath of the public becomes convinced that the system has been irredeemably corrupted by partisanship.
The headline characterized the former president’s indictment as a “test of public credibility” for the U.S. justice system.
The commentary is entirely sensible, though there’s a dimension to this that’s easy to overlook: This is a test we already know how to pass.
Revising our coverage from the Republican’s first indictment, Trump is a scandal-plagued politician who’s been indicted — twice — creating conditions that certainly seem unusual. But in the United States, we have all kinds of experience with scandal-plagued politicians getting indicted.
It happens all the time. It doesn’t tear at the fabric of our civic lives. It does not open the door to political violence. It is, for lack of a better word, normal.
This is not to say that the former president’s indictment is unimportant. On the contrary, it’s extraordinary, in part because of our history, in part because the Republican has gone so long evading serious legal consequences, and in part because it’s an open question as to what will happen in the wake of these charges.
But it’s not as if Americans are unfamiliar with the broader dynamic at the intersection of politics and the criminal justice system. The fact that it involves a former president is unusual, but we’ve seen indictments of governors, senators, House members, state legislators, Cabinet secretaries, mayors, city officials, and, in John Edwards’ case, even a former vice presidential nominee.
I’d be remiss if I neglected to mention that Spiro Agnew, during his tenure as vice president, also pleaded guilty to a felony and resigned in disgrace.
None of these cases threatened our republic. The suspects were charged, and they had trials. Some were acquitted, and some were convicted. The United States endured without any trouble at all.
Despite the recent hysterics, Trump is a private citizen with no special authority or powers. The fact that he’s also a current candidate might seem to change the equation, but let’s not forget that in the recent past Rick Perry ran for president while under criminal indictment, and few thought to make much of a fuss about it.
Our political system, in other words, should be able to handle Trump’s indictments without breaking a sweat.
What would put our political system in jeopardy would be for the Republican and/or his allies to reject our system of justice, and to insist that Trump must remain above the law — because they say so.
In other words, Trump’s indictment is historic, but it’s not a crisis — unless the GOP turns it into one.
This post revises our related earlier coverage.