It’s worth taking a moment to think about the enormity of the events in the US.

I remember that day, not far off 49 years ago, when the resignation of a US President was of such monumental importance that there was tv at breakfast time.

Almost half a century on, there’s a 24 hour news cycle and social media to chew over the fact that a former leader of the free world has been charged with trying to fraudulently overturn the result of the election in which he was defeated by Joe Biden.

You can read the whole indictment here on the Guardian’s website.

Its opening paragraphs are shocking:

Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power. So for more than 2 months following the election day on 3 November 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims were false and the Defendant knew they were false. But the President repeated and disseminated them anyway, to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger and erode public trust in the administration of the election.

It’s about as far from the presidential oath, in which he promised to preserve, protect and defend the US constitution as you can get.

The indictment relies heavily on the fact that Trump and his co-conspirators knew what they were doing. A significant part of the evidence is based on the contemporaneous notes of Vice President Mike Pence. Trump had asked him not to declare the results of the election in Congress on 6 January and at one point, when Pence refused, told him that he was “too honest.”

The team from Pod Save America, one of my favourite US politics podcasts analyse the indictment here. Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor were all staffers during the Obama administration and set up Crooked Media in 2017.

This indictment is the most shocking of the three Trump has received in recent months. The first was over payments to Stormy Daniels, the second was over the secret documents he kept hold of after leaving the White House.

Most worrying of all, is that if Trump is ultimately convicted, he has a number of options open to him which mean he could still serve as President if re-elected, varying from pardoning himself to appealing to the Supreme Court. That would be the Supreme Court to which he nominated 3 members to ensure a conservative majority. From CNN:

If Trump were to be convicted before the 2024 election and win the contest, he could try to grant himself a pardon, according to (California law professor Richard) Hasen.

“Whether he can do so is untested. The Supreme Court may have to weigh in,” Hasen said, adding that Trump could potentially appeal a conviction to the conservative Supreme Court.

There’s a long way to go with this and indictment is not the same as conviction. Special Counsel Jack Smith still has to prove his charges in Court. But the trial, conducted under the backdrop of the 2024 primaries and the early stages of the election, will be quite the drama.

What is particularly worrying is that so many people are still prepared to vote for him. A poll published yesterday, according to Politico, showed him tied at 43% with Joe Biden.

The Democrats should resist the temptation to go too hard on Trump’s behaviour. The news media will do that for them. In the end of the day it’s a distraction from the terrible things Republicans have done in power, most heinously removing the right to abortion. Reaching young women who don’t normally vote is likely to be more productive for the Democrats in ensuring victory.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social