Indictment underscores gaping political divide

WASHINGTON — A necessary step for some, a "witch hunt" for others: The historic indictment of Donald Trump has further entrenched perceptions that partisanship has cleaved the United States, with the former president at the center of the storm.

The Republican billionaire's presidency, as well as his rhetoric since losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, have both underscored and amplified the country's political divisions, and reactions to him becoming the first US president charged with a crime have closely followed that playbook.

"The public today sees almost everything through the lens of partisanship," said Wendy Schiller, a political scientist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

It is a perception that has not escaped politicos. The indictment is above all a "gift to the campaign managers and strategists in both major parties", giving them "an opportunity to stoke outrage", said Robert Talisse, an expert on political polarization at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Indeed, several leading Republicans, including Trump himself, have launched fundraising campaigns to fight what they have called a "political persecution".

Trump-supporting Republicans sharply denounced the indictment, due to be unsealed in a New York court on Tuesday, as "an absolute outrage" while lining up to defend Trump, who is running for president next year again, as a martyr.

In New York the police department has ordered its 36,000 officers to be in uniform and ready to deploy this week, NBC News reported on Friday, citing official sources.

Asked about their posture before Trump is arraigned, the department said "officers have been placed on alert", and stand ready to "ensure everyone is able to peacefully exercise their rights".

Beyond politics

The sense of a country divided has moved well beyond politics.

Many political issues, including gender, abortion and guns, have become so heated they are almost taboo.

As the indictment was announced on Thursday night, with some liberals on social media mocking the "MAGA tears" of Trump backers, a small group converged outside his Florida residence to display their support and express their anger.

Several waved flags proclaiming "Biden is not my president" or "Trump won", in the latest reminder that more than two years after the billionaire lost the 2020 election, millions of people remain convinced the election was "stolen" from him.

However, some experts warn against exaggerating the severity of today's political division.

At least one person in the country is doing what he can to avoid fanning the flames further: Joe Biden.

He has yet to officially launch his 2024 campaign, but knows that anything he may say could fuel Trump's complaints of a politically "weaponized" judicial system.

As such he has remained one of the few Democrats to keep his silence, telling reporters he will not comment on the indictment.

Trump, as ever, appears to feel no such restraint. He turned to his Truth Social platform after the indictment to accuse Democrats of being "the enemy of the hardworking men and women of this country".

Agencies Via Xinhua