What the Trump Indictment Can Do - And What It Can’t

It’s always a little strange when someone like Trump gets a measure of comeuppance. On the one hand, we had a president who allegedly stole what appears to be highly classified documents, evaded authorities who tried to get those documents back, showed those documents to lots of people who weren’t supposed to see them, and who knew exactly what he was doing. It does not exactly shine brightly upon our democracy. 

On the other hand, after decades of dodging the consequences of his actions, many of which were horrifying and egregious, it’s important to take a moment to relish at least some of his actions catching up with him. And while charges related to classified documents are not where I would like to see consequences the most, charges under the Espionage Act are nothing to sneeze at. According to this Vox summary of the indictment, the documents Trump squirreled away in Mar-a-Lago included information relating to national defense, our nuclear program, details of potential vulnerabilities in our national security and that of our allies, and plans for potential counterattacks. And while an indictment is not a conviction, and while it is up to a trial to prove guilt, the photos of the boxes in the shower and on stage in the Mar-a-Lago event space are pretty damning. 

So Trump’s second indictment, his first on federal charges, can bring us all a bit of catharsis, a bright vindictive spark of joy. And while at the moment, Republicans seem split on the seriousness of these allegations (according to NBC, 42% believe they are serious, 35% believe they are not), and a plurality of Republicans still think he should still be allowed to be serve if convicted (from the same NBC news report), there’s actually no telling what the consequences of this indictment will be for Trump’s political career. And these are not the last of Trump’s potential legal entanglements - he is still facing potential charges for election interference in Georgia, and investigations into his culpability for the January 6 insurrection. 

With months of news coverage highlighting his corruption and criminality, with the corresponding courtroom drama visuals to match, there’s a chance that we may start to convince the rest of the country of what we already know. Trump does not care about them. He does not care about this country. And he does not care about the law. He only cares about what serves him in the moment, and to hell with anyone and anything else. The more we tell that story, and the more evidence we have to back it up, the better. Trump may very well still become the Republican nominee for president - but every one of these charges can help us prevent him from getting any further than that. 

Unfortunately, that brings us to a few things Trump’s indictments can’t do. Trump’s indictments apparently can’t keep most elected Republicans, including those running against him in the primary, from their sycophantic defenses. From Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis to J.D. Vance and Glenn Youngkin, almost all of them insist on tweeting through it. No revelation is damning enough, no blatant criminality is blatant enough, no danger to the Republic dangerous enough for them to even try to wrest their party back from Trump’s rapacious fingers. The party for whom national security was the watchword of all politics, couldn’t care less who has access to our nuclear secrets, our vulnerabilities, the intricacies of our national defense. They are far, far more afraid of Republican primary voters than they are of the potential attacks they used for decades to prop up the over policed, under-resourced surveillance state they wanted to impose on us. Barring a few exceptions, the Republican party is full of cowards who would rather kiss the ring of their opponent than preserve our democracy -  or even win an election. 

Here’s another thing Trump’s indictment can’t do: it can drive out this insidious rot at the heart of the modern Republican party. That the current allegations against Trump center on national security is perfect for exposing the Republican party’s hypocrisy when it comes to Trump. But Trump is responsible for much, much more. He made overt racism, misogyny and bigotry the standard of the Republican party by making manifest what so many tried to do with dog whistles, with winks and nods. He did not turn the Republican party into one that would sell democracy for parts to the highest bidder - McConnell’s refusal to call a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee for a year proves that. And he did not inspire their commitment to undermining bodily autonomy and queer rights - the decades spent fighting against gay marriage and abortion rights prior to Trump’s election prove that. But he gave every Republican politician and many Republican voters the excuse to be the worst version of themselves - to turn to violence and hate rather than empathy and understanding. 

The Trump indictment is important - we cannot have a democracy where the law only applies to some. Trump must face the consequences of his actions if we are to have any hope of continuing this ever expanding project of a more perfect union. But Trump’s indictment cannot erase decades of exacerbating climate change for profit. It can’t change the color of the sky in New York as smoke barrels down on us from Canada. It can’t protect queer kids and Black and brown kids from an education system that teaches them they are less worthy than their peers. The indictment can’t give us back our bodily autonomy and it can’t end gerrymandering or expand the right to vote. The indictment is important to preserving the democracy we have, but it can’t expand it. 

Only we can do that.