Trump’s indictment shows there can be consequences, even for America’s most privileged

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Jared Yates Sexton is a U.S.-based political analyst and author of The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis.

Already much focus on Donald Trump being indicted has focused on the unprecedented nature of a former president of the United States facing legal jeopardy. Discussion has centred around this being an unparalleled moment in which the very nature of American democracy is being tested, primarily because a previous occupant of the White House is involved. And, to be fair, it is an unprecedented and unparalleled event. But this coverage is missing the point entirely.

For years now we have watched Mr. Trump breeze through legal jeopardy. His self-dealing has been brazen. In interviews on national television, in addresses, leaked videos, before millions of people, he has seemingly admitted to crimes that would have resulted in severe consequences for the majority of people. But Mr. Trump’s status as a white, wealthy, powerful man in America has shielded him, betraying a system that has been rigged in favour of people like him since the very beginning. It is ironic that his defenders have continued telling supporters “if they can get him, they can get you,” because, honestly, the equal justice system implied in this phrase reflects the high-minded promises of America, not its realities.

The failings of both Mr. Trump and the U.S. itself have led us here. Debate over whether this particular powerful man should be held accountable, lest it provoke violence or bring shame to the country, reveals a system that is so corrupted, unequal and absurdly inadequate that it should inspire a long period of reflection and humiliation. After all, this is an individual who first came on the national radar half a century ago in a housing discrimination case. Since, he has built his brand and platform on unabashed shamelessness and a penchant for skirting decency and the law.

Now is a perfect time to remember that just weeks before his victory in the 2016 presidential election, the nation was treated to leaked footage of Mr. Trump frankly discussing what all serious people agreed sounded like a textbook case of sexual assault, and still nearly 63 million voters went to the polls and chose him as president. And, after four years of the most blatantly corrupt presidency in modern history, almost 75 million gifted him their vote.

What we have in the United States is not a Donald Trump problem, but an existential crisis that was born before him and will definitively outlast him. Politicians, journalists and pundits have spent these past few years believing first he could not ascend to power, then that “responsible adults in the room” would rein him in, then that institutions would inevitably hold him in check or bring him to justice. In these fantasies they have continued to believe that Mr. Trump is some passing phenomenon that, if only it would recede, we could get back to the serious business of governing.

The foundations of America that have protected Mr. Trump from infancy to the highest seat of power, as well as a whole host of white, wealthy men and incredibly powerful families and companies, are what have made this possible and are what will continue to put Americans in grave danger. White supremacy and intentional inequality, whether it is in America’s sham of a “meritocracy” or in our supposedly equal justice system, have so corroded the country as to lead us to this precipice and provide a sullied individual like Mr. Trump the opportunity to seize power.

After all, Mr. Trump would have never so much as sniffed the presidency if it wasn’t for a potent groundswell of white grievance, anger and paranoia that he stoked and capitalized on for his victories and for his business ventures. The MAGA movement is both an authoritarian crusade and a continuing grift made possible by a parallel thrust by conservative politicians and media outlets like Fox News to leverage conspiracy theories and fear for power and profit. That will remain the case regardless of whether Mr. Trump lands behind bars or wins a second term.

There is reason to celebrate the indictment and possible future indictments of Mr. Trump. It would be a sign that at the most extreme edge of lawbreaking, there might still be a possibility of consequences. But despite what some might tell you, it is not an assurance that all things are working as they should or that the danger might finally be passing. It took centuries’ worth of corruption and oppression to get us here, to a point where American institutions are rapidly decaying and the rule of law is being exposed as tragically unequal.

The solution is going to be complicated and require an extreme amount of self-reflection. And now is the perfect time to start asking the all-important question: exactly how did we arrive here?