NEW YORK: Former US President Donald Trump’s surrender on criminal charges on Tuesday (Apr 4) was marked by clashes between his fans and foes outside a downtown Manhattan courtroom, and a now-familiar cycle of name-calling and outrage from lawmakers and Trump himself.
But many Americans who say they are watching this case and other Trump investigations play out aren’t looking for political point-scoring – they’re holding out hope that the US democracy delivers justice.
“It’s what the system is for,” said Carla Sambula, who said she had driven an hour from her Rockland County, New York, home to sit in line outside a Manhattan courthouse so she could witness Trump’s indictment firsthand. “It’s hard to say if they’ll get it right, especially as a woman of colour,” said Sambula, who is black, adding she has not cast a vote since one for President Barack Obama in 2016.
Americans’ trust in such institutions as Congress, television news and the presidency, fell to the lowest average level in more than 40 years last year, Gallup polling shows. Just 14 per cent say they have a great deal or “quite a lot” of confidence in the criminal justice system, half the level of a decade ago.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case is the first of several involving Trump as the country braces for a 2024 presidential election in which Trump is the leading Republican candidate. Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
“There’s a lot of cynicism on the far right and the far left,” said Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer and a professor of law at University of Minnesota. Both sides have coalesced around the idea that “the law is not about law, it is just about politics and power”.
Trump himself has over the years complained that law enforcement was targeting him for political purposes, and his rhetoric has heightened since the New York case surfaced.
On Wednesday, Trump called on his fellow Republicans in Congress to slash funding for the US Justice Department and the FBI. A number of Republicans have expressed concern the case is a test of whether the government can be weaponised against disfavored politicians.
About half of Americans think the investigations against Republican Trump are politically motivated actions by Democrats, a new Reuters/Ispos poll shows – including 36 per cent of Democrats. Half of Americans, meanwhile believe Trump and some members of the Republican party are working to delegitimize law enforcement to prevent charges against Trump – including 30 per cent of Republicans.
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