Donald Trump’s impeachment exposes the cracks in the country

Since the New York judge’s first announcement of his indictment, Republican members of Congress have rushed to Twitter, denouncing it as “political harassment,” “an absolute scandal,” and “a sad day for America.” Through interviews, tweets and press releases, they rallied around the presidential candidate and raised him as a martyr. Even his Republican rival, Ron DeSantis, who is flirting with the nomination in 2024, flew to Donald Trump’s aid, denouncing the charge as “contrary to American values.”

In the Democratic Party, elected officials were content to greet the announcement with trepidation, saying “no one is above the law.”

Silent Biden

Among those who remain silent on the issue: Democratic President Joe Biden, who has yet to officially launch his campaign but knows any comment could feed into the argument for instrumentalizing justice hammered out by the Republican billionaire.

“Today, public opinion sees everything through the prism of political divisions,” said Wendy Schiller, a professor of political science at Brown University.

As of Thursday evening, a group of the former president’s supporters vented their anger in front of his palatial residence as progressives mocked “Trumpist tears.”

Many of them waved ‘Biden is not my president’ and ‘Trump won’ flags, another reminder that more than two years after the billionaire’s loss in the 2020 election, millions of Americans are convinced the presidential election was “stolen.” him.

“National Divorce”

His truth fueled the flames from the social network, accusing Democrats of being the “enemies of the hardworking men and women in this country,” a party of major interest. “They aim not at me, but at you, and I am in their way,” he wrote on his platform.

The divisions in this country are sometimes intractable, fueling the imaginations of a “national divorce” advocated by some members of the hard right, such as electorate Marjorie Taylor Green.

In some American homes, entire sections of the U.S. news are barred from questions about sex, abortion or democracy, fueling the resulting debates.

The issue of guns has sparked a fierce backlash between progressives and conservatives in the halls of Congress this week after a deadly school shooting in Tennessee.

“More Engaged Than Ever”

Be careful not to overdo the segmentation, though, caution the experts. From the Civil War to civil rights conflicts and the Vietnam War, American society has at times been more deeply fractured and divided than it is today.

The difference: “We’re a more diverse and politically engaged country than we’ve ever been,” says Wendy Schiller. “When more voices speak, it means that exchanges become more violent and louder”, the political scientist analysed.

“But this cannot be compared to the situation 50 years ago when many people were silent,” he said.

A political prize

If Donald Trump’s impeachment feels like digging more trenches, it’s above all “a political gift to the campaign managers and strategists of the two major parties,” reckons Robert Tallis, a political polarization expert at Vanderbilt University.

“The allegation gives both sides an opportunity to incite outrage among citizens,” the professor said.

Many Republicans, including the former president, have rushed to launch fundraising campaigns to counter the “accusation of political motives.”