In a normal election season, the impeachment of a leading candidate for both the presidency of his party and the presidency of the country, who is on trial for bribing a porn star, would be, to put it mildly, a first-class pretext. for your opponents. But one day after former President Donald Trump was indicted on 34 felony charges, one thing is clear: this is no ordinary political season.

The failure of Trump’s opponents in the Republican nomination race to go on the offensive — and even their willingness to defend him — underscored the central position he still occupies in the party. His opponents appeared to be using the same strategy that most of his opponents in the 2016 election followed. They sat back and watched events, hoping that external factors would knock Trump out of the race. However, while Donald Trump’s legal “mess” seems to be increasing, the feeling that he is losing his popularity is doubtful.

However, even in the ranks of parliamentarians, the reaction varies greatly. To some Republican and Democratic politicians, including former and current elected officials, the charges seemed far-fetched, a hodgepodge of misdeeds, akin to forgetting to return a book to a public library with which an obsessed New York prosecutor was trying to weave a heavy charge. However, for others, the allegations were serious and could have affected the former president and caused him political harm.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, who is Trump’s toughest challenger for the Republican nomination, remains tight-lipped on the issue. Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and the second most powerful Republican candidate, also kept a low profile. Many believe de Sandys and Haley will face charges at some point, but not now that a number of conservative voters are rallying around the former president.

The concern, even among Republicans critical of Trump, was that the allegations leveled against him in Manhattan would create distrust among voters, some of whom have already been alienated from the former president, alienating them from the party, while others argue that the former president may end up increasing his political capital from these circumstances.

“His subpoena reinforces his narrative that the Democrats want to get him at all costs, stretching every law and inventing every new legal theory to get it,” said Whit Ayers, a seasoned Republican pollster. He added: “He’s very happy with what’s going on.”

The accusation against the former president does not seem to have greatly affected his popularity.

For their part, the Democrats expressed in some cases a sense of disappointment, and in others a sense of hope.

For David Pepper, the leader of the Democratic Party in Ohio, this particular lawsuit is of little importance compared to other crimes he is expected to be charged with, such as his mastermind in the invasion of the US Capitol in January. December 6, 2021, and the historicity of the venture ultimately doesn’t matter much. “The fact that he was investigated for crimes does not mean that he is any different from the usual defendant,” he said, adding that he believes that these efforts do not correspond to the true size of the sanctions Trump must face.

However, other Democrats seem to be trying to take a more optimistic view. Mark Pokan, a Democratic congressman from Wisconsin, argued that the events in Manhattan may not have been the focus of his voters, but remarked, “I know this is not an event that the average person would easily discuss. But it certainly gives them an idea of ​​who Donald Trump is as a person and as a candidate.”

However, what surprisingly and vividly illustrates the sharp controversy that American politics has fallen into is the fact that while few believe that the Trump case was “rigged,” the former president’s political appeal appears to have suffered. disproportionately weak.

A series of polls released on Wednesday suggested that the race between Trump and Joe Biden would be close. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 54% of Republicans believe that impeachment will help keep Trump in office, while 58% of Republicans believe the accusations against the former president are real.