On June 17, 1994, America was glued to the small screen. Television helicopters broadcast live hours of chase after a white Ford Bronco Jeep by a fleet of black-and-white police cars on the 405 freeway outside of Los Angeles. The fugitive was American football legend O.J. Simpson, accused of murdering his ex-wife and her lover. The manhunt led to Simpson’s arrest, which was acquitted months after a highly publicized trial watched by 150 million television viewers.

Earlier this week, a very different court case sparked a new national TV drama starring Donald Trump. On trial in a high-profile case involving money he gave to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to keep her quiet about their storied relationship, the former president had to appear in a Manhattan court to face charges. Live television cameras filmed his departure from his villa in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, the route of his motorcade to Palm Beach Airport, the take-off of his private jet with the golden TRUMP logo, landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, and the life of the chief hero. arrival at its eponymous tower. The following day included images of a hazy Trump arriving and leaving court, his return to Mar-a-Lago, and his speech to ardent supporters in which he seemed determined to continue his fight to return to the White House in the 2024 election. .

The American media called the day “historic” as it was the first time that a former president was forced to be fingerprinted and photographed by police, accompanied by Secret Service officers who protect current and former residents of the White House. It is true that presidents have been sued for impeachment in the recent past – Clinton in 1998 over the highly publicized, including sexual, case of Monica Lewinsky, and Trump himself twice, once for lobbying a foreign leader (the President of Ukraine) for vilifying Biden in the 2020 election and another for perversions at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. However, they were tried in all three cases by the Senate, which acquitted them.

This time around, Trump’s prosecution was brought by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney-elect Alvin Bragg, a first and controversial precedent. What will happen tomorrow, many wonder, if the elected attorney general of a traditionally “red” state like Texas sues Joe Biden or another Republican political opponent? The atmosphere of mistrust was aggravated by the fact that Bragg’s campaign was generously supported by the famous tycoon George Soros, the “white sheep” of the Republicans.

Even Trump’s staunchest opponents, such as Mitt Romney, the only Republican senator to vote to impeach him in both trials, have this time argued that his prosecution was politically motivated with a weak legal basis. The former president is accused not of giving money to Daniels to silence her – that was his right – but of allegedly making a misleading statement to the tax authorities, that is, of transferring the said amount for their business expenses. as long as it concerned his personal deal. But the offense in question is a misdemeanor under New York law. To qualify this as a felony, Bragg argued that it was done to cover up another crime that he has not yet told us about, but is said to involve violating electoral law. Politicians and lawyers who do not sympathize with the 45th president believe that this is a legal ploy and that the charges are likely to be dropped in court.

The case revived the populist Make America Great Again movement from the ashes and took hostage political opponents within the party.

In the first year, Donald Trump used the prosecution to his advantage, presenting it as evidence that he was a victim of the Deep State. He resurrected the populist movement MAGA (Make America Great Again) from the ashes and took political hostages of his internal party opponents, most notably former Vice President Mike Pence, who, willingly or unwillingly, were forced to defend him. In the first polls after his impeachment, he received about 50 percent of the Republican nomination, and his lead over his most dangerous challenger, Florida Gov. Ron de Sandys, increased from eight to 26 points.

However, there is no certainty that this momentum will continue. In addition to the fragile Stormy Daniels case, Trump is likely to face criminal prosecution in three much more serious cases (attempting to cancel the election results in Georgia, inciting riots on January 6, unlawful seizure of classified documents in Mar-a-Lago), which could increase doubts about his ability to win in 2024.

In the Democratic camp, Joe Biden seems eager to run again against Trump. The results of the midterm congressional elections, in which the Republicans lost the battle in the Senate, and the MAGA candidates did not achieve such success, probably strengthened this belief. In any case, the decisive standoff of 2024 will not be decided solely and primarily by Trump’s legal escapades, but rather by the responses of each party and each candidate to the pressing social issues that concern Americans, from neatness and inequality to immigration and crime.

In this light, two election contests last Tuesday that were sidelined by Trump’s media storm are of interest. In the state of Wisconsin, where elections are usually narrowly decided, the Democratic nominee for the state Supreme Court won by 11 points, relying on women’s freedom to have an abortion. And in Chicago, the leftist and socialist Democratic candidate won city hall despite advocating cutting police spending, prioritizing the welfare state, and reducing inequality. Two battles have been won that lend themselves to lessons from the Democrats and probably do not send optimistic signals to Trump and his followers.