Donald Trump's trial is a test of the nation

WASHINGTON — The whole country is on trial now.

First and foremost, Donald Trump, charged with seven counts related to his handling of classified information amid his front-running campaign for the White House, has become the only former American president to face federal prosecution.

The charges are serious, and a grand jury determined they were substantive enough to warrant a trial.

But special counsel Jack Smith, and by extension President Joe Biden's Justice Department, has the legal burden of proving that Trump broke the law and the substantial challenge of showing that he was not — as he suggests — unfairly targeted for political purposes.

Likewise, Biden, who stands to benefit from political injury to Trump and the GOP, must demonstrate that he is not abusing power to take down his top rival in the courts rather than at the ballot box. Trump was impeached, but not convicted, on charges that he withheld federal funding to Ukraine to force it to investigate Biden, the top Democratic challenger in 2019.

Republican primary voters must decide whether a federally indicted Trump is the warrior they want in 2024 — or whether he is too wounded to win.

As yet, his courtroom troubles — including a separate federal probe of his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, New York state charges related to payments made to a porn star, a Georgia case involving his effort to overturn the 2020 election there and his civil liability in the sexual assault of writer E. Jean Carroll — have helped him consolidate his lead in the field.

Trump's Republican opponents were forced to weigh whether to stand with him or risk the wrath of a base that could punish politicians — in primaries or a general election — for abandoning him.

In that way, this first trial-of-the-millennium test is one of more than a man who has routinely scoffed at the law and of the specific charges against him. It is a test of America's political, legal and social fabric that is unlike any other since the Civil War.

The early signs Thursday were of a system moving closer to its breaking point.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who sits second in line to the presidency, called the development a "dark day" for the country and issued a broad threat to retaliate against Biden, who also retained classified documents from his time as vice president.

"It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him," said McCarthy, who voted against impeaching Trump for seeking foreign assistance in investigating Biden in 2019. "House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable."

Biden and his White House were silent on the charges Thursday night. So were some of Trump's rivals, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said he would comment when charges are made public.

But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is polling in second place, came to Trump's defense, as did Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who is polling in single digits.

At the same time, most Democrats, and at least a handful of anti-Trump Republicans, believe the prosecution is a sign that the legal system is working — not failing.

"Our justice system has already passed one important test, with a far greater one ahead," said Jeff Shesol, a speechwriter in Bill Clinton's White House and the author of a book about President Franklin Roosevelt's battles with the Supreme Court. "Federal prosecutors have put to rest the question 'will they even try to hold a former president accountable?' Now the question is 'will they succeed?'"

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is seeking the Republican nomination, reiterated his call for Trump to drop out of the race.

Jurors would decide whether to convict Trump in the courtroom. It is not clear how long a trial would take, and it is possible he could continue to seek the presidency even after a conviction.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessman who is running for the Republican nomination, has already said that, if elected, he would pardon Trump. But that is a proposition loaded with ifs.

Voters, first in Republican primaries and possibly later in a general election, are likely to decide Trump's political fate. If that is the case, the most consequential test is the will of the voters — the people who matter most in a democracy.

Some Republicans in early primary states say the indictment is likely to rally the faithful around Trump yet again.

"Like many Americans, I am disturbed by the indictment of the former president," said Vikram Mansharamani, a Republican who ran for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire last year.

"At this point, we don't have complete information, but I worry it is being seen as politically motivated," he said. "If that emerges as the prevailing sentiment, it will strengthen the Trump argument that he's a target of a partisan justice system — and likely help him with some primary voters."

But perhaps not all.

In an interview outside Pence's campaign launch event in Ankeny, Iowa, on Tuesday, Kindra Black, 39, a special education teacher from nearby Urbandale, said she thought an indictment might alter the dynamics of the nomination fight.

"I hope so," Black said. "We make a lot of rubrics for our students to gauge how they're doing in all kinds of things. I asked my husband the other day, 'Why don't we have rubrics for our presidents, you know, on a scale of zero to five how well they're doin'?' I wish we could have a rubric for different things — so, morals or decisions —and I wish we could gauge them that way."