What does Donald Trump’s indictment say about US democracy? | Jan-Werner Mueller

The fact that there is no choreographed political theater around the indictment is precisely how democracies tend to work: in a messy and piecemeal fashion

So it finally happened. Trump has been indicted. For Democrats and scattered anti-Trumpers on the right, it will probably feel not nearly as satisfying or generate as much schadenfreude as they imagined. In fact, it might seem positively anticlimactic.

After all, Trump did not get indicted for his political crimes and misdemeanors. Other investigations may still catch up with him. But the fact that there is no choreographed political theater is precisely how democracies tend to work: messy, piecemeal, ensuring that there is no impunity.