The latest Trump charges cast a new light on a growing Republican presidential field
In the long history of the American presidency there has never been a week like this.
A former president has been indicted on serious federal charges that carry lengthy prison terms. He and his defenders have called it politicized prosecution. His detractors call it long overdue. Much of the nation waits in uncertainty.
The legal process now unfolding raises questions that have only been theoretical in the past. Among them: Should a former president be exempt from prosecution for actions in office or stemming from his time in office?
Should the prosecution of a former president be off the table unless the authority of the federal government is still in the hands of that president's own party?
Should it make a difference if the former president is formally pursuing a return to office? Or where he stands in the polls?
And beyond that, can we ever recapture our misty-eyed national mythology about the presidency as the embodiment of what makes us
