The fact that he will be "arrested on Tuesday" seems to have sprung from Donald Trump's imagination. But there are many indications that a New York grand jury is actually preparing to indict Trump as the first former president in American history: for falsifying documents and unfair campaign financing.

The local district attorney must then decide on the staging. Led away in handcuffs in front of the world press? Publication of prison photos? Or two sizes smaller? But Trump doesn't think much of small numbers. He loves the role of victim and has taken over the direction himself. Among other things, to raise donations.

The Old Song of the Witch Hunt

This desire for spectacle does not rule out the possibility that Trump hopes to orchestrate a popular uprising, as he did with the storming of the Capitol. The first response, however, must sober him up. The old song about the witch hunt is no longer enough to inspire the Americans for him.

All the more bitter that Kevin McCarthy, as Washington's (formally) most powerful Republican, nevertheless sounds Trump's horn and threatens the prosecutor quite openly with the withdrawal of federal funds. Yes, the hush money to a actress seems like a petitesse after Trump's various violations of oath of office – but law is law. The Republicans behave as a party of law and order, but they are only the party of Lug and Trump.