In the end it took 35,000 officers from the NYPD to arrest one man. All in, King Kong had been less trouble.

Still, it is not is not every Tuesday in April that a former US president faces criminal charges. As every over-caffeinated reporter felt compelled to point out, this was historic, unprecedented, extraordinary, and yada, yada, yada as one local used to say.

Team Trump said it did not want a circus, but they set the tone with that odyssey to the courthouse. The motorcade from Mar-a-Lago to the airport, the private jet emblazoned with the defendant’s name (unusual touch) to LaGuardia, another parade of cars to and from Trump Tower, blues and twos flashing.

It was OJ in reverse, a flight to justice rather than away from it, everything captured on camera for a global audience to marvel over. A real-life former president in real trouble over alleged payments to an actress and others (Mr Trump denies any wrongdoing). Having his fingerprints taken. Standing before a judge. Keep your reality shows; this was something else. But what, exactly?

The Herald:

Courtroom sketch of proceedings in Manhattan courthouse

The Trump story is full of such surreal but real moments. Landing the Republican nomination, beating Hillary Clinton, running again, losing, refusing to accept the result, a mob marching on the Capitol with fatal consequences, being impeached twice, running again for the presidency.

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The clamour in New York made one look back with admiration at Richard Nixon’s exit from office. Quitting had been “abhorrent” to his every instinct, the 37th President told the country in a live, televised address, but he had to put the interest of America first.

“As we look to the future,” he added, “the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of this nation, to put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us.”

Compare this with Donald Trump’s warning of “death and destruction” on the streets if he was charged. Making Nixon look classy - mark that up as another first for Mr Trump.

Much of Mr Trump’s staying power is due to his talent for reinvention. With that, plus the help of his father’s money and a willingness to sue anybody that got in his way, he bulldozed his way from property development to reality TV presenter to candidate and beyond. His latest role is that of victim. Poor Donald. He tried to make America great again but the liberal elite would not allow it. They even stole an election from him, and now they’re bringing criminal charges against him? What else can he do but fight back on behalf of all the little guys out there?

It is a ridiculous narrative that is generating serious income for the candidate’s comeback bid. The day after his indictment, according to aides, $4 million in donations rolled in. His court appearance offers more opportunities to cash in via “merch”. Victimhood is doing well for him in the polls, too.

The Herald:

The former US President about to enter the courtroom

In the lead up to his appearance in court, 39% of Americans still had a favourable view of their former President. Among Republicans in general he has not been this popular for a long time. A poll by Yahoo News/YouGov shows him ahead of his nearest rival for the nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, by 57% to 31%. By posing as the victim of a biased legal system and Democrat “witch hunt” he has managed to do what seemed impossible and unite Republicans behind him.

The support goes beyond his diehard base. Even those who ordinarily would not give Donald Trump the time of day have looked at the various investigations being carried out, and the proximity of the next presidential election, and decided something smells off here.

So America in general stands where it did: split down the middle, and unsure where it is headed, other than for a presidential contest between two old men.

Times like this make it hard to be optimistic about American politics. Television, that ever-reliable monitor of the national mood, has picked up on the pessimism and the sense that matters are coming to a head. In a recent episode of Succession, the character of Shiv Roy, daughter of media mogul Logan (played by our own Brian Cox) spoke of the coming election as a 1933 in Europe moment. Others prefer to reference 1968 in America, that hideous year when the country seemed intent on tearing itself apart.

The Herald:

Donald Trump speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort after arrest in New York

For the ultimate high-stakes move it is hard to beat mentioning the Civil War. It is remarkable how quickly the idea of a second civil war has taken hold and is inching its way into the mainstream. Barbara Walter, academic and author of How Civil Wars Start and How to End Them, says, “Two years ago, no one was talking about a second American civil war. Today it is common.”

Read more: Humza Yousaf: school reports, ripped trousers and his need for speed

Past, present and future as it relates to Donald Trump came up in The New Yorker recently in an interview with Jon Meacham. The historian and biographer of Lincoln, and now an occasional adviser to Joe Biden, told the magazine that having a dictatorial figure was nothing new in American history. “What is new is that so many people are willing to suspend their better judgment to support him.”

Those who thought Donald Trump had gone away and would not come back were living in a fantasy world, said Meacham. “The story’s not over,” he insisted. He, too, had reached for 1933 or 1968 for a comparison but was now being drawn to the 1850s and the “competing versions of reality” that then existed. History relates only too painfully how that conflict was settled in the end.

It could have been a depressing dispatch if not for the glimmer of hope that came with it. A lot of people, and Meacham included himself in this, had spent the last eight years thinking one event or another would end Donald Trump’s political career, only to be proven wrong. “He has suspended the ordinary rules of political gravity”. Meacham’s advice? Stop hoping Trump and Trumpism will just go away, be vigilant, and keep voting. The fever only breaks if they lose and keep losing, he says.

But here we are again, the location this time a courthouse in New York City, and Mr Trump seems to be defying gravity once more, trying to turn what should have been a moment of deep shame into a campaign opportunity. Suddenly a very long pre-election period appears longer still.