The most sweeping and significant indictment facing former President Donald Trump arrived last week: federal criminal charges over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 elections results and hold on to power.

This case marks the third time the former president has been indicted this year. Despite all of this unfolding, Trump is running to regain his old office and is current the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race.

“These indictments aren’t endearing independents to Trump,” says Shana Gadarian, Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking, noting that in the last election, independents were key to Biden’s victory in pivotal battleground states. This latest indictment “is not the death knell for Trump as the [Republican] nominee,” she says, “but I don’t think all these indictments help him in the general [election] at all.” 

Read more in the Christian Science Monitor article, “Trump indictment over 2020 election puts US in uncharted terrain.”