Former US president Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4, 2023. Trump made an unprecedented appearance before a New York judge on the day to answer criminal charges that threaten to throw the 2024 White House race into turmoil. Trump pleaded not guilty in the criminal court to 34 felony charges.Photo:IC

Former US president Donald Trump on Thursday local time pleaded not guilty to criminal charges related to suspected efforts to overturn the 2020 US presidential election results, and called the case "a persecution of a political opponent."

Observing the odd phenomenon that the more cases Trump is involved in, the more loyal his supporters become, analysts noted the US' long instrumentalizing of laws for political purposes has ultimately backfired, as Americans have lost trust in their political and legal systems. 

Trump was indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one's vote counted, in the third criminal case related to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. 

The former president stood when asked for his plea, and said "not guilty" to all counts, NBC reported. Trump is the first former president to ever face criminal charges, and has now been indicted in three separate cases in three separate locales over the past four months.

Trump also faces state charges in New York over an alleged hush-money payment to an adult film star and federal charges linked to accusations he mishandled classified government documents at his Florida estate, per media reports.

With a long legal process ahead, the possibility cannot be ruled out that Trump is elected as president while being convicted, analysts said. 

Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Friday that the cases will develop in accordance with the US' political agenda. 

Whether Trump had engaged in misconduct or not is no longer the core of the issue, as Trump has described the legal cases against him as a political witch-hunt to draw stronger support from voters. If he wins the election, that will give him a great advantage in court, and even if he is convicted, that would not affect the election much, according to Li. 

Even if he is put behind bars, Trump can still run for election, as US laws do not restrict a path from prison to the White House, said Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who described the US' electoral democracy as "entering an accelerated track of decadence."

The arraignment was a remarkable and unprecedented moment in American history, with a former president and current Republican presidential frontrunner standing accused of trying to overturn the bedrock of democracy, a free and fair election, NBC lamented.

This is the irony of US politics in that crimes have become positives, not negatives for a candidate for president, who is supposed to govern the most advanced capitalist country in the world, Li said. 

The odd phenomenon also reflected strong public discontent with and distrust in US politics and the legal system in American society. Many people believe injustice and abuse of law are so prevalent that it can happen in presidential elections and the trial of a former president, Li elaborated. 

Such a widespread perception resulted from the US' politicization of laws and instrumentalizing of laws for politics, analysts said. When the US acts this way without restraint in the international arena, it ultimately backfires at home.