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Pro- and anti-Trump ralliers stand outside the courthouse in downtown New York where Trump appeared for his arraignment on April 4. (Lee Bon-young/The Hankyoreh)

Trump presented himself at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Tuesday for his arraignment, earning the shameful distinction of being the first sitting or former president to be indicted in the history of the US.

Groups of Trump supporters and Trump opponents, both numbering around 200, were flexing their strength and trading insults in the park in front of the courthouse.

A male Trump supporter resorted to some degrading language, which provoked an enraged shout from a protester on the other side. “How dare you speak to a woman that way!”

When anti-Trump protesters held up signs and shouted, “Lock Trump up,” Trump supporters hurled insults and waved their own placards that said, “Lock Biden up.”

The scene was a vivid demonstration of how American society has been split down the middle by Trump, a politician unlike any other.

To prevent a clash, New York police set up two rows of metal barricades down the middle of the park and assigned officers to keep the two groups apart.

The two groups swapped insults and harsh language, their faces red with anger, across the 2-meter divide. All are citizens of the same country who may well have ridden the same bus or subway to the protest.

The scene seemed to suggest that American politics may grow even more polarized ahead of Trump’s trial and the 2024 presidential election.

Both in the courthouse and in a press conference Tuesday, the Manhattan district attorney characterized Trump’s falsification of business records after paying a porn star to stay quiet about their sexual relationship in November 2016, shortly before the election, as “serious criminal conduct.”

As expected, Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.

A stark difference in perceptions was evident in what protesters were saying outside the courthouse. The anti-Trump crowd demanded that the former president be severely punished for various crimes, including his incitement of the US Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. But Trump’s supporters countered that the whole proceeding amounted to “political persecution” of a likely presidential candidate.

The hatred the two sides were spewing at each other already seemed to have exceeded the normal level of political disagreement. People on both sides waved placards with explicit expressions of hatred that sometimes included profanities.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a US representative for the Republican Party and a close ally of the former president, made a speech in his support that morning, but she was almost impossible to hear amid loud boos and the banging of drums. George Santos, a freshman congressman from the same party who is plagued by allegations that he faked his credentials, also made an appearance.

“Trump ought to go to prison since he’s committed a lot of other crimes as well, such as inciting the attack on the Capitol,” said Max Weprin, who had taken time off to attend the protest with a coworker.

What about those claims of political persecution? “The people who tell you that are sociopaths. They’re the sort of people who would justify slavery and the Holocaust,” Weprin told me.

Michael Corden stood on the other side of the fence, wearing a red hat with the “Make America Great Again” slogan that symbolizes affinity with Trump. He was vocal in his criticism of the Biden administration, which he described as being “basically communist or totalitarian.”

When asked whether Trump had done anything wrong, Corden said he wasn’t sure. “But why do they keep trying to prosecute that man?” He added that the Justice Department hadn’t followed through on investigating Biden’s son, Hunter, and that the Democratic Party has overstepped its authority by twice impeaching Trump.

For Corden, the Justice Department is part of the “deep state,” an alleged conspiracy of people inside the government who seek to manipulate power for their own ends.

Small demonstrations began in the early morning hours in front of Trump Tower, where Trump spent the night before his arraignment. One of the protestors was Ken Kidd, who was holding a placard that displayed Trump behind bars.

“Trump is a criminal who has stirred up hate. I’m proud of my fellow New Yorkers on the grand jury for deciding to indict him,” Kidd said.

When I asked Kidd about the prospect of Trump being reelected, he said, “Americans are smarter than that.”

But Susan Sumber, who was standing across from Trump Tower, holding a placard that said “Trump,” thought the president hadn’t done anything wrong. “He paid money to protect his family and reputation. Lots of people make deals like that,” she said.

Somebody was walking between the two groups with a placard that said, “Let’s stop hating each other,” apparently worried about the severe division in America. But the appeal was drowned out by the shouts and banners of the pro-Trump and anti-Trump crowds.

Amid the deafening cries and curses, American democracy seems to have lost its way.

By Lee Bon-young, Washington correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]