Where the Mighty Have Fallen

While the question of whether or not the charges brought forward against Trump are justified is up for the courts to decide, the fact that he is facing accountability for his actions signifies that the U.S. is neither a failed state, nor a ”third world nation” as Trump and his allies suggested. In fact, the United States is by no means the first country to prosecute a former president, even if Trump’s indictment is a first in the nation’s long history.

As the following chart illustrates, former leaders from all over the world, including wealthy democracies such as France and South Korea, have been charged or jailed after their time in office. According to research conducted by Axios, leaders who left office since 2000 have been jailed or prosecuted in at least 78 countries, the vast majority of these cases being related to corruption and/or illegal campaign financing.