What America’s friends should make of The Trump Show

You have to hand it to The Trump Show. Just when you thought it had little left to offer, back it comes with a blockbuster episode. This week, it offered a sensational courtroom drama, as Donald Trump became the first former American president to face criminal charges –

34 of them in all.

Those charges, which stem from three sets of hush money, including one to a former porn star, allegedly involved the violation of campaign-finance laws. They are familiar but still lurid enough to grip an audience.

Trump has denied them all.

America is, as ever, bitterly divided in its reactions to the latest twist in the plot, but united in being glued to the spectacle. What should the rest of the world make of it? Two contrasting reactions are in order.