The nation learns Tuesday the details of a New York grand jury's indictment of former President Donald Trump, but even without knowing what he is accused of, many prominent Republicans have already rendered their verdict. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared, bizarrely, that he would prevent any attempt to extradite Trump out of Florida — a constitutional absurdity and a non-issue, since Trump voluntarily traveled to New York Monday for his arraignment. But it's still a telling statement about DeSantis' eagerness to exploit the situation for political gain. Missouri Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt have joined other elected Republicans in declaring the case against Trump to be pure political harassment, though they know nothing more about the indictment than anyone else.

Some conservative pundits are tempting violence with statements like Fox News host Tucker Carlson's comment that this is "probably not the best time to give up your AR-15s." If there's still any semblance of law and order in the party that once prided itself on that concept, cooler heads must prevail within the GOP to await the facts.

A common theme of the near-universal Republican condemnation of Trump's indictment is that it's unprecedented to criminally charge a former president. This is true, but the argument ignores a crucial factor: Trump's behavior is and always has been unprecedented.

No other president in history has flouted legal and constitutional norms to the extent that Trump has: consorting with the Kremlin to gain advantage during the 2016 campaign, profiting from the presidency throughout his term in flagrant violation of the Constitution's emoluments clauses, and inciting a mob to prevent the peaceful transition of power. Republicans' blind condemnation of any criminal action against Trump as being banana-republic stuff conveniently forgets that Trump remains the only president in U.S. history to have publicly, repeatedly called for the jailing of his political opponents. What the psychologists call "projection" actively afflicts Trump's defenders.

None of which is to say Trump's Manhattan indictment won't turn out to be a goose egg. Prosecuting an ex-president for paying off a porn star, which appears to be the focal point of the indictment, seems almost trivial when he more recently attempted to overturn a valid national election. The whole prosecution has a certain Al Capone income-tax-evasion feel to it. Capone deserved prison, as Trump arguably does, but reasonable people can disagree about whether this is the proper case for that outcome — especially with other, potentially stronger cases in the pipeline.

What's not reasonable is to argue that any attempt whatsoever to hold Trump accountable for his multiple, public, flagrant flouting of the rules is automatically illegitimate and corrupt. The American public has signaled, with its refusal to heed Trump's call for mob action, that they are willing to wait for the facts. The Hawleys, Schmitts, DeSantises and Carlsons of the world should follow suit.

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