In a short tweet, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made history this week by announcing that Donald Trump, the former US president, had been indicted and must surrender to face criminal charges in New York.
He will turn himself in on Tuesday, having travelled from his adopted home in Florida to the Big Apple, the city of his birth.
Although Mr Trump has agreed to surrender to authorities and avoid the ignominy of being arrested, this legal step is just the beginning of a new chapter in his culture war that will further reshape a nation already riven by politics.
The charges against Mr Trump have not yet been made public, but they stem from hush-money he allegedly paid, via his lawyer, to adult film star Stormy Daniels to cover up a sexual encounter she says she had with him 17 years ago.
Mr Trump has vehemently denied the affair and any sort of hush-money scheme to silence Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
So, it will now be up to a jury to decide if he is telling the truth. And this is where things get tricky.
Mr Trump boasted in 2016 that he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not lose voter support.
But in the years since, liberal New York has rejected Mr Trump and his far-right worldview. In the 2020 election that Mr Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden, 75 per cent of people in Manhattan voted against him.
The Republican property tycoon, who built skyscrapers and hotels in New York, is now reviled by many in the liberal city, a fact he is keenly aware of as he prepares to face jurors.
"ELECTION INTERFERENCE, KANGAROO COURT!" Mr Trump posted on Truth Social, the platform he founded after he was banned from Twitter in the wake of the January 6, 2021 mob attack he helped inspire on the US Capitol.
He tried to get ahead of the indictment, claiming two weeks ago that he would be arrested for an "old and fully debunked ... fairytale", and he has described Mr Bragg, who is black, as a "racist" and an "animal".
He also claimed that Juan Manuel Marchal, the judge who could eventually hear the case, "hates me".
Because a Democratic state attorney general is prosecuting the case, and not the US Department of Justice, Mr Trump can argue that he is being politically persecuted. Two previous sets of prosecutors had looked at the case but declined to seek an indictment.
Republicans have rushed to their leader's defence. Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives, said Mr Bragg has "irreparably damaged our country" in an attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.
"As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorise the public, he weaponised our sacred system of justice against president Donald Trump," Mr McCarthy wrote on Twitter.
Senator Ted Cruz described the case as "utter garbage".
The invective from Mr Trump and senior Republicans is being lapped up by the so-called Maga base. The "Make America Great Again" voters are already convinced the liberal establishment is out to get Mr Trump and question why he has been the target of so many probes, none of which have stuck.
While in office, Mr Trump faced two unsuccessful impeachment trials by the Democrats, once for allegedly pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate US President Joe Biden's son Hunter, and later for his role in inciting the January 6 insurrection.
He's also the subject of multiple criminal and civil investigations. Mr Trump's followers see the New York proceedings as just another chapter in the ongoing "witch hunt" and have reacted to the indictment with fury.
"The prosecutor in New York has done more to help Donald Trump get elected president than any single person in America today,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a former Trump opponent-turned-true believer.
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Supporters of former US president Donald Trump line up as they gather near his Mar-a-Lago resort and home in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. Getty -
Mr Trump said in a social media post that would be arrested in connection with an investigation into a hush money scheme. Getty -
He called for protests and asked his supporters to take to the streets. Reuters -
A demonstrator holds a sign outside Manhattan Criminal Court as a grand jury is expected to vote this week on whether to indict Mr Trump. Getty -
Anti-Trump followers gather in New York. Getty -
A demonstrator holds a sign depicting Mr Trump behind bars. Getty -
Mr Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has called the investigation a 'witch hunt'. Getty -
An anti-Trump demonstrator holds up a sign. Getty -
A Secret Service agent guards Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and home in Florida. Reuters -
A supporter of Mr Trump near his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach. Getty -
Mr Trump's supporters in Palm Beach, Florida, insisted they were not protesting, but rather having a party. Getty
Mr Trump, whose reality is shaped by the endless stream of sycophantic memes his Truth Social followers post and the uncritical echo chamber of conservative media, will probably see all this as proof that he will win the 2024 election.
But outside of his conservative base, any new support is hardly assured. A poll this week put Mr Biden, who remains unpopular, ahead of Mr Trump in a hypothetical 2024 match-up.
With Mr Biden as president, the news cycle has been less dominated by Mr Trump's style of grievance politics, in which he paints a depressing world view where immigrants and liberals are destroying America and anyone without Maga sympathies is an enemy of the people.
But just at the moment when some Republicans were growing weary of Mr Trump's stale politics, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seemed capable of challenging his claim to be presumptive Republican nominee for 2024, the indictment has energised the former president.
A court case means he will perpetually be in the headlines, sucking oxygen away from all other would-be Republican contenders.
Mr Biden meanwhile will, in all likelihood, seek a second term and will be crisscrossing the country touting his administration's policies.
At the same time, Mr Trump will quite possibly be standing trial in a Manhattan courtroom, all but ensuring protests from supporters and opponents.
Whatever happens with Mr Trump's criminal case, it is likely that divides will only deepen in this split-screen, parallel universe that is America today.
The strange world of Truth Social – in pictures
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On Truth Social, a social media platform founded by Donald Trump after he was banned from Twitter, conversation is often limited to sycophantic memes and conspiratorial memes. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Almost all of Mr Trump's followers are die-hard supporters and criticism of the former president is rare. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump's signature line on 'The Apprentice' was: 'You're Fired!' Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Many memes lionise the former president. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump hopes to get a second term in office in 2024. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
A not-true ReTruth: Trump-backed, election-denying candidate Kari Lake lost to Democrat Katie Dobbs in the Arizona governor race. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump suggests voter fraud in the Arizona governor race. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump attacks Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who may be well positioned to duel the former president in the 2024 White House race. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Many Maga Republicans miss Mr Trump. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump attacks mail-in ballots that allow millions of Americans who are unable to vote on election day to participate. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Some of the Trump supporters that stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, used American flags to attack police officers. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Supporters credit Mr Trump with not starting any new wars. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
How many moves in a game of chess? Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Another ReTruth. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
The 'Greatest Of All Time'? That remains to be seen. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump was expected to announce a new run for the White House on November 15. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump blamed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for Republicans' poor showing in the midterm elections. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump still attracts fierce loyalty from his 'Maga' supporters. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump suggests he would perform better than Ron DeSantis. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
A variation on the election-denying theme. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump has continued to make his baseless claims of election fraud in races he or his fellow Republicans lost. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Another ReTruth. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump returns to his debunked claims of widespread election fraud. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Another teaser for his November 15 announcement. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump 'ReTruths' a message from a follower. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
The 'legend' will be 78 at the 2024 election, the same age Joe Biden was when he got elected. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump is expected to announce he will run again for president in 2024. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Mr Trump teases his announcement on November 15. Photo: Screengrab from Truth Social -
Truth Social is only available in the US, Canada and Brazil. Reuters
