As Americans of all political stripes digest the historic events of Tuesday, there is also much reaction internationally to the indictment of former President Donald Trump. Trump is the first former President to be indicted, on charges of falsifying business records in relation to alleged “hush money” payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. And just as reaction is mixed and divided along party lines among Americans, there is mixed reaction worldwide as well. Like many of their American counterparts, international media can also lean left or right, and in this case, they most certainly did. They also raised questions of the indictment helping or being a liability for Trump as the 2024 Presidential election cycle heats up.

In Germany, Der Spiegel made no bones about whose side they were on. Their coverage began with an Op-Ed entitled, “He Had It Coming.” The piece parroted the American left’s insistence that Trump has spent his years in the political spotlight “eluding the wheels of justice for so long with an unending repertoire of tricks, feints and lies.” That he spent years believing that he was “above the law,” and did his best to maneuver the results of the 2020 election. They also rather freely assumed that Americans had decided they were done with Trump and do not want him reelected. Note to Der Spiegel: That’s a whole lot of assumin’ going on.

As Donald Trump faces court on 30 counts, how long before the criminals in our own country are on trial for their corruption and criminality – including openly breaking international law? No one is above the law. No one!

— ResistUK 🎪🐟 🇺🇦💙 #TakeBackBritain (@ResistUK1) April 4, 2023

In France, LeMonde saved their most salacious story on Trump “playing the martyr” for their online subscribers. But in two other separate pieces regarding the 34-count felony case and other investigations involving Trump, they also made sure to use words like “stone-faced” and “somber” to describe Trump’s courtroom demeanor. One detailed the gathering Tuesday night of Trump’s supporters at Mar-a-Lago and mentioned the fact that “failed gubernatorial candidate” Kari Lake was in attendance, and that former First Lady Melania Trump did not accompany Trump to New York and was not present with him Tuesday night.

In Great Britain, headlines were varied, depending on the leanings of the publication. The Daily Mail went from the serious reporting, of Trump entering the Manhattan courthouse, to also speculating as to the whereabouts of Melania Trump.  The Times of London went with straight news, simply reporting that Trump would be indicted and that it was a first. The Daily Telegraph thought sensationalism was the way to go with the headline, “Trump charged over porn star payment.” In The Guardian, what initially appears to be an Op-Ed by Jan-Werner Muller that is actually asking a relevant question about what Trump’s indictment says about democracy just devolves into typical left-leaning Guardian prose about Trump’s “political crimes and misdemeanors.”

But a nation’s press definitely does not always mirror what its leaders think. Donald Trump has two very strong supporters in Hungarian President Viktor Orban and the President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele. On Tuesday, Orban tweeted out a picture of himself and Trump with the message, “Keep on fighting Mr. President! We are with you @realDonaldTrump.”

Keep on fighting, Mr. President! We are with you, @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/EZFMYHDRzl

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) April 3, 2023

Bukele also tweeted two very real and sad facts:

“Think what you want about former President Trump and the reasons he’s being indicted. But just imagine if this happened in any other country, where a government arrested the main opposition candidate. The United States ability to use ‘democracy’ as foreign policy is gone.”

Think what you want about former President Trump and the reasons he’s being indicted.

But just imagine if this happened in any other country, where a government arrested the main opposition candidate.

The United States ability to use “democracy” as foreign policy is gone. https://t.co/svdFxtaf4q

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 4, 2023

Aside from Orban and Bukele, comments from individual world leaders have been sparse. Reaction from American adversaries was also scarce. In a statement to the Russian media outlet TASS, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the indictment was an “internal U.S. [process] that we do not consider necessary to comment on.” China took the opportunity to challenge American democracy.

French media outlet LeMonde may have made the understatement of the year last week when news of the indictment first broke. In an editorial, they called it, “A new test for an American democracy under strain.”