American democracy is in a place it has never been before.

There are some faint parallels: Labor leader Eugene Debs ran for president in 1920 while imprisoned for sedition. President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for driving his carriage too fast in Washington in 1872 – maybe. The records on that aren’t clear.

But the mug shot seen round the world, showing former President Donald Trump at his booking on 13 felony counts in Georgia on Thursday, is a stark reminder of the nation’s situation. The once and likely future leader of one of the big political parties in the United States will face multiple criminal trials while running to regain the Oval Office.

And the GOP appears ready to rally behind him. Asked at Wednesday’s Republican debate whether they would support Mr. Trump as their candidate even if he is convicted, all but two of the eight candidates onstage raised their hand.

This means the U.S. finds itself in a position more common in younger or less established democracies, where the rule of law can be suspect or up for grabs.

In India, for instance, rule of law measures have declined significantly since Prime Minister Narendra Modi consolidated his power, according to a World Justice Project index. Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has seen a similar slide.

Israel has been rocked by waves of public protest about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to weaken the judiciary.

And all these countries – including the U.S. – are ranked as “flawed democracies” in the latest Democracy Index from The Economist Intelligence Unit.

How much such labels matter is debatable. More certain is that the next 14 months in American politics will be a period like no other in the nation’s history.