In normal circumstances, an ordinary politician facing three indictments and 78 criminal charges would be looking for another line of work.

But Donald Trump is anything but ordinary, and the circumstances anything but normal.

The former president, facing those charges and possibly more to come, has a substantial lead among Republican challengers for the party’s nomination, and various polls have him virtually tied with President Joe Biden to win back the office he held from 2017-2020.

How can this be? The charges are very serious: among them, felony counts of conspiring to subvert the 2020 election; violating the Espionage Act; and falsifying business records. They were brought by federal and state grand juries under due process of law. Every American citizen, regardless of political affiliation and philosophy, must reflect on and answer the question — how can this be? — honestly, dispassionately and based on ascertainable facts.

In other words, ignore the conspiracy theories: That President Joe Biden has politicized the Justice Department to undermine Trump’s presidential campaign, resulting in “among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country.” That Biden is using the indictments to draw attention away from federal and congressional investigations of his son Hunter. That Trump did win the 2020 presidential election, only to have it stolen from him in a massive voter fraud conspiracy. That there are powerful, hidden “sinister forces” dedicated to destroying our country from within, and only Trump can save us.

All of the above comes from Trump, and polls show that many Republicans, sometimes a majority, believe them.

These claims are demonstrably false. But the fact that so many people think they are true, or at least are willing to consider them to be true, is downright scary. It shows a profound erosion of trust in American governmental institutions and especially the rule of law, among the most sacred foundations of our republic.

Not only that, by reducing everything to brutal partisan politics, we foster an even more dangerous cancer: Deep mistrust of one another. This much is clear in the current liberal-conservative populist divide — in which liberals are radical, “woke” socialists, and conservatives are right-wing fascists. Such invective leaves little room to make common cause, to set aside political differences to achieve mutual goals in good faith.

Americans must work hard to reverse these poisonous trends. Fortunately, we are starting to see some of it happening, including among top Republicans.

Presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence and Chris Christie have started to push back on some of Trump’s more outlandish claims, even at the risk of alienating Trump’s large base of supporters and harming their own political fortunes.

“Of course (Trump) lost” the 2020 election, DeSantis said Sunday. “Joe Biden’s the president.”

Trump’s own former Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, challenged the conspiracy claims and defended special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the federal indictments against Trump.

“He is the kind of prosecutor, in my view, that if he thinks someone has committed a crime, he, you know, homes in on it and really goes to try to make that case,” Barr told CNN. “There’s no question he’s aggressive but I do not think he’s a partisan actor.”

The rebalancing of the narrative is helpful. Regardless, even Trump haters must remember that every criminal defendant is innocent until proven guilty. Those bringing charges against Trump must make their case beyond a reasonable doubt, and even the legal prognosticators aren’t in agreement in predicting the results.

Perhaps the best approach is to wait and see — and in the meantime, in the interests of political comity, dial down the hyperpartisan rhetoric.