All that Trump Stuff…
By 
I continue my long-term project to antagonize the commenters at 1945…
Of course, treating the indicted as an opposition politician is the only scenario under which it would be possible to prosecute a coup plotter; a successful coup is rarely prosecuted until much later in the story of democratic transition to authoritarian rule. The choice facing the Department of Justice (and its analogues in the states) is either to prosecute Trump for identifiable crimes or simply to ignore his crimes because he happens to be important.
Donald Trump pursued the destruction of America’s democratic institutions in service of his desire to remain in power. If that doesn’t represent a prosecutable crime, I can’t imagine what would.
Trump evidently feels that his legal jeopardy improves his chances of reclaiming the Presidency, or at least winning the GOP nomination. He has broadcast every indictment on every social media platform that will have him, and the results (among Republican primary voters, anyway) seem to confirm his intuition that the legal difficulties are a boon, not a hindrance. Trump has hinted that he will pardon himself from any charges, raising the stakes for the 2024 election and presumably motivating his base.
Although I think we need to come to grips with the fact that there is basically zero chance that Trump would be required to serve time while President. The federal charges would go away immediately after the inauguration, and it would be difficult-to-impossible for either Georgia or New York to attempt to incarcerate a sitting President.
Unfortunately, while the idea of Donald Trump serving as President while serving time seems superficially appealing, it’s almost completely unworkable in practical terms.
The President of the United States has extensive domestic and foreign duties, and the inability of Trump to perform those basic duties would severely handicap the US government. Even in the absence of a pardon, arrangements would need to be made to allow Trump to fulfill those responsibilities until the end of his term.