Donald Trump was found guilty of charges in the Stormy Daniels trial. This has saved the U.S. judiciary’s reputation, but the former president is undeterred in making his comeback.
Donald Trump has never suffered from a lack of self-confidence. At the end of the trial over his hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, Trump compared himself to a Catholic saint and Nobel Prize winner. “I would say, in listening to charges from the judge, who’s as you know, very conflicted, and corrupt, because of the conflicting, very very corrupt, Mother Teresa could not beat the charges.” He probably already suspected what was in store for him.
The 77-year-old’s scandalous list of broken taboos now has two more historic entries. Twelve New York jurors convicted Trump on 34 felony charges Thursday, making Trump the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. At the same time, he is the first convicted criminal who stands a real chance of winning the White House.
Like in a Mafia Thriller
This paradox dampens any satisfaction that the man who boasted he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it is now being held accountable. The guilty verdict is overdue and more than justified; after the six-week trial, nobody has any doubt that Trump hid his affair with the porn star any way he could in the lead-up to the 2016 election. People in the courtroom must have felt like they were in a mafia thriller.
An acquittal or a hung jury would have bankrupted the American legal system and turbo-charged Trump politically. It didn’t come to that though. Guilty on all 34 charges — every Democrat must have breathed a sigh of relief.
A Bitter Aftertaste
However, a bitter aftertaste remains. For years, the billionaire, who made his money with shady real estate deals and outrageous tax dodges, has shown his contempt for democratic norms ever more obviously. A large part of his success is based on brazen lies, the vilest slander and criminal intimidation. He brags about his sexual assaults on women, slanders his critics, and insults judges and prosecutors. He tried to blackmail Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and, allegedly, demanded that government officials commit election fraud. He stole classified government documents and finally, instigated a bloody coup.*
Others would have been behind bars long ago. Instead, Trump is preparing to return to the White House in six months to the most powerful and thus most responsible office in the world. This catastrophe is not looming out of nowhere; it has been unfolding openly since Trump refused to recognize the 2020 election results. Yet American institutions have failed to stop the march of this law-breaker and would-be autocrat.
Two impeachment proceedings by Congress failed. Politicians and the courts along with members of the Republican Party have all anxiously sought delays in the three far-reaching criminal cases Trump faces for attempted election fraud, the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters and theft of documents. Consequently, Trump does not have to worry about facing any further trial before the November election. All that remains is the current guilty verdict in what is by far the least important case: falsifying the payment of $130,000 in his business records.
Fans Brag about Trump’s Mugshot
In the extremely polarized climate of the United States, will this affect the Republican presidential candidate’s chances of success? After what has happened since the first indictment more than a year ago, you’d be justified to have doubts. Since that first indictment Trump’s ratings have risen. It will be weeks until Trump is sentenced and the Republican presidential candidate will appeal. Thus he won’t even have to face prison, a sentence that is rather unlikely, before the election.
Above all, the right-wing populist candidate is successfully presenting himself as a political martyr. His supporters proudly wear T-shirts with his mugshot on their chest. There was nothing new in the hush money trial. Anyone who has thought about voting for Trump despite everything will hardly be deterred by a guilty verdict.
*Editor’s note: Trump has only been convicted of charges in the New York hush money case. He has been indicted and is awaiting trial on charges related to improper handling of classified documents and charges related to his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.
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