Financial Mail

The trials of Trump

He says his prosecutio­n is a witch-hunt America under a dark spell? but who is it that has half of

- Paul Ash

That a reality television star would rewrite history just shows the depth to which the human race has sunk.

Donald Trump, otherwise famous for being the 45th president of the Land of the Free, is in court defending himself against charges that he or at least some underling falsified business records to hide an alleged “hush” payment to a former adult actress who says she slept with him.

The payment was allegedly made shortly before the 2016 election in which Trump was regarded as a non-starter and then a non-finisher until he won.

(And look how that turned out.) Trump’s supporters love him for being a plain speaker. Others might say his turn of speech is crude, often incendiary and quite often, er, rambling and overburden­ed with self-adulation.

Truly, he’ sa “man of the people, for the people, by the people”, except for that half of the people who voted against him in 2016 and 2020, and who will probably do so again this November.

The adulation of the MAGA masses is a golden megaphone in Trump’s own ears, drowning out any small voice whispering that being the first US president, ex or otherwise, to be criminally prosecuted is not something to be proud of.

So warped is the TV age, however, that the MAGA faithful see nothing wrong with the fact that a man who wants to lead them again may actually be found guilty in a court of law.

Or they’ve bought into the story that the trial is nothing but a “witch-hunt an angle that has been amplified by certain media houses.

Trump glowers and sulks in court and it certainly must have been unpleasant for him to hear prospectiv­e jurors speak their minds about his character.

What has been lost in the media hooha is that this is a criminal case, not a Stalinist “show trial”. Judging by the fracas about selecting a jury, it seems it’ll turn out to be the latter though, and that whichever way it goes, the ruling’s going to be “political”.

Either way, Trump’s campaign will probably put it on a mug and make the rubes pay for it.

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