Donald Trump: here's how a womanising, mysogynistic, law-breaking egotist who believes himself to be above the law, beyond scrutiny and immune to the American Constitution, won back America

He is the first ever former President of the United States to be convicted of a crime, having been found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business accounts in order to keep secret hush money - $130,000 - paid to a pornography actress in the run up to the 2016 election, in return for her compliance in relation to a sexual encounter he is alleged to have had with Stormy Daniels. Once again, Mr President rejected the verdict. He said it was a ‘disgrace’ that the trial was ‘rigged’ and that he was in fact ‘a very innocent man’. Remember: he is yet to be sentenced for those crimes.

So, a recap: above the judgement of the American people; above the checks and balances of the American constitution; above the law. Gotcha.

We already know he believes himself to be above the scrutiny of journalism, too. Regardless of the provenance of the work, the undeniability of the evidence. Mr Trump has made it his mission to discredit, humiliate, mock journalism with two simple words that his supporters can chant around the bonfire of truth: ‘fake news’. Washington’s own Post carries the slogan: Democracy Dies in Darkness yet Donald Trump is the lightbulb unscrewer-in-chief.

In years gone by, his vanity + wealth + power energised within him a self-styled lothario, chasing supermodel after supermodel with the same sense of absolute entitlement that runs through my opening gambit. He has, time and again, shown himself to be the worst kind of misogynist. I will not repeat his ‘grab them’ comments here. They are as lewd as they are instructive about the 45th and 47th President of the United States. Perhaps I am nought but a naive man, but I struggle to comprehend how any woman could offer such a man a scintilla of support, let alone a vote for President.

And so I find myself scratching my head somewhat. Donald Trump defies convention and his words and deeds often belie American values. He is a law-breaking sexist who has proven himself willing and capable of bringing US politics to its knees. Build the wall. Drain the swamp. It seems almost ludicrous to repeat this, but the now-President once said he could shoot someone dead in the street and not lose voters.

So, how? How has he managed to create history in such emphatic fashion? The swing states; the Senate; the popular vote. It’s the greatest comeback seen in Yorkshire since Leeds United hit four at Elland Road in 1997 to overturn Derby County’s 0-3 lead. But not even George Graham could mastermind this return for Trump.

And, yet, I am not surprised. Hear me out on just one observation I want to focus on, in amongst the smorgasbord of complexity and nuance that comes with a US election - not least, the economy, stupid - but there is this one thing that I have had my eye on. I am not surprised because I have for a while espied something at play that reminds me of the EU Referendum and the victory for the Brexit camp. Arrogance. Arrogance on the part of the eventual losing side.

Forget for now Joe Biden stubbornly refusing to look Old Father Time in the eye before it was too late, that is, of course, significant. What I have had my eye on has been the systematic infantilisation of the Republican voter. Headline after headline - Google them. You’ll find them in a jiffy: Democrats are better than Republicans at discerning true and false news; Americans see Harris as more intelligent than Trump; Democrats speak more languages than Republicans. The same thing happened over here as Brexit came to crescendo; an intellectual elite (David Cameron chief among them) tried to hector patriotic, working class people over their world view. Anyone who dared to suggest they wanted this country to cut the apron strings tying us to Brussels was castigated as dense; simpletons who shouldn’t be trusted with the vote. No attempt was made by that elite to understand the misgivings, the yearning for a better quality of life, the power of identity.

Juxtapose that narrative with genuine fears rippling through blue-collar America about how they are going to pay the bills and what appears to have been stirred is a country of people who are willing to forgive all of Donald Trump’s misgivings because, in a nutshell, they feel he sees and hears them. His message is compelling, his leadership reassuring. They must be. Otherwise, history of this magnitude could not have been made.

So what now? Well, he pledged to end the war in Ukraine on day one, in the same way he pledged to deport all illegal / undocumented migrants, too. Where to is anyone’s guess, but he has said by all and any means necessary. Brace yourself for upsetting scenes.

I expect Trump to go full-Truss on tax cuts and tariffs, risking market destabilisation as he lurches back towards protectionist economics. Make no mistake, he’ll abandon climate commitments - all and any regulation, actually, if he feels it is a drag on America’s economic prospects - and ratchet up NATO-funding pressure on member states. Oh, and if I was a betting man, I’d wager a modest sum on him giving an address from space, chartered there by tech-bro billionaire, Rocket Man Elon Musk - and let me tell you, the ride in and out of the Earth’s atmosphere will be much smoother than the political waves about to be sent around the world by the White House.

God bless America.

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