The Tribune

For virtually anyone else, the legal, moral and ethical troubles that continue to accumulate around Donald Trump would lead to introspection and serious examination of the ways and means to leave office with at least a scintilla of self respect and dignity intact.

Forty four years ago that appears to have motivated Richard Nixon to pack up and get out of the White House, Washington and the presidency.

But this president is different.

He has no shame.

Late last week former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in a US federal court across the river from the capital of eight different offences, reportedly escaping conviction on nearly a dozen other charges only due to the obduracy of a single juror.

Trump praised Manafort for “refusing to break”. He was perhaps referring to a different personal strategy employed by his long time personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who copped a plea and started singing to federal prosecutors in New York City.

Another plea deal, with the chief financial officer of Trump Enterprises, was later revealed.

There is speculation in the American press that Trump is considering a pardon for Manafort, presumably to discourage him from taking the Cohen approach to avoid or minimize his jail time. Manafort’s attorneys, meanwhile, are hinting their client is considering his options.

No doubt watching with increasing interest as this unfolds is special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who referred the Cohen case to the New York prosecutors and whose evidence convicted Manafort in a Virginia court.

There is increasing speculation that Cohen may provide significant new evidence for Mueller and his team. And perhaps Manafort will conclude his best option is to start cooperating with Mueller.

Mueller and his band of investigators and prosecutors are starting to look like legendary American lawman Eliot Ness and his Untouchables who uncovered enough evidence to convict the infamous American crime boss Al Capone nearly 100 years ago in Chicago.

Even Republican Oklahoma congressman Tom Cole, a party leader, has admitted there is “a lot of smoke” around Trump and that where there is so much smoke, there is sometimes fire.

It does appear there is fire with Trump.

So what? What does it all mean?

Since Trump has no shame, it seems unlikely that as the evidence builds against him, he would voluntarily leave office. Constitutional lawyers are now in demand for television appearances to speculate on what is really an impeachable offence. Retired politicians and pundits are earning big fees to pontificate on when, and if, the Republican line of defence for Trump in the Senate and House of Representatives will crack or even break.

The Democrats in opposition are reportedly still undecided about whether or not to make Trump the centerpiece of what should be a significantly successful mid-term election campaign in about ten weeks.

The recent history of the first mid-term election for a new president continues to reveal much evidence that even if Trump were a normal politician, November’s election would likely bring him bad news. But he is not a normal politician.

That’s good and bad for the Republicans. The good – and it is a significant, meaningful positive – is that Trump is not selling politics as usual. He does not seem to be the hypocrite and charlatan so many Americans have come to expect their elected officials to be.

Trump is proud that he can misbehave and even break the law, and has boasted that he can get away with it. And so far, he has generally succeeded in doing so.

Of course, one can argue Trump’s public championing of the little man while pushing a massive tax cut that mostly benefits the ultra rich is hypocritical. It is. But at least according to polls, Trump’s many supporters are willing to overlook this and lots of other disqualifying behaviour.

The bad news for the Republicans is a majority of American voters might be awakening to the reality that Trump may be bad for their country. They may finally realise that Republican policies favour those who need no further advantage from government.

And if polls can be believed, this rebuilding American majority might actually get out and vote in November.