Mr. Trump, who has not been convicted, bought Ms. Daniels’ silence to avoid a possible sex scandal in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign. He won the election and left the White House after lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden – but what he predicted last May has largely come true.

Indeed, the people have delivered their verdict. Mr. Trump is now the comeback king, as The Economist called him, and he told his supporters in Florida as he neared the 270 threshold: “We have achieved the most incredible political thing.

“Politics indeed! If Mr. Trump were looking for a job that had nothing to do with politics, he probably would have no chance of getting hired in the United States.

In theory – and given what the media has published about him, all of which is based on irrefutable evidence – Mr. Trump is simply unelectable.

At least not in a country that prides itself on being a model of democracy and where individuals seeking political leadership should/must demonstrate indisputable integrity.

The New York court that handed down the verdict in May found Mr. Trump guilty on all 34 counts as he sought to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying hush money. The president-elect is awaiting trial in two other criminal cases, including for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Some senior politicians in his party don’t think he’s a good candidate for the job. Republican senator and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Mr. Trump a “despicable human being.”

The media support he receives also suggests he is not being taken seriously. For example, of the 13 American newspapers that supported the candidates in the November 5 presidential election, only three supported Mr. Trump.

In 2020, 47 major newspapers supported Mr. Biden, while only seven supported Mr. Trump. And in 2016, while Hillary Clinton was endorsed by 57 major newspapers, Mr. Trump received just two: from the Las Vegas Daily and the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, according to the Boston Globe.

So how does a politician with not only a history of lying, but also a criminal record, end up leading the American people? I’m not an expert on American politics and I suppose there may be reasons I don’t know about, but I know perfectly well that in politics as in religion, people don’t really care about the truth.

In their endorsements, newspapers provide evidence as to why a candidate is unsuitable, but many voters will ignore this evidence. For them, the truth is not everything. They don’t need it, just like Christians don’t need to know how Mary gave birth to Jesus as a virgin.

They just want to believe it. In June 2023, for example, Mr. Trump was speaking at a CNN town hall and “overpowered moderator Kaitlan Collins, with a continued blast of distortions, hyperbole and lies,” according to The Atlantic. Trump’s supporters rejoiced in his aggression towards Collins, encouraging him so loudly and so deliberately (…),” writes The Atlantic. These are the people who voted for Mr. Trump. They like him.