“It’s still a blow in the back of the head for Trump,” analyzes historian Lauric Henneton

“It’s still a blow in the back of the head for Trump”, historian Lauric Henneton analyzed Thursday, May 30 on franceinfo, after Donald Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts at his criminal trial in New York. The former president of the United States was on trial for hidden payments to an porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign. Sentencing was set for July 11.

“It’s a surprise, in part. That is to say that it was one of the possible scenarios”explains Lauric Henneton. “I still expected that there would be one of the twelve judges who would not agree with the rest and that we would not have the unanimity that we had.” There have been “a sort of alignment of the planets which was not the most probable scenario. This means that for the twelve jurors, there is still an accumulation of facts which were presented to them during this trial, which are au- beyond reasonable doubt”. But with Donald Trump “we are not at the end of our surprises”warns the historian. “We know that he has a rebound ability which is quite remarkable.”

The former president benefits from a Republican electorate and apparatus “who is absolutely convinced, or who says he is convinced, that all this did not happen – he never slept with anyone, there was no bribe – and that all this is a frame-up and that the trial is rigged”. For his supporters, “he’s a victim”. According to Lauric Henneton, “Having a guilty verdict fuels this narrative and, in some ways, will allow Trump to continue to raise money and fuel” his electoral campaign.

Donald Trump “couldn’t lose”adds the historian. “Because either he was convicted, and that proves that the system is against him, or he was acquitted, and at that moment it proved that he was justified in his innocence to his electorate. So in every case , he was winning with his electorate.” But Lauric Henneton believes that we “don’t really know how” Donald Trump “will react in the medium term and to what extent it will have a logistical, financial and psychological impact on the progress of his campaign”.