Before entering the White House, former US president Donald Trump boasted that he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and still not lose any voters. He believed his bluster and bravado, his refusal to ever admit an error, and a willingness to stretch the truth beyond recognition safeguarded him from whatever political broadsides might come his way. For much of his time in office, his belief proved largely accurate.

But using all the extensive powers at his disposal in a futile bid to overturn the presidential election of 2020 was too big a sin for the American political system to gloss over. The storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, by his supporters is a dark stain that will never be cleansed, no matter how he tries to justify it. If he had any hope that it could be, the January 6 select committee ended it. These legislators spent months interviewing hundreds of witnesses, mostly Republican, and sifted through more than a million documents to fully detail the appalling behaviour of Trump and a small band of his sycophants leading up to that day.

Former president Donald Trump announces his bid for president in 2024 at Mar-a-Lago in November.Credit:Washington Post by Thomas Simonetti

During its final sitting on Monday, the committee accused the former president of inciting or assisting an insurrection; obstructing an official proceeding; conspiring to defraud the United States; and conspiring to make a false statement. It’s an inventory of serious accusations no other US president has faced.

The committee’s criminal referrals do not hold any legal weight and nor do they require the Justice Department to take any action as it continues its own separate investigations into Trump’s role in the Capitol attack. But they do constitute an unprecedented public indictment of his actions.

Is this the moment that puts an end to Trump’s hopes of returning to the White House? That seems unlikely. Trump’s previous capacity to elude the consequences of his actions shows no single act is capable of delivering a knock-out blow to his ego or ambition.

But it does appear that the cumulative impact of his deeds is starting to weigh on his reputation, even among his most ardent followers. It’s not just his conduct during his presidency that is causing concern. Since announcing his candidacy just over a month ago for the 2024 presidential election, he has been widely criticised for entertaining celebrity anti-Semite Kayne West at his Florida home; he has suggested terminating the Constitution; his business has been convicted on 17 counts of tax fraud; he has watched his handpicked candidate for the Senate in Georgia lose; and he has been unable to stop the US Supreme Court finally give a Democratic-led committee access to six years’ worth of his tax returns.

Republican primary voters, previously the bedrock of Trump’s political power, now appear to be having second thoughts about their allegiances. A recent Wall Street Journal poll, in a hypothetical contest between Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, shows the former president’s supporters are ready to move on. In a two-way contest, DeSantis beat Trump 52 per cent to 38 per cent among likely Republican primary voters.

Trump’s response to the January 6 committee’s criminal referrals had a typically tenuous link with the truth. On his Truth Social account, he declared: “These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me.”

That boast is reminiscent of the Fifth Avenue shooting remark, and it might once, unfortunately, have been true. While commentators might be nervous about writing off Trump’s political future entirely, the odds of him being sworn in as America’s 47th president are diminishing scandal by scandal. It appears that even a damaged polity like America’s will draw the line at inciting an insurrection and threatening the peaceful transition of power. And that is a great relief to the rest of us.

Michael Bachelard sends a newsletter to subscribers each week. Sign up to receive his Note from the Editor.

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