Lock him up? Why Trump could still beat Biden from behind bars

The former president draws his support from a base that is deeply suspicious of the establishment, says Mary Dejevsky. Persecuting him in the courts may actually give Trump the advantage in the presidential race

Trump supporters believe that, one way or another, their hero’s victory was ‘stolen’ by a malevolent Washington (Getty)

As of this week, Donald Trump faces 78 criminal charges, across three separate cases. If found guilty on any of the most serious, he could go to prison. He could also campaign for, and be elected to, the presidency at the same time. In the United States, the two prospects do not exclude each other.

To most people, in most parts of the world, and especially to those of us privileged to be living in states that regard themselves as law-governed democracies, the possibility that the self-styled leader of the free world could be a convicted criminal seems fantastical. It is also hard to imagine that it would not damage his authority abroad, and by extension that of his country. Or that this would not be a consideration for the voters well before any presidential election.