The last “guilty” verdict had barely been read out on Thursday before Donald Trump sent me an email asking me for money. He says he is a political prisoner and that his trial was rigged. Funny how everything that doesn’t go his way is rigged.

He insists he did nothing wrong. The jury that heard the testimony thought otherwise. Twelve people all convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Donald Trump broke the law.

I could make a long list of all the things Donald Trump has done wrong that he is unwilling to see as wrong, from shady business deals to adultery to imp[roper handling of classified documents. If you care, you’ve heard it all before.

Many Americans though don’t care. They see Donald Trump as the fourth member of the Trinity, nothing less than God incarnate. If that doesn’t scare you, maybe it should.

Trump wanted me to be one of ten million people who would give money for his re-election campaign yesterday, to celebrate that his is now a convicted felon. I declined.

The small print in the message says foreign nationals (which would be me) can’t make a legal contribution. I’ve pointed that out before, and tried to get off his mailing list, but the requests keep coming.

I’m thinking of complaining to whomever regulates American elections, but I doubt it would have any effect. The law doesn’t apply to Donald Trump – just ask him.

Thursdays verdict is probably politically meaningless. Trump will appeal, and the case will drag on past the November election date.

Even if he didn’t, he’s not going to jail. It’s a first offence, a white-collar crime, and he’s an old man. He’ll get a suspended sentence and a fine. he probably won’t bother to pay the fine.

That Trump is still a viable candidate after a criminal conviction says a lot about the state of American democracy. Fifty years ago Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, saying “I am not a crook.” He understood that, hi belief notwithstanding, he had to step down to preserve the integrity of the system.

Now there appears to be no integrity left in America. Trump faces more criminal charges (about sixty more counts if i remember correctly). Yet he remains the frontrunner in the presidential race. Those of us looking at the USA from outside wonder how they allowed themselves to devolve so drastically.

I have read quite a bit in recent years about the fragility of American democracy. The nation is polarized, its institutions are under siege (don’t get me started on the chaos that is the US Supreme Court) and the people don’t seem to care.

Empires don’t last forever, and perhaps America will fall sooner than any of us expected. It doesn’t have to – but these days I wonder if Americans even care anymore.

If they elect Donald Trump in November we’ll know they don’t.