Whatever happens next, the Donald Trump effect will continue to stain politics the world over | Simon Tisdall

Whether he ends up in prison or the White House - or both - the former president and felon will remain a malign hero to populists everywhere

As Americans stared at their TV screens early on Thursday evening, listening to the 34 Donald Trump guilty" court verdicts rolling out one by one amid the former president's histrionic cries that the trial was rigged", the immediate thought was: what on earth happens now?

To which the only honest reply is: no one knows. Anyone pretending they do is just as big a liar as Trump, dramatically convicted by a jury of his New York peers for fiddling the books to help him win the 2016 election.