‘Trump Will Now Win Big’: Europe Reacts to Trump Trial

“I feel more certain this morning that Trump will be the 47th President, than I did yesterday”, says Brexit leader Nigel Farage, with many European newspapers saying the trial won’t be as advantageous to Democrats as they might earlier have hoped.

Europe’s newspapers and commentary sphere is full of reactions to Donald Trump’s business records trial in Manhattan finding him guilty on all 34 counts on Thursday night. While the probity of the cases is up for debate, many seem to agree the case will be of limited utility to the Democrats, with Trump supporters doubling down and opponents already voting against, no what.

Britain’s main conservative newspaper The Daily Telegraph leads with a note, “Biden thinks this is a victory – he may be disappointed”. In their analysis they state what so many papers are, that: “few Americans have punctiliously followed the trial day-by-day. For many, the possibility of a Trump conviction has already been priced into their decision.

“And for those still making up their minds, the evidence so far suggests a conviction would only shift the race by a few points.”

Also conservatively minded in Britain is Brexit leader Nigel Farage, an unapologetic friend to, and supporter of Donald Trump. Giving his view on Friday morning, the astute political player warns the event demonstrates the U.S. judicial system has become highly politicised, and if they attempt to send Trump to prison they will only sugeed in creating a “modern-day martyr”.

“This verdict is a disgrace. Trump will now win big”, Farage said, and told GB News: “I personally think the Biden administration, the U.S. judicial system have massively overplayed their hand… The real key thing here is what happens to those in the middle?

“People who love Trump, they’ll say ‘it’s a disgrace’. People hate Trump, they’ll say ‘well at least our system works’. What happens to those people in the middle? And my guess is that fair-minded Americans will this this is not showing their country in a very good light. And my sense is, ironically, this is probably the biggest electoral boost he could ever have had.”

In all, Farage reflected, “I feel more certain this morning that Trump will be the 47th President, than I did yesterday.”

Britain’s main left-wing newspaper The Guardian would hold as divergent views on Trump the man as imaginable from Mr Farage, yet fell down on similar lines on the degree to which the rulings will change minds in America. They mused in their analysis: “historians care, journalists care and late-night comedians definitely care, but will it matter to voters?… poll after poll shows Trump to be the marginal favourite over incumbent Joe Biden, despite the president’s efforts to move the needle. If this doesn’t do it, perhaps nothing will.”

The French, given their acclimatisation to Presidential legal and sexual scandals in office, which has basically been the norm in the country for decades, may be expected to be sanguine about Trump. The conservative Le Figaro, for instance, delivers as its main takeaway that the case will have only “moderate” impact on voter attitudes, given most will have already made up their minds.

The paper in its major analysis piece notes the very specifically American character of the saga, with the nation’s comparative fascination with showpiece trials compared to Europe. Apparently warning against such spectacles, Le Figaro leads with a comparison to the Salem Witch Trials, “a miscarriage of justice and a trauma” as a lesson to American jurors for the past three centuries.

France’s leading left-wing paper, on the other hand, took the view that the verdict was a demonstration of the “vitality” legal system. Le Monde reported: “Donald Trump? ‘Guilty’. One word, just one, with global resonance. A word that speaks both of the vitality of a state of law put to the test, and of the unprecedented challenge that is emerging for American democracy in this election year.”

Germany’s newspaper of record Die Welt also sees an uncertain future, saying it believes: “There are still five months until election day. Most Americans only become interested in political events a few weeks before the election… Trump’s party colleagues are convinced that the New York verdict will prove to be an own goal for the Democrats.”

In Poland, the central European country where a globalist-left coalition recently overturned a longstanding nationalist-conservative government and is now purging the state of its influence, including by putting loyalists through court, the Trump result was an opportunity to remind opponents that the purge would continue. Former top Eurocrat and two-time Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote this morning: “The law determines guilt and punishment, regardless of whether the perpetrator is a president or a minister. Polish politicians must memorize this American lesson. All.”

Poland’s former government were strong supporters of President Trump, and he praised Polish politician Andrzej Duda as being a great friend at a recent meeting.