Historians will have difficulty marking the beginning of the Trump presidency scandals, though they will agree that they began well before he took office. The FBI investigation into Russian interference in the campaign began before the election, as did the pay-off to the porn star Stormy Daniels. The audio tape in which Mr Trump boasted of his fondness for sexual assault was released before the election.

After Mr Trump’s inauguration the pace of scandal only increased. In March this year the New York Times published a list of 30 ongoing congressional, federal criminal, state and local investigations relating to Mr Trump and his business and political organisations. Alongside Russian interference, authorities were inquiring into allegations of obstruction of justice, abuse of White House security clearance processes, money laundering, irregularities in the use of inauguration funds, alleged lobbying violations and tax and insurance irregularities. The Mueller investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election resulted in 199 criminal charges, 37 indictments or guilty pleas and five prison sentences.

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Despite all this, the Democratic Party’s leadership under the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi long resisted calls to impeach the President. Having finally launched impeachment hearings it now faces criticism from Republican opponents that it is now engaged in a witch hunt and from some supporters that it is playing into the President’s hands.

Throughout his first term the sheer relentlessness and complexity of Trump scandals has served to inoculate him from their consequences. He has distracted from dishonesty with malfeasance; from incompetence with intemperance. Backed by online conspiracy theorists and unyielding partisan support from Fox News, Mr Trump’s most ardent supporters see the staggering scope of the allegations against him as evidence of a “deep state” plot against his presidency.