Former President Donald Trump’s conviction on all 34 counts in the first of four criminal trials he faces must make it hard on those who continue supporting him. One must twist oneself into a moral and political pretzel in this game of political Twister to which Trump subjects even his most ardent loyalists.

When Trump first came into the political arena — I suppose that would have been in 2015 for the Republican primaries — I advocated for my fellow Republicans to vote for anyone else. He looked and sounded like a con man to me then. He has done nothing to change my opinion in the ensuing years.

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Now that he has been convicted, if the Republican Party had an ounce of integrity left, the leadership would go to him and say, “Thanks for the memories, but it’s time for you to shove off.” They would bring Nikki Haley to the convention and nominate her, a move that would sink any chance President Joe Biden has of retaining the White House.

I wrote several years ago the only reason Joe Biden had a chance at the White House to begin with was because of Trump’s ineptness. If Biden had been a strong president, even a moderately strong president, Trump would have no shot at the White House and we could lay aside this ridiculous mess and move on.

After Trump’s conviction in what many legal people thought of as the weakest case against him, things have become more difficult for Republicans. In his last several court cases, Trump has failed in both civil and legal decisions.

He has been held civilly liable for the rape of E. Jean Carroll and twice for defamation of character, decisions that have cost Trump millions of dollars. That case alone should have been enough to send him to the sidelines, but not in this Republican Party. It is no longer reasonable to say this is the Republican Party. It is certainly not the party I supported throughout my life. This is the Party of Trump. Forget conservatism, forget America, this is Trump’s Party and his alone.

Before the 2016 election and before I was a columnist, I said in talking to various people that Trump would kill the Republican Party and he would expose Christianity in America to a level of hypocrisy that was unprecedented. Check and check.

In addition to the Carroll lawsuit, Trump has been banned from doing business in New York for three years for fraudulent assertions of the worth of this properties. Were it not for a judge relenting on the amount of the bond he had to secure, his New York properties would have been seized. Fraud. Isn’t that a lovely thing to have to support.

This most recent trial involving hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, put Trump’s character flaws on prominent display. His profound lack of moral character was illustrated by his sexual encounters ― with Daniels and another woman who was a Playboy model — while he was married to his wife. Then, he tried to cover up these affairs so women voters would not be offended by his conduct.

The Trump Foundation was closed and Trump was ordered to pay $2 million to eight charities after it was discovered he had been illegally using money from the charity. Misuse of charitable funds is disgusting. People give money to foundations to support the charities they disburse funds to, not to support personal or political ambitions.

Any of the above things would have had Republicans screaming and demonstrating in the streets if they had happened to a Democrat. It is pure hypocrisy for Republicans to continue supporting Trump when every last one of them know if this was Biden, they would be demanding his resignation from the White House and his removal from ballots across the nation.

Trump is the author of “The Art of the Deal, but maybe his next book should be titled “The Art of Deception” because that seems to be his greatest talent. To be able to convince his supporters that he is the only one telling the truth and literally everyone else is a liar is beyond unbelievable, but that seems to be what is happening.

After his conviction, money poured into Trump’s campaign fund. From what I saw, most of the money came from individual donors. I saw videos of people who were completely convinced Trump had done no wrong and was being set up.

Such a level of deception is unprecedented as far as I can remember, at least in the political world where corruption is so rampant we barely notice it. The only politician I have been enamored with was Ronald Reagan, but I was young and idealistic when Reagan came on the scene. Even then, I recognized he was flawed and I had no doubt he had done something wrong in the Iran-Contra situation.

Trump can literally do no wrong in the eyes of his supporters. No matter how many juries convict him, no matter if he is eventually sent to prison, there is an alarming number of people who would vote for him even if he is behind bars.

Gary Cosby Jr. can be reached at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Trump’s conviction creates problems for supporters | GARY COSBY JR.