Donald Trump's travelling circus is back. The world may need to crowdfund some hush money if he's ever to shut up – Vladimir McTavish

This week, we all realised how sane things have become over the last two-and-a-quarter years, but with a stark reminder of how crazy they could become again. The Trump circus is back. The noise, the groundless accusations, the endless grandstanding.

Who else charged with multiple felonies would arrive at court in a 15-vehicle motorcade? In a speech after his appearance, he ranted and raved about America having “gone to hell”. Wrong. America did go to hell for four years but emerged from it in January 2021, despite his efforts to incite a mob of violent lunatics to overthrow the government.

We’ve seen this all before. In his unhinged state, he claims that the entire world is engaged in some elaborate conspiracy. It’s no conspiracy. He is facing charges. If found guilty, he’ll be sentenced. If innocent, he’ll walk free. That’s how justice works.

It’s 2020, all over again, when he claimed that the presidential election was rigged and stolen. Millions of Americans didn’t conspire together to vote against him. He simply lost. That’s how democracy works.

The truth is Trump doesn’t care about justice or democracy, or about facts. This is the man who suggested Covid patients should be treated with bleach (a potentially fatal mistake). Who refused to self-isolate when testing positive. Who refused to leave the White House after losing the 2020 election, ironically self-isolating more than when he had the virus. This is the man who refused to concede defeat to Joe Biden, preferring to spend his time on the golf course. So, just like Adolf Hitler, his career ended in a bunker.

This is the man who refused to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration. Only once before in living memory has the outgoing president not been present at the swearing-in of his successor. The last time this happened was in 1964 for the inauguration of Lyndon B Johnson. And most people agree JFK had a pretty watertight excuse for not turning up.

If this is the start of Trump’s 2024 campaign, let’s hope it all implodes soon. The world is a dangerous enough place without him back in the White House. Can you even begin to imagine how appalling the situation in Ukraine could have become had he been re-elected in November 2020. He could well have pressed the nuclear button by now. Thankfully, Biden has probably forgotten where he’s put the nuclear button.

What you get with Trump is a lot of noise and zero substance. He never did make America great again, he never did build the wall. He was excruciatingly dreadful on the American version of The Apprentice. That could be his legacy. Imagine going down in history as being nowhere near as good as Alan Sugar?

Donald Trump, in a rare moment when he's not actually talking (Picture: Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

If he did pay hush money to Stormy Daniels, that too was a total failure. As she pretty soon started blabbing to the press about her hush money. Maybe he should have paid her hush money to shut up about the hush money. Maybe all of us should crowdfund hush money to keep Trump quiet.

Make no mistake, this media circus is set to run and and run, with the volume turned up full. Buy some earplugs. There’s going to be a lot more noise for the next 18 months.