For the first time ever, in all the years since George Washington stood unopposed in 1788, a convicted criminal is the presumptive candidate for a major political party in a US presidential race.
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It now appears almost inevitable this November Americans will have to choose between an 81-year-old and reportedly cognitively challenged President Joe Biden and an also elderly former president Donald Trump who, in the latest twist in a life notable for scandal, disruption and the ability to fib underwater, is now a convicted criminal.
Honestly, you couldn't make this up. Surely in a nation of more than 333 million people the Democrats and the Republicans can come up with better candidates than these?
Trump, who was found guilty of 34 felony counts relating to falsifying documents as part of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, was well aware he was likely to be convicted by a New York jury and has been doing his best to undermine the court process for months.
And, true to form, he responded to the jury verdict which was delivered in remarkably short order by saying: "This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt."
It's January 6 all over again. As far as Trump is concerned "denial" is not just a river in Africa; it's a permanent state of mind.
His immediate response was to rush back to Florida where the hordes of worshipful acolytes and sycophants who loiter in the corridors and state rooms of Mar-a-Lago will reassure him he is still president and he does not bear the taint of a criminal conviction because he was the victim of a judicial lynching perpetrated by a partisan mob.
The prospect a man who wears his highly developed narcissistic tendencies so openly on his sleeve could be re-elected the leader of the free world just over six months from now is deeply alarming.
Trump has, as they say, a whim of iron. He is highly suggestible, deeply idiosyncratic, known to harbour grudges, extremely vengeful and enjoys being "the great disruptor".
That is almost exactly the perfect definition of what America - and the rest of the world - does not need in the Oval Office right now.
The tragedy is Biden, assuming he doesn't pull out before polling day, is no prize, either. He has not delivered on the high hopes that were invested in him in 2020 and has actually presided over some pretty major disasters, including the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan.
If he is re-elected then there have to be serious questions about his ability to serve out his term. Not since the days of Woodrow Wilson have there been such serious concerns about the competence of an elected president.
While President Biden has yet to announce a running mate there is a general presumption Kamala Harris will run again for the vice-presidency. Given her polling is even worse than Biden's this could well be an albatross around the neck of the Democratic campaign.
What is most remarkable is this conviction, and the other prosecutions Trump is facing, are unlikely to harm his chances of victory.
The prosecutions have, if anything, been the wind beneath his wings; keeping him at centre stage right through the Biden presidency.
The challenge for Australia, the members of NATO, and countries such as India and Japan, in the event Trump is elected, will be learning how to work with somebody whose values and interests are not aligned with their own.
The world is a much more dangerous place than in 2016. The last thing it needs is an orange bull in the china shop.
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