The US is just hours away from Donald Trump’s hush money trial, and the first criminal prosecution of a former president in its 237-year history. On Monday at 2.30pm (9.30am in the US), the 45th president of the United States will enter a Manhattan courtroom for what is likely to be his only criminal trial before the general election. All efforts by Trump’s lawyers to delay and dismiss the prosecution have failed and he will finally face 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Whatever the verdict, the trial is likely to have an enormous ripple effect across the United States and coul…