For the Trump presidency: The worst of times, the best of times

WHAT a week it has been, ending as it did with the US House of Representatives voting to impeach US President Donald Trump, making him the third president in American history to receive that sanction.

President Trump may have tried to put the best spin he could on his impeachment, telling reporters last week that the vote was "very sad for our country, but it seems to be very good for me politically", calling it "flimsy, pathetic, ridiculous" and predicting that it would produce a political backlash against the Democrats and help him rally his troops as he prepared for the 2020 presidential race.

But even Mr Trump probably recognises that becoming the third US president to be impeached by Congress would leave a permanent stain on his legacy even if the American economy would continue to roar and new nuclear deals would be signed with North Korea and Iran, and perhaps (who knows?) even if the Donald suddenly becomes "presidential" in his last year in office and finds a cure for cancer.