The 2024 US presidential race is underway and heating up with more candidates taking to the stage in a bit to challenge current premier Joe Biden.
Until yesterday, it looked like it would be a race between the same two ageing men who ran in the election last time - Biden and former President Donald Trump, who said he wants to "make America great and glorious again".
But on Tuesday a nine-person New York jury found Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll.
The verdict marks the first time a former US president has been branded, legally, as a sexual predator. So now his bid for President hangs in the balance.
While the charges won’t disqualify him from running, as there isn’t a legal impediment to continuing his presidential campaign, fewer people may vote for him.
The 77-year-old is having to stave off competition from a roster of Republican hopefuls who are expected to enter the race and gain popularity among right-wingers with their extreme policies.
This contrasts with Democrats who are almost universally reluctant to challenge their own incumbent.
So who could be the next Republican President?
Four Republicans have, so far, launched their official campaigns for the party's nomination and there are a few more predicted to follow as campaign season revs up.
Nikki Haley
The former governor of South Carolina and the US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, Nikki Haley announced her bid for the presidency in mid-February. She was the first to officially challenge her old boss.
One CNN columnist wrote about her: "Haley should be considered a serious contender. You don't get elected twice as governor of Deep South, Bible Belt South Carolina as a woman with dark skin and a Sikh background by happenstance."
Haley had a very negative impact on medical care in South Caroline during her reign there which sets a worrying precedent for what she could implement if she became president.
She is vehemently opposed to abortion rights and to expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Medicaid subsidises health care for eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities.
As governor of South Carolina, Haley made sure her constituents would not get Medicaid coverage if their income was slightly above the federal poverty line.
South Carolina remains just one of 11 states that does not expand Medicaid to allow more Americans to have health insurance.
On immigration, Haley is opposed to open borders despite being a daughter of Indian immigrants herself.
“We [cannot] just flat out open our borders. We can’t do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally. And in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined", she said in 2016.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, officially launched his White House bid during an appearance on the Fox News channel.
With no previous political experience whatsoever, the 37-year-old is a pundit on right-wing Fox News Tucker Carlson's daily programme and a best-selling author.
He is also a hedge fund multi-millionaire who hates so-called Wokery (a term used especially by those on the right to decry what they see as self-righteous ‘wokeness’ on the part of the left).
In the words of the New Yorker, in the past year alone he has "cast aspersions on Black Lives Matter and 'the death of merit'; mask mandates and US-border protection; and public-school curriculum."
Forbes estimates that Ramaswamy has a net worth of at least $630 million (£500.7m), thanks to his biotech and asset management businesses.
He has said some very problematic and worrying remarks on race, including that CEOs were recruiting “token” people of colour for their boards in the name of diversity.
He also said: "If you're being called a racist today, chances are you're probably doing something right.
"Because the only reason you're being called a racist is because they want to chase you away from whatever it is you were trying to accomplish."
He told The New Yorker that a family member and close friend no longer speak to him because of his conservative positions.
He also told the New York Times that he puts “transgenderism” on his list of “secular religions,” suggesting that being transgender was a problem.
Asa Hutchinson
Asa Hutchinson has run two terms as an Arkansas Governor and announced his run for president days after Mr Trump was indicted on criminal charges in New York.
The 72-year-old signed a near-total abortion ban into law in 2021 and also signed a measure barring transgender women and girls from competing in school sports that aligned with their gender identity.
He said: "I did sign the protection for girls in sports which says biological males cannot compete on a girl's team. To me, that’s a fundamental way of making sure girls’ sports can prosper."
He also said he supports prohibiting sexual reassignment surgery for children, but later conceded, saying he thinks the government and his party should be more careful about getting involved in such issues.
Larry Elder
Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder announced in April on Fox News that he would be running for President.
He last attempted to run for public office in 2021 but failed to replace incumbent California Governor Gavin Newsom.
The candidate’s former fiancee accused him of waving a gun at her. Alexandra Datig told the Times: "I, for one brief moment, believed that he intended to shoot me. I was in fear for my life." Elder firmly denied the allegations.
People have also accused him of spreading dangerous misinformation on his show around coronavirus.
He once claimed that "young people are not likely to contract the coronavirus, and when they do, their symptoms are likely to be mild, and they’re not likely to be hospitalised, and certainly not likely to die."
Newsom said: “Larry Elder is an anti-vax conspiracy spreader — not the guy you want in the office while Delta [Covid variant] rages."
Like Nikki, he also previously advocated for abolishing Medicaid and believes employers should be able to ask women if and when they plan to get pregnant.
In another misogynistic claim he also suggested that women who have kids aren't "committed" to work, Media Matters reported.
Elder blamed former President Barack Obama for the deaths of George Floyd and other Black men, saying that Obama should have encouraged citizens to better “comply with the police” to avoid being shot.
The 71-year-old opposes the minimum wage and gun control. He’s said he doesn’t believe that a gender wage gap exists and has called the climate crisis a “crock”.
