And so it begins. Does anyone really listen to what ‘celebrities’ have to say about politics? If so, I hope someone has hired a jumbo jet to take those anguished ‘celebs’ away from the agony of having to live under President Trump. Meanwhile the special snowflakes have taken to the streets to express the depths of their anguish; counselling services are probably fully-booked for months to come. Do American civics classes explain how the US system of government works? It isn’t fearfully complicated – people vote, the electoral college meets and then the President gets elected.  If 46% of the electorate decide not to vote that’s their business – you can’t infer anything from it, and certainly not that the President-elect is not legitimately elected. Opinion polls have no constitutional status, and the fact that they all called this wrong suggests that they take up another line of work – entrail reading, perhaps?

The language used by the self-selecting liberal elite about Trump and his supporters is as bad as anything Trump has said – so if they think they are occupying some sort of moral high ground they might take a reality check. Trump will be the next President. If he’s as big an idiot as they say, tough, everyone will suffer; if he’s as good as he says he is, everyone will benefit. That’s how this democracy thing works. There isn’t some sort of limited liability here; we are all in it together. So, if you think the media are rubbish, don’t buy it – it will change or die. If you don’t like your politicians, get involved and try to change things; that’s how this democracy thing works. If your total involvement is you meant to vote but didn’t get round to it – tough. Rule of the people by the people demands the people get involved. Those who do get to influence the result. But they still have to run that past the vast majority who don’t really follow politics. Now you can, as the Clintonistas are doing, express your contempt for the great uneducated unwashed, but don’t be too shocked if they follow your example. Rainbow coalitions of minorities are fine, but if the majority get the idea that identity politics is where it is at, don’t be too shocked if they play that card back – and as there are more of them, they may just win. The take away here is that identity/grievance politics are divisive and corrosive and risk undermining democracy.

Here in the UK and there in the US there are a lot of liberals who appear to be giving the impression that democracy is acceptable only when it delivers what they want. Those for whom it has not been delivering have spoken, and there are more of them bothering to vote. The choice before our political classes is clear. One hopes, for all our sake they get the message.