Thoughts for the Horrified

SO what do we do now? By "we" I mean all those left, centre and even right who saw Donald Trump as the worst man ever to run for president and assumed that a strong majority of our fellow citizens would agree.

I'm not talking about rethinking political strategy. There will be a time for that - God knows it's clear that almost everyone on the centre-left, myself included, was clueless about what actually works in persuading voters. For now, however, I'm talking about personal attitude and behaviour in the face of this terrible shock.

First of all, remember that elections determine who gets the power, not who offers the truth. The Trump campaign was unprecedented in its dishonesty; the fact that the lies didn't exact a political price, that they even resonated with a large bloc of voters, doesn't make them any less false. No, our inner cities aren't war zones with record crime. No, we aren't the highest-taxed nation in the world. No, climate change isn't a hoax promoted by the Chinese.