Trump's victory will not end the march of progress but . . .

NOVEMBER 9 seems fated to be a date that recalls turning points in modern history. In the past, it marked the end of the German Reich, the low point of Nazism, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Now, the US and the rest of the world will have another reason to remember this auspicious date. In an unexpected turn of fate, Americans have elected as president a person without the background or character for the office. Donald Trump defeated not only Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, but also 17 other Republicans with whom he debated for nearly six months before emerging as the party's nominee.

Mr Trump was not a Republican and still has no political philosophy to speak of. But he is a fascinating product of a new sort of self-centred public culture. Long before he decided to run for president, he learned how to manipulate the Orwellian values propagated in what various commentators have called the "post-factual age". His counterparts are Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi. Each has succeeded in bypassing political substance, instead utilising an image of audacity and personal infallibility to achieve the highest political offices.