What happens if Trump loses?

I REMEMBER being taught in school, many moons ago, that democracy relied on the consent of the loser.

This seemed obvious, I thought, a lesson you only needed to know in a country ruled by the Kalashnikov.

The idea of this principle ever being relevant seemed as unlikely as a defeated village cricket team shouting at the genteel whitehatted umpire that they had in fact won the match.

Rules are rules. We have them in cricket as we do in society. Losing an election, like losing a cricket match, is a matter of fact.

And when you lose you shake hands, and you go on your way. Or so I thought.

The initial refusal of the Remain side to accept the result of the referendum was a worrying sign.

But I think what could be about to unfold in America could be a whole new level of chaos. For months, Trump has been sowing the seeds of doubt about the election process. Mail-in ballots (which Trump uses himself) will lead to the election being “the most rigged in history”, he has said.

I think Kim Jong-un winning 100 percent of the vote in 2014 might just be a contestant for the famed “most rigged” prize.

But that’s beside the point. Trump consistently said the last presidential election was rigged – for equally spurious reasons – right up until the point that he won. It seems obvious to me the only reason he would do that is so he has someone to blame if he loses.

Some people have assumed Trump would do what other politicians do when they lose – go away. But this is Donald J Trump we’re talking about. Like him or loathe him, I don’t think anyone would say he does things by the book. We can’t even be sure he can read a book.

It seems unlikely Trump will go gentle into the night – it’s just not very “him”.

What we don’t really know is what happens if he declines to concede, and then literally refuses to leave the White House.

Either side, or more likely both, could take to the streets to protest against the result, or the perceived vote rigging, or more likely both. The scenes during the Black Lives Matter protests a few months ago would, in most countries, resemble a civil war. There weren’t quite Kalashnikovs, but there were armoured troop carriers and the army teargassing civilians. Armed militia groups shot people dead. Journalists were blinded. That’s where America is at right now.

Albeit from afar, the USA seems so polarised, so totally deaf to the other side’s views – that things might turn very ugly indeed.

What a shame no one ever taught them cricket.