Bitter backlash

Such thing as a safe seat any more

told voters that he was different, that he wasn’t a “career politician” (despite the evidence of a political career stretching back more than two decades), and he shouted a message – that meant whatever the listener wanted it to mean – about “taking back control”.

Pollsters called the EU referendum result wrong – as they did the results of the last Holyrood and Westminster elections – and maintained this new tradition when examining the battle for the White House.

Mr Trump’s chances were written off weeks before voters went to the polls. Not only did he appear not to have the numbers he’d need, it looked like he was deserted by supporters who’d had enough of his outrageous remarks.

Turns out, outrageous was just what enough Americans wanted.

The Clinton campaign – in common with mainstream political campaigns the world over – looked at the possibility of defeat at the hands of an “antiestabishment” figure and thought “surely not?”

But just as polling organisations failed to pick up shy Leavers in the EU referendum and shy Tories in the 2015 General Election, they failed to identify shy Trump supporters.

Those people aren’t shy now and they will expect their man to make good on his promises. Voters’ feelings of disappointment over stagnant wages and unaffordable housing, and the unease of some about multiculturalism are the fuel that will keep the ‘outsiders’ racing on.

The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the USA may bring to an end one of the most unpleasant campaigns in political history.

But if mainstream politicians can’t rebuild broken bonds of trust between themselves and voters, his victory will pave the way for other “outsiders”, who may well stoop ever lower in the pursuit of power for its own sake.