YP Comment: Stakes raised as America plays its Trump card

In doing so, working class voters – ignored for too long by their rulers – effectively said ‘enough is enough’ by voting for narrow nationalism over globalisation after placing the USA’s nuclear codes into the hands of a volatile president-elect who couldn’t even be entrusted with his own Twitter page during the most tempestuous campaign in modern history.

With parallels to the Brexit vote here which shook domestic politics to its core, it speaks volumes that voters chose to back a brash misogynist, who has already incited racial division as the de facto leader of the free world, to rekindle the fabled American dream; they were that desperate to be heard and Mr Trump was prepared to listen.

Yet, as the political inquests begin in world’s capital cities, the liberal establishment elite only has itself to blame for the revenge of the electorate. In Hillary Clinton, the Democrats selected the one candidate capable of losing to a Republican nominee like no other. Not even the prospect of America electing its first female president proved sufficiently alluring.

And just as the EU referendum was determined by working class individuals in the North who felt neglected, blue collar workers – those not fortunate enough to attend college or university to further their own prospects – voted in game-changing numbers in the so-called ‘swing states’ so Mr Trump could fulfil his promise to “make America great again”.

Significantly Hispanic and female voters, vilified by a shameless Mr Trump, did not switch to the Democrats in the numbers forecast. Even states which have not voted Republican since Ronald Reagan was at the peak of his popularity endorsed Trumpism because they are so angry at the level of wealth inequality that now exists, a slight irony given their new president’s personal wealth and own tax status.

This is a leap into the unknown. If President-elect Trump does not deliver his jobs, infrastructure and manufacturing revolution, no amount of bluster on his part will mask this failure, though his commitment to rebuild American’s inner cities and build new roads will be viewed with interest, even envy, here.

It also remains to be seen whether his election paves the way for a post-Brexit trade deal after President Barack Obama said that the UK would be at the back of the queue. Like this country’s future outside of the EU, there are just as many unanswered questions about Mr Trump’s idealism.

Yet it is also important to respect the America’s verdict. After the upheavals on both sides of the Atlantic in 2016, it will be a very unwise leader who takes the electorate for granted and all eyes will be on how Donald Trump and Theresa May pursue the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the USA. The strength of this dialogue will be crucial to the future fortunes of two longstanding allies with even more in common at this time of transition. Despite shared values of freedom, tolerance and respect, emboldened electorates have served notice that they expect promises to be enacted.

The similarities do not end here. Just as rebellious Conservatives are proving to be a thorn in Mrs May’s side, Mr Trump’s most significant and influential opponents will be his new-found colleagues on Capitol Hill. Even though Republicans kept control of Congress, a scenario which was expected to neutralise Secretary Clinton’s much anticipated presidency, many refused to campaign alongside their new commander-in-chief.

What a contrast to eight years ago when Barack Obama won over the world with his soaring oratory and enticing message of ‘hope’ as he became the first African-American president. Then his victory was heralded as a watershed for race relations, equality and a more peaceful existence following the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions.

Yet, as the Obama presidency struggled to live up to its own lofty idealism, fading hope was replaced by slowly simmering anger as the United States decided that its Trump card was a maverick outsider who becomes the superpower’s first president to have no previous military or electoral experience. It’s a gamble which will shape the outcome of America, world affairs and the global economy for the foreseeable future. After his acceptance speech, Donald Trump tweeted: “The forgotten man and woman will never be forgotten again. We will all come together as never before.” He now has to make this happen before the American dream becomes an unimaginable nightmare. The stakes are that high.