Know Your Enemy

"The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump's shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President - a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit - and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety."

So begins the extraordinary reaction to Donald Trump's election by New Yorker editor David Remnick. It goes on to brand Trump "vulgarity unbounded", "knowledge-free", "a twisted caricature of every rotten reflex of the radical right" and "greedy, mendacious, and bigoted". Too true, sadly.

Meanwhile, the gruesome post-mortem has already begun, with the Washington Post's Margaret Sullivan arguing that the media, who predominantly backed Hillary Clinton and saw Trump as a comedy ogre, were far too complacent and hopelessly out of touch with the electorate, and were thereby complicit in endorsing Trump's rhetoric about the liberal establishment and ultimately in helping him secure victory.