Donald Trump: the 45^th President of the United States of America.

George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Donald Trump.

There are moments in life that deserve to be remembered, recounted and reflected upon often. Yesterday’s election is undoubtedly one of those moments. The United States has elected to its highest office one of the most controversial, polarising and hated candidates the country has ever seen. The significance of his victory transcends the petty squabbling about any purported deficiencies in Trump’s moral character. This is an election result that will send shockwaves around the world, if it hasn’t already.

The End of America?

Let us address the elephant in the room: No, I am not a Trump supporter. But I am certainly glad that Trump is President of the United States. Let me explain.

If a demagogue like Trump had to become a president of a country, I would hope that country would have ways to limit the damage he could do – a system that insulates itself from being destroyed by demagoguery and incompetence. Checks and balances, separation of powers, an independent, effective judicial system, decentralisation of power, effective opposition parties, strong rule of law, widespread civil society, an engaged citizenry etc.

In other words, the United States of America.

In the coming weeks and months, as the inevitable post-mortem of this election result is ferociously conducted by the media and establishment intelligentsia, it is certain that, in the grip of despair and disappointment, people will diagnose this election result as being the fault of democracy.

And they would be correct, to an extent. After all, there is no doubt that President Trump has been elected by popular consent. He epitomises the will of the people, and he has now a clear, legitimate and democratically produced mandate to implement the policy promises he has made in his campaign.

But what they are failing to recognise is the other side of the coin: the very thing they blame for the pain is also the very thing that will relieve it. In other words, democracy is the problem – but it is also the antidote. We need look no further than the writings of the Founding Fathers to understand this paradox.

Faith in democracy

Penned by three of the Founding Fathers of the United States – Alex Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay – the Federalist Papers published in 1788 consists of 85 essays written for the purpose of persuading Americans at the time to embrace the newly drafted Constitution, and also to convince states to ratify it. Reading these essays is widely agreed to be one of the best ways to understand the intentions and aims the Founding Fathers had when drafting the US Constitution.

Of particular relevance is Federalist No. 10, authored by Madison, which shows that the Founding Fathers knew demagogues like Trump would emerge every once in a while in America’s lifetime to threaten the country and its interests. The essay, titled “The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection”, lays out Madison’s fears that despotic elements within the country can gain influence and power through perfectly legitimate, democratic processes.

In Federalist No. 51, Madison explains how the Constitution is designed deliberately to counter such a possibility. By creating a federal system that affords significant power to state governments, thereby limiting the power of the federal government, as well as a system with separation of powers and checks and balances, a “double security” arises that will stifle tyrannical or despotic elements if they were to reach the upper echelons of governance.

Rather than feel hopeless and angry at the world, you should make sure that Trump faces a hostile Congress throughout his tenure. Although it looks likely that both the House and the Senate will be controlled by the Republicans, the fact remains that Trump is by no means popular even among Republican lawmakers. Particularly in the Senate where it looks likely that the Republicans will be the majority by a mere one or two seats, there is immense promise for the Democrats to be able to effectively “capture” the chamber, as long as they are able to reach across the aisle and bring about a few defections from time to time. They shouldn’t find it difficult as a considerable number of Republican Senators did not endorse Trump during the campaign, and especially if Trump does try to implement his idiotic campaign promises of deporting millions of people and building a wall on the southern border.

If you think President Trump will do incredible damage to the world if left unchecked, as I do, you should be doing whatever you can to ensure that Trump is a lame-duck President his entire term: fire out letters to all your political representatives, whether they be on the state level or in Washington; go on marches and protests; sign petitions, write articles, make speeches. There is no better time to become an informed and politically engaged citizen. In fact, the health of the country and the world might very well depend on it.

In the face of adversity

Perhaps I am grasping at straws here. Some might respond by saying that President Trump has considerable unilateral power in the form of executive orders, for example, that makes him immensely powerful and dangerous and renders irrelevant all the democratic safeguards the Founding Fathers incorporated into the Constitution.

That is certainly true. But I don’t believe we should therefore wallow in self-pity and despair, or resort to blaming or demonising fellow voters who legitimately exercised their democratic right to vote for the candidate they want.

The fact is that these next four years does not have to be as painful as it could certainly be – as long as we are willing to play our part in the democratic system of government, designed by the Founding Fathers specifically for moments like this. It is imperative that we unite together to limit the damage President Trump is able to do to this great country and to the world.