When the world turned upside down!

It looks like a case of the remedy being worse than the disease! If multiplied and extrapolated on future reckonings, we may be looking at a phenomenal disaster of the century in the making!

For a single person to have potentially shaken US democracy to the core and probably turn the world upside down with his blueprint of isolationism and new monetary guild friendships, you take to one extreme view: "He is a suicide bomber landed in the USA!"

In a moth-eaten system that lives off its toxic juices, change-agents are handmaidens of the Devil's workshop. In that sense, they are the malware product, as it were, of the system. Although Donald Trump has been up against the system, he is not just a product but the beneficiary of it, both as tycoon and a clincher of the highest office in his land.

Though called an outsider to the Capitol Hill, Donald quipped that as an insider to the system he used it to be a billionaire (by cashing in on its loopholes!).

On a wider plane, as self-charmed circles danced around their tiny parcels of comfort zones alienated from the rest, content with one status quo after another in a deceptive pattern of degeneracy, the system has hollowed out. More to the point, the majority seethed in anger and someone like Bernie Sanders tapped in on it earlier in the day, only to leave the field to Donald Trump to capitalise on it.

The results have dealt a severe blow to American democracy. There is no formidable opposition to the Republican incumbent in either House of the Congress and with freedom to appoint the judge to the Supreme Court, it is winner-takes-it-all—ruthlessly! By stark contrast, it was a completely debilitating architecture for Obama in his two terms of presidency which made him fail to perform to his full potential. Neither was there any effective bipartisanship nor any check and balance playing out to any reasonable degree for him.

It is important to note that the Clinton campaign, for all its charm offensive, courtesy of Hillary, Tim Kaine, Bill Clinton and cultural icons, missed out on one fundamental agenda: Convince voters that a Hillary incumbency would not be an Obama part-2 administration.

See what is happening now; the American people are alienated by gender, religion, colour, origin and ethnicity, and what have you! Steven W. Thrasher wrote in The Guardian poignantly: "This is a terrifying moment for America. Hold your loved ones close. People of colour, women, Muslims, the sick, immigrants - all are threatened by Donald Trump. They need your love, your warmth, your support."

Such clarion calls have not gone unheeded. Which is why we see a surge of protests across many American states among Muslims, Hispanics, people of colour, immigrants in general or just people who voted for Mrs. Clinton. Apart from the emotions grounded in existential threats, they are making a sharp political point. They are arguing for a change in the electoral system, highlighting the point that Hillary got 135,000 more popular votes than Donald Trump. As is the practice, however, with the latter securing 289 electoral college votes to Mrs. Clinton's 218, her fate was sealed.

It is now becoming increasingly clear as to what turned the table for Trump. It is being typically termed 'whitelash' in an acrid way. It means that middle-aged whites, including blue collar working people who had been staying put in their homes not venturing out to vote, came out and cast their ballots for Trump. On the other hand, African-Americans, who thought that their fortunes would have improved during the Obama administration, were disenchanted with Democrats, making for a low turnout. But the protests are being led by the young demographic.

Treating the polls like weather forecasts, regular media's misreading of inherently unpredictable voter behaviour and redrawing of the electoral map in a break with conventional party line states and so-called swing or battle ground states stood in contrast to Trump's campaign gelling on social media.

What is the use of learning the lessons, for doesn't wisdom mean being wise in time? Meanwhile, it is a troubling world we tend to gaze into with trepidation we have not known before.

The EU may be breaking down under the double pressure of Brexit, other far-right peeling off, let alone American isolationism. Jonathan Powell, a reputed journalist says, "Britain's biggest fear realised - an isolationist US president."

The big question is, separated by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is the USA courting the isolationism of the thirties?

He is up to unpicking from the Paris Climate Change Accord, WTO, NATO alliance, NAFTA, TPP, just any free trade accord. He prides himself on being a negotiator, apt in cutting deals where America comes first.

Have a listen to famous journo Poly Toynbee's words: "The dark side of human nature always lurks in politics, the mean, hating isolationist, me-and-mine first selfishness."

The writer is a contributor of The Daily Star.