We've just witnessed the second American Revolution. The first, between 1765 and 1783, was a bloody, cathartic affair that not only threw the British out, but created a new nation and eventually a new world.
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Australia ready to work with Trump
Australia's Foreign Affairs minister Julie Bishop says that Australia is ready to work with a Trump lead America. Vision courtesy: ABC News24
That country would come close to destruction through civil war a century later, but the USA would become the most militarily powerful and economically successful country in history - the quintessential great republic, and protector of allies.
Its technical prowess would eclipse all, putting a human on the moon, while enforcing an economic and strategic realpolitik beyond successful challenge.
The second American Revolution however, is distinctively different. Ostensibly peaceful, and democratic, it scoffs at these achievements.
On Tuesday, November 8, 2016 millions of Americans sitting largely on the "outside" of its enormous wealth, rose up against their political rulers to say, we want our country back, and we couldn't care less about your global values or the rest of the world.
The advent of a protectionist, isolationist, Donald Trump presidency could be as significant in the long run of world affairs as the American Revolution, because Trump has a plan likely to weaken America - to effectively de-globalise its economy, wind in its foreign policy, pull backs its status as the preeminent global force.
In Australia, furious recalibrations are underway. Despite knife-edge polls in recent weeks, few in Australia's political class truly contemplated Trump's success. It simply seemed inconceivable that a man of so many flaws would prevail.
So sure was the establishment that a coarse rule-breaker would himself be ruled out, Bill Shorten broke protocol to describe the billionaire populist as "barking mad". Even Malcolm Turnbull strained the rules, calling Trump's comments on groping women "loathsome". And as late as Wednesday morning, the government's Leader in the House, Christopher Pyne, made clear the Coalition's preference for Hillary Clinton.Â
Trump couldn't win the Republican nomination right up until he suddenly did. Then he couldn't win the presidency, right up until, shockingly, he did.Â
There's no getting around it now though. To the global status quo, this is game-changing. Brexit squared. Coming on the heels of that bombshell, the rise of a demagogue too radical and toxic even for his own party is a repudiation of an educated political-class hegemony which has underpinned western discourse for close to a century.
From here, nothing is certain. But predicting how things will change is probably more foolish than the predictive mistakes Trump's extraordinary triumph has already exposed.
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