[Roger Slater]

And when you say "everyone will learn to live with it" in that reassuring know-it-all tone of yours, I wonder if you include the 20 million people that Trump says he will deprive of their health insurance, or the 11 million people Trump says he will have a new deportation force kick out of the country, or the gay couples Trump says he will stack the Supreme Court to take away their right to be married, or the billion Muslims Trump says he will keep out of the country based solely on their religions, or the women who Trump says will lose their rights to make their own health decisions? Just to be clear, by "everyone" am I right that you mean all the white men will get over it?

[John Whitworth]

Everyone will get over it, Roger. But it appears that Hillary is winning so you won't have to worry. Under her beneficent stewardship all mannerof things will be well. And even for white men like you.

You are right, Michael. I must have been looking at the wrong polls. Mind you, the polls have regularly been wrong over here. They predicted another Coalition government, and then a win for IN. Whereas...

And you coulld have got a real fancy price had you bet on our present wonderful Prime Minister. I wish I had thought of it.

[Don Jones]

But, John, if she is elected, Hillary will most probably be a lackluster president who even gets us in a war. I don't like her either. Many Americans don't. Polls have consistently shown to date that most Americans don't trust her: even those who will vote for her. She is not likeable per se though I trust others who claim that in private she opens up and can be quite nice to be around. Fair enough.

So why vote for her? This singularly uncharming person who is very awkward in public, even after all her years of service? A practiced prevaricator? A high-handed apparatchik? A liberal interventionist?

A Trump victory will actually threaten the republic with a capo-style tyranny. I won't rehearse what others have said ad nauseam. And I don't expect you to change your mind. But please understand that Trump is a non-starter. He has the attributes of a bad king. You have a long enough cultural memory to distinguish between such a ruler and a bad prime minister: at least you eventually got rid of Blair!

While Trump, unlike a king, would leave office, the damage done would be irreparable, having dealt a mortal blow to any semblance of government, giving rise to populism, a political disease, nullifying in many ways our constitution (I know you don't understand our constitution. Fine by me but for many Americans it remains an important and flawed document by which we organize our government).

Trump makes Hillary look good. Imagine that the Clintons are being called upon to save our republic, corrupt as it is!

[John Whitworth]

I gather populism means giving the people what they want. I'm all for it. Or is it something else, O wise one?

O wise white male one!

It's amazing, isn't it, that the USA is so big and yet you can find only two such low-lifes to contest the Presidency? It would be better done by lot. W H Auden's preferred style of government.

[Don Jones]

Populism is a mob mentality. No matter whether left or right. It is a movement that relies upon raw emotion rather than measured argument. It often centers around a cult figure. It bears little resemblance to representative government, where, yes, elites do matter. It often relies on demonizing others. It fosters "us" versus "them." There is little of anything democratic about it.

Talking about the "people," what about the people who don't want Trump? Aren't they also the people? Or only the ones you agree with?

[John Whitworth]

But Don, in a democracy the bigger slice of the people get do do what they want and the smaller slice of the people have to put up with it till the next election. That's how it works. If you have a more refined sort of a democracy then tell us what it is. With all respect you are just engaged in spreading fear and despondency like the ghastly Cameron and the even ghastlier Osborne, and look what happened tom them..

[Don Jones]

We should be afraid of Trump. I'm not pumping up fear. Don't put that on me. Put that on him.

Democracy can devolve into populism, into tyranny. It is our responsibility, if we can, to stop that from happening. I don't propose a better system, I want to save what's left of it. My aim is hardly ambitious or utopian.

I don't want to have the thread derailed yet again. I would be happy to PM you my thoughts on all this.

[Norman Ball]

"Democracy can devolve into populism"

What does that mean exactly?

[Don Jones]

Norman, I PM'ed you as I suggested to John.

[John Whitworth]

It would be a good start if more than 50% (or whatever it is) of Americans voted. Why don't you? Because you feel it's a stitch up between the powerful, perhaps?

Over 70% of us voted in the referendum. We thought it mattered.