India, Nov. 23 -- There was only one possible reflection on that extraordinary broadcast from the Trump bunker. How did this ludicrous, dangerously ignorant man ever become president of the United States? That is not a rhetorical question. We need to know how and why this was possible, not only for the sake of America's political future but for ours, too.

Before the whole hideous chapter is written off as a historical aberration, it is important to understand the sense in which it was not surprising at all. There was, in fact, a kind of inevitability about it: a vacancy that was waiting to be filled by some demagogic figure who would offer what mainstream politics was refusing to provide. And make no mistake, the policies - and even the ...