US voters are not mad

The world is in a daze; bemused at how Donald Trump stormed to such a commanding victory in the US presidential election.

- William Saunderson-Meyer

What lies behind the extraordinary rehabilitation of the most unapologetically sleazy politician ever? Or at the very least, since Jacob Zuma. The consensus is that American voters must be mad.

The marginalized folk who turned out for Trump in droves, in preference to Kamal Harris, were not prejudiced racists and misogynists, as one commentator on CNN dared to point out to the outrage of his fellow panelists. They're ordinary, good, hard-working people who just want to live and let live. They're the much-spoken-about "silent majority".

This US election was about this silent majority finding its voice. In voting for Trump, they have sent a signal that has shaken the US' political and cultural firmament, to cause reverberations that will be felt worldwide for long.

The chasm between the two parties made for the nastiest US election ever.

But, at the end of the day, celebrity endorsements were not enough to deliver to Harris the victory that many thought would be hers.