The 2016 presidential election in the United States, which concludes with the inauguration ceremony next Friday, revealed to the rest of the planet that many Americans share a widespread and deep-seated dislike of their central government. Donald Trump’s candidacy was an attack on Washington as an idea, a bloodless coup that shocked the world but brought satisfaction to the many voters who had long regarded the federal administration and all its pomps as “Big Government” – overblown, condescending and insufferable. It is often seen as the cause of problems, not their fixer: for them it is not its job to deliver the American Dream but to keep out of the way of those who can, mainly through private enterprise.

The populist Trump attack was not just on the Democratic Party which had backed Barack Obama in power but equally a rebuke to the Republicans who controlled key aspects of the Washington establishment including Congress. Both groups constitute an elite, and Mr Trump’s success lay in his skill at mobilising anti-elite resentment, targeting Hillary Clinton as its most obvious symbol. Instead of relying for their facts on newspapers and television, many Americans now turn to Facebook and Twitter, where they expect to find their prejudices confirmed. The ability of these new media to influence swathes of popular opinion in favour of simplistic and even dangerous attitudes – often blatantly biased and sometimes brazenly untruthful – is alarming. Mr Trump’s instinct for social media and his attacks on conventional journalism served his purposes, but have hardly improved the quality of public debate. It remains to be seen how the impact of the new media on democratic politics worldwide will work itself out.