It’s time to trust Donald Trump. After all, what other choice do we have?

Most commentators see Donald Trump’s election as a stiff middle finger to the elites, and a rejection of the neoliberal economics that’s left the working class behind. Others believe it’s because Trump is a TV star, and celebrity impresses low-information voters more than competence (or facts). Whatever. The bottom line is that Americans have fallen for a con-man, and not even a subtle one. (‘It’s going to be tremendous…a beautiful, beautiful thing’, Trump would say routinely on the stump, about almost anything, like a third-rate timeshare salesman.) Any change is good change, these millions feel, so Trump is worth a try.

Worth a try. Strange indeed that we’re talking about the leader of the free world, but Obama himself carries some of the blame. Swept to power in 2008 on an extraordinary promise of hope (remember the posters?) he has failed to deliver. Much of this is not his fault of course—the obstructionism of the Republican-controlled Congress, with barely-concealed contempt for the first black president never far beneath the surface, has rendered his administration pretty much impotent since the 2010 mid-term elections.