Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. There is shock and bewilderment everywhere, except among the majority of the people who voted in the election.

Savour that thought when, as you will, you endlessly hear about the "disconnect" between elites and the people. This is happening all across the democratic world -- not least here in Britain --  and the only people who don't know what is going on are the people who run (or, increasingly, used to run) the democratic world.

To say that the Western political and media establishment doesn't get it is understatement of the century.

Though no-one had a crystal ball, it was obvious (or should have been obvious) that the Trump vote was being underestimated in the opinion polls since near monolithic hostility to Trump in the mainstream media and polite society was bound to disinsentivise his supporters to reveal their true intentions to pollsters.

The Sanders effect should have been, but wasn't, the great warning sign for Democrats. For this is not just a revolt of the political Right.

Huge numbers of Democrats were appalled that Hillary Clinton was forced upon them by their own party establishment. They viewed her as a corrupt insider who was out of kilter with the times. On November 8, the fact that many of them did not have the stomach to vote for her is a big reason why Donald Trump will enter the White House next January.

It remains to be seen whether Trump will govern the way he has campaigned.

What mainstream pundits, analysts, commentators, and politicians now need to do is to take the concerns of the people seriously, recognise that the status quo really is unacceptable, and stop blaming the public for having the temerity to disagree with them.

They do that, or they consign themselves to oblivion.