I put so much investment of thought and emotion into what was going on in the US. Over the last few months, the upcoming election – and to a smaller extent, Brexit – simply dominated my waking thoughts. There was an satisfaction in such thinking, believing that I had it all worked out, that the arguments were sound and that, come the day, our side would win out.

We all know now what happened. 

I now feel gutted. Hollow inside. As if, as if there’s been a death. And metaphorically there has been one. A feeling of loss, dressed with a topping of mortal worry for what lies ahead. 

I think I now have a better understanding of how many in the middle classes of Russia felt when the Winter Palace was stormed. At the time, I’m sure plenty of people reassured themselves that it would all be alright, that these Bolsheviks would be just a flash in the pan. I’m sure they joked about their incompetence too.

Clearly, with Brexit and Trump both following the same script, there’s been a societal shift taking place that’s quite fundamental. The approaches that served politicians so well in the past don’t appear to be working anymore. Revolutions happen when the populations bifurcate into haves and have-nots, but somehow this feels different. Sure, there are enough Wall Street bankers and overpaid CEOs to cause real concerns, but I don’t think this is enough to explain it. Trump, after all, is technically one of them. Maybe the “haves” this time around, are the internet savvy, the educated, the socially mobile, the progressives. Without understanding it, they became the new elite; those for whom the world was their oyster. The “have-nots” are everyone else. As old norms declined, as their jobs and values rapidly became less relevant, they stewed; jokes and offhand insults only intensifying their anger. 

If the Internet was a revolution, we are now experiencing a kind of counter-revolution. Because we were all living in our own social media bubbles, we didn’t realise what a danger those on the other side of the digital divide might pose.

Had there been a chance, or had we been listening, perhaps there could have been a conversation to be had: how to keep society together in the light of the greatest technological change in history. The question is, with Trump and what comes after, will there be a chance? Racism, homophobia, sectarianism and sexism have been given a new voice. Democracy itself is under threat. Four years of Republican rule in the US could be shockingly brutal for us all.

But, something to remember,