The American republic is decaying in front of us. The precepts on which it was founded – that votes should be respected, that the law must apply evenly, that no one is bigger than the Constitution – are giving way one by one.

Both the conviction of Donald Trump and the reaction to it reveal a country where two sides start with their preferred result then reason backwards. Process is subordinated to outcome – an attitude that, in the end, is incompatible with liberal democracy.

The Telegraph London