I’m writing this before the US election result is called; right now it looks like a narrow win for Joe Biden.

I hope so, although I fear the aftermath amid the warlike rhetoric coming from Trumpists right now. And I worry about the longer term too. Despite everything he’s done and everything we know about him, Trump nearly got elected again: a huge proportion of the US electorate saw kids in cages, election rigging, racism, anti-LGBT+ discrimination, blatant corruption, criminal activity and the avoidable deaths of more than 200,000 people and thought “yep, I’d like four more years of that.”

If Trump goes, that sentiment remains. Think of him as a trial balloon for the next, much more dangerous Republican president.