The brave new world with Donald Trump

Last Tuesday night, I went to bed thinking that I would probably wake up to a world with Hillary Clinton as the next American president. I woke up instead, of course, to Donald Trump as the next American president. It was a big surprise, of course, if not a shock. But I told myself, as I later told others, "Don't panic, it probably won't be that bad." 

The reason for the shock in the face of the electoral victory of Trump is obvious: Throughout his election campaign, the Republican candidate said certain things that offended and even scared the people who are not within his voter base. He said he would temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the country until he figured out "What the hell was going on." He later softened this a bit, by saying the ban would only be from people from certain countries with a terrorism problem, but all this was enough to make American Muslims worried. Trump's similarly "politically incorrect" statements offended Mexicans and other minorities, left many American allies in Europe concerned, and made the dictators of the world, from Vladimir Putin to Abdel Fettah el-Sisi, happy. 

The reason we should not panic is that there is always a gap between political rhetoric, especially the rhetoric during electoral campaigns, and actual policies. There are also good reasons for that gap to be broad especially in the United States. First of all, America has strong institutions, such as the Supreme Court, which would be a check on any potential decision by Trump that could curb civil liberties. Then, there are many experienced people in the Republican Party with whom Trump will now work and get advice from. 

All these facts save me from joining the camp which thinks that an "American Hitler" has been elected and that the...