As with a Lib Dem coalition, what started as a humorous electoral stunt now has all the hallmarks of becoming a grim reality. The prospect of Donald Trump as President has lost its humour; just like a season of ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’, James Corden gurning to camera or anything you said as a teenager.
Many Republicans are now expressing the same level of sober regret normally reserved for drunken one-night-stands or a tattoo of your ex-girlfriend. Political commentators and comedy scriptwriters have likened the character of Trump to the kind of thing Sacha Baron Cohen would come up with – but more racist. Called the ‘Al Murray effect’, it is dawning on the electorate that Trump may actually believe what he says. One GOP member commented: ‘I thought it was harmless fun; I even had my fingers crossed when I filled out my ballot. I expected him a bloopers reel not a trip to the Whitehouse.’
As one voter said: ‘If there’s a joke, it’s on us’.