Mr Trump goes to Washington - and scares the world

The inauguration of Donald Trump as US president was the moment when anybody who didn't believe this TV drama was playing out for real finally had their wake-up call.

It happened.

Mr Trump is the president of the United States.

It is churlish to argue against the outcome of November's election.

The electoral college system that operates in the States means he won fair and square, even if he lost the popular vote by almost three million votes.

More Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than any other losing presidential candidate in US history.

It doesn't matter.

Mr Trump is president. The protests against his election on the basis that he didn't win the popular vote were pointless and naïve.

The disgust towards his expressed views will now be replaced by opposition to his policies in power.

Mr Trump made it clear he isn't going to temper his stances now that he is president.

He knows he is president because he didn't temper his stances.

Yesterday, in his inauguration speech, he had the opportunity to bind the wounds of an incredibly divisive election. He chose to thrust the knife even deeper.

He certainly can't be accused of being a hypocrite. If he had been reasonable and unifying, then he would have been accused of being captured by Washington.

Mr Trump played to his audience and made it clear he will focus on his base. Surrounded by former presidents, he spoke about taking back the power from Washington and giving it back to the people.

However, the parish-pump protectionism policy Mr Trump outlined was heard across the world.

Not since the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was the high-profile spokesman of the America First Committee, the non-interventionist organisation opposed to US entry into World War II, has such an isolationist policy been given such a prominent platform.

It was no accident he chose the phrase "America First" to evoke an era before the United States became the world's police.

Not any more. He made it clear America will only act to protect its own interests.

Frequently for better, but often for worse also, the US has been the foremost global superpower for three quarters of a century.

The mere mention of US intervention was enough to resolve some conflicts. But the protection of democratic principles enshrined in the leadership roles it adopted in World War II and the Korean War have been tarnished by less benign actions in Central America, South East Asia and the Middle East.

In this country, we saw the positive influence of US foreign policy with the involvement of successive governments, most notably under Bill Clinton, in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Now it is unclear if America will even become involved on a diplomatic level.

Mr Trump goes to Washington and the rest of the world becomes a scarier place.