Reactions to Trump are mostly over-blown and unhelpful

Those accusing Trump - and the middle-Americans who carried him to office - of rank populism are themselves practising a form of the same thing. They offer slogans and demagogic statements without any real substance, or any real hope of making a difference.

In responding to the new American order, there are several things we should keep in mind if we're genuinely wanting to help shape a better future.

The first is the fact that if people elect a non-politician to occupy a nation's highest political seat, they (and we) should expect a few missteps and perhaps more than a little ignorance of the normal way of doing things.

Though President Obama was, in terms of earlier presidents, a relative political novice, he had a large percentage of his cabinet officers approved within a days of his election . Given some political cover, then, he was able to move ahead with the best available advice.

President Trump, however, has been made to wait. It might be argued that the obviously bungled immigration "ban" - I've written more about this elsewhere - might have been handled far more effectively had his intended political counsel been in place.

Second, we must not forget that the US system does not readily lend itself to being overtaken by tyrants. This and the goodwill of the American people has been the major reason that their system of government has remained relatively stable for as long as it has.

As the respected BBC journalist Alistair Cooke once revealed, the closest America came to a coup was when President Franklin D. Roosevelt claimed for himself extraordinary powers over the economy in response to the Great Depression. Roosevelt, it must be remembered, was an urbane Democrat who was re-elected to office three times, before the current restriction to two-term presidencies was enacted.

As measured as he seemed, writes Cooke, "Roosevelt set up an administration which for a year or two actually appropriated the law-making powers of Congress. Having promised to weaken the powers and the patronage of the central government, he seized power at the centre."

A taste for autocracy need not be limited to one side of the political aisle. As yet, I would argue, Mr Trump has not, in his actions, approached anything like the audacity of Mr Roosevelt.

It is also worth noting that thus far President Trump is doing pretty much exactly what candidate Trump promised to do. He and his supporters can argue, with some justification, that he has been given a democratic mandate.

We voters can't very well complain, as we often do, that political promises too often turn out to be chimeric and then complain about someone who actually does what he committed to do.

A fourth consideration, for those of us who live in such places as the UK, Europe and Australia is that Mr Trump is not accountable to us. We are definitely affected by presidential decisions on hugely important foreign policy issues such as US engagement with Russia, China and North Korea.