THERE was a time when US elections were all about doing things the right way. Even allowing for its political foibles, America was a country that was regarded by many as a paradigm for the democratic process and its values. Yesterday, though, in one fell swoop, President Donald Trump obliterated that reputation once and for all.

“This is a fraud on the American people,” insisted the president, referring to efforts to count ballots in key states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. “As far as I am concerned, we have already won it.”

So there you have it, the US president riding roughshod over the democratic process, effectively attempting to stop the counting of ballots. Where now the land of the free?

As if this was not damaging enough, Trump went further, threatening to take his accusations through the US courts to prevent rival Joe Biden and the Democrats from “stealing” the election. Does this all sound familiar? It’s not just because Trump has made such threats before, but perhaps because talk of a rigged or stolen election was all the rage in Belarus recently and we saw what happened there.

Quite simply, when enough people believe an election is fraudulent then it’s not unusual for them to take to the streets, leading to political violence. So let’s be frank here and call Trump’s remarks for what they are, no matter how much he might backtrack on them later.

For this was the leader of one of the most powerful nations on earth setting a primer, one that would help him trigger into explosive action those among his supporters, many of them armed, to help if necessary enforce the president’s will.

One can only guess at how these extraordinary remarks were perceived elsewhere in the world. You know the kinds of countries I’m talking about here, places where certain political pathologies persist. Those shaken by undemocratic elections and where autocrats thrive, states in which electoral fraud and gerrymandering are rife and their citizens sometimes look on enviously at the unimpeachable democracy America is supposed to be. The citizens of such countries and indeed all of us have learned some hard truths about America these past few days, unpalatable and undeniable truths. The first of these is that American democracy is more ramshackle than it would like us to believe. Those endless voting queues, the labyrinthine system that is meant to offer checks and balances but in the end appears only to sow confusion. Another hard truth America has shown us is that democracy is also about more than voting. If election results are not to be undermined or overturned as Trump has attempted to do, a democracy not only needs fair and independent bodies and institutions, but a democratic culture in which the election losers will accept defeat. PERHAPS the starkest hard truth of all, though, this election has shown us is that Trump is America and America is Trump. By this I mean the election has revealed the full extent to which vast numbers of Americans have bought into the Trump playbook.

Yes, I know the contest is not yet over and Biden and the Democrats might still prevail, but the inescapable fact is that far from repudiating Trump as many of us around the world expected, a huge swathe of the US electorate endorsed him with their vote. They gave the thumbs up to the possibility of another four years of a president that has made lies, hatred and bigotry his mainstay and shown you can get away with it. Who knows?

Trump might even yet find himself staying in the White House. If figures prove accurate and taking into account the greater turnout, more Americans appear to have voted for Trump than they did in 2016. What does this tell us about the trajectory of America’s political direction of travel? Even if Biden proves the eventual winner such Trump supporters are not going away any time soon.

They might even find themselves attracted to some up-and-coming acolytes of the president of which by all accounts there is no shortage within the Republican party ready, willing and able to out-Trump even Trump. Should the world and those nations that look to the US as an exemplar of democratic practice be worried about this? Should those countries including the UK who view America as an ally be concerned that their “friend” is displaying all the characteristics of a nation ready perhaps to move even further to the right?

THE short answer to both these questions is an emphatic yes. For too long now the US has rejoiced in the title “leader of the free world”, and this week’s election was meant to be the ultimate example of democracy in action. But it strikes me that the US now needs to learn from other democracies before getting on its high horse and preaching the same to the rest of the world. The simple fact is America has now shown the full extent to which it is an unreliable global partner.

Trump’s presidency certainly set this in motion, transforming US foreign policy and creating among other conditions a strained relationship with the trans-Atlantic alliance as well as other international organisations and treaties. It speaks volumes that at precisely the same moment that America was seeking to elect its next president this week it also became the first nation in the world to formally withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. Should Biden prevail in the coming days then similar courses of action might be avoided or rectified. On the other hand, if Trump succeeds in bullying his way back to the White House then it would reveal something very disturbing about the American electorate. Either way it’s frankly hard to see how any nation would now trust America’s democratic credentials let alone regard it as a reliable global friend or partner.