Not very many people thought it would happen – the "little people" actually upsetting the traditional political process especially as manifested in the Trump election to the US presidency.
Rational, fair-minded, and intellectually honest people can't stand Trump personally and are chagrined at the level of support he has garnered among American voters.
The political elite, for different reasons, feel as if they have lost serious control of the political-economic process which they have dominated for generations.
Even though it was clear, or should have been clear, that the little people were growing more and more resentful of being dominated in nearly all ways by the political elite and misunderstood by even intelligent observers who support liberal/progressive change in American society which would include objective benefits for the "little people."
The little people saw an opportunity to express their rage, resentment, frustration, and feelings of lack of respect and have "circled the wagons" so to speak and elected the most incompetent and dangerous person we have ever seen in Trump's position now. The little people will suffer an enormous consequences way more than the political elite will. The situation is as lose-lose as one can imagine in American political history.
The little people will suffer long-term losses in the rollback of international trade agreements and will see the elite class get enormous tax breaks greatly raising the public debt which they so viscerally dislike. There will be rollback in energy and environmental policies which will negatively impact nearly everyone on the globe (except for certain special interests, in the short term.)
They will not get their manufacturing jobs back, either.
The truth is, there was no option for the little people to express their feelings except for poking the elite in the eye, so to speak, in the existing political process. That gives them the psychological benefit that there situation needs. Perhaps this is not much different than the terrorist suicide bombers who also are not going to obtain objective benefits but the psychological benefit is better than living under the circumstances which have deprived them of nearly everything of value. Pushing people too far is bound to result in an irrational explosion sometime
The political elite, as well as those in favor of good governance need to wake up. The elite are going to have to work especially hard to develop new tactics to deal with the global populist revolt. They may do so in the medium-term and restore the hierarchy they cherish. Then they will become content again.
Good government folks, on the other hand, are never going to garner the support of the little people until they start thinking about new ways of thinking and seeing political-economic elements.
Many of the shocked political pundits are already proposing tired and obsolete ideas like that of a third party and wimpy tweaks to the political processes involving redistricting and the like. These are guaranteed to be failures.
What is necessary is a new paradigm where our 18th-Century concepts of left versus right, liberal versus conservative, little people versus elite, etc. are replaced with new categories of analysis and a new framework of governance is worked out which can accommodate the interests of the separate classes and identity groups.
We need something new. We need 21st-Century ideas of governance and social relations.
These people need to do themselves a favor and read "An Action Manual" which provides a roadmap to a smarter America. That America will include a collective interest, collective fairness, rationalized governance emphasizing professionalism and science, inclusivity, and a balance of private and public interests.
In sum, it represents a new social ethos way more suitable than the 18th-Century one which has resulted in Trumpism. Do we still have the gall to consider ourselves the "World's Greatest Nation?"
Nothing less than new changes in governance ideas will overcome the divisiveness and dysfunction and the embarrassment we have now.
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