I will never forget the moment I found out that Donald Trump had been elected president of the United States.

I kept staring at the screen in disbelief, having walked past it a few seconds ago. My initial impression was despair -- not disbelief as I gave him a serious chance. My head kept spinning. I walked around in a daze for about 10 minutes. An airport staff member asked me if I was okay. I waved him away. A few minutes later the Indian news channel on tv showed photos of some Hindus from the far-right dancing to celebrate Trump’s win. They need to be taken seriously too, I guess. Any politician who is bigotedly certain about complex issues in times of uncertainty deserves to be taken seriously -- and taken seriously only because such politicians present a grave danger of ripping our world apart.

A few hours earlier I had left my hotel room in Hyderabad, India, after a week-long international conference, where more than 4000 people from all over the world converged on the diverse and breathtaking city of Hyderabad. The agenda revolved around a multi-stake holder model, which is consensus driven, to create a stable and secure internet. The meeting was organised by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

And while the meeting was originally scheduled to be held in Puerto Rico, it was moved to Hyderabad because of the outbreak of the Zika virus.

So I spent a week immersed with individuals of different backgrounds, nationalities, ethnicities, where people searched for consensus. Everyone’s voice mattered. And if certain voices were missing then people discussed how to reach out to those not currently included.

Imagine a week of that and then Trump!

I know that everyone who waited for Trump is not a bigot or a racist. And, yes, I agree that the liberal elites are often out of touch with issues that affect a large number of people. I also have not lost faith in democracy because of the results it produces. But accepting the results does not mean that I have to respect or agree with the skewed reasoning justifying such voters’ choices.

Trump is dangerous because while he promises jobs, he also brings to the mainstream a culture of xenophobia. He makes it acceptable to characterise entire communities (relating to gender, nationality, religion, ethnicity etc.) as worthy of contempt or ridicule. He urges the majority to assert its power -- even if it means tyranny, he divides the world into ‘us’ versus ‘them’.

And this does not just stop with Trump. There are many like him in other countries who seek the same violence of exclusion and discrimination -- because the calculus remains the same; it pays to urge majorities to mock minorities and their vulnerability. So extremists in the Muslim world or elsewhere will now be emboldened because they will call on Muslims to rally together to fight Trump’s bigotry and targeting of Muslims. And if in the process, Muslim societies become more oppressive of the rights of ‘others’ then so be it.

Many Trump supporters in countries outside the US are those who hail from majorities in their own settings. They have probably never felt their dignity being ripped away as some racist mocks a father in front of his child, insults a woman or shouts obscenities at a law-abiding citizen from a minority religion. This heartless violence of thought, and ideology of exclusion, is what makes Trump dangerous.

If Americans are willing to countenance such politics because they are being promised jobs then they are jumping into a bottomless pit. Jobs will not miraculously come back to America and White America may soon realise that cheap labour will always be more easily available elsewhere -- capitalists including Trump know that they cannot do much when companies ship jobs abroad. The biggest multinationals can even be in exile from their ‘homes’ and do perfectly well.

So Trump will not change America much -- except for the worse. He will poison discourse and demonise vulnerable communities.

The one blessing in disguise from this victory is the reminder that America was not as many of us or many liberal Americans imagined. It is a deeply divided country -- one where the majority, just like in the third world states, is willing to look away from rights’ violations and discrimination because it gives them a greater say.

Republicans now have the House, Senate and the Presidency. Remember also that Trump will get to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice since Obama’s nominee to replace the late Justice Scalia is not going to happen. And if one of the liberal Justices (Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan) or Justice Kennedy no longer remain on the bench -- whether because of death or retirement -- then it will be the most powerfully conservative court in recent memory. Abortion, affirmative action, many fundamental freedoms will be up for a change.

America’s tolerance will not vanish and it will not collapse as a country -- but it will change in many ways. There are fault lines that always simmer and America has had them. But till now it had prevented an explosion -- now there is no guarantee of how far or low things will go.

The least we can, therefore, do is to remind ourselves what the tyranny of the majority looks like. It is downright vile and inhumane to mock the vulnerable and celebrate marginalising them. One day or the other, we will all feel it -- if we have not already felt it. Today you might be a Trump supporter. Tomorrow you will have a Trump from or in another land mock you.

And then whom will you turn to?