As I listened to a Chinese official talk about western democracy, I felt I was witnessing a role reversal. I’m very used to hearing western governments calling for political reform in authoritarian regimes. Here I was, on a cold afternoon at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, receiving Chinese wisdom. If American democracy produces Donald Trump and British democracy takes the UK out of the EU, the official said, then it follows that western democracy needs reform.

I get it. Those who’ve been at the receiving end of western lecturing feel vindicated. They are also emboldened enough to give the democrats a few lessons. Following Mr Trump’s inauguration, an article in the People’s Daily, mouthpiece of the Communist party, declared that western democracy had reached its limits. “Democracy?.?.?.?has become a weapon for capitalists to chase profits.”

Over the past year liberal democracies have provided a lot of people with cause for disappointment. Mr Trump is not what the world, nor many Americans, had wished for. And yet, he represents the democratic choice of millions of who feel marginalised by the political system. For them, he is a triumph for democracy. The rest will suffer the damage he causes but they can also be reassured that just as he was voted in, he can be voted out in four years.