IT’S official: Donald Trump is now the Republican Party’s candidate for US president in November’s elections.

In the year since the brash, billionaire business mogul announced his candidacy, few would have imagined that this rank outsider would storm the citadel of the GOP and emerge victorious. However, politics is an unpredictable sport and along with domestic factors, the mood prevailing globally — with a world reeling from terrorism, conflict and economic slowdown — has surely helped Mr Trump seal the nomination.

For all those who favour progressive politics, the prospect of Donald Trump at the helm of the world’s sole superpower is a disturbing one.

For one, Mr Trump has made some outlandish statements most mainstream politicians would recoil from. Among his policy prescriptions are building a wall on the US-Mexico border (to be paid for by Mexico) as well as banning the entry of Muslims into the US to keep an eye on militancy.

On the foreign front, he has said he may reopen what he has termed the “disastrous” Iran nuclear deal — a deal that was reached after painstaking negotiations involving major world powers.

This reflects a foreign policy direction guided by recklessness and confrontation. Moreover, Mr Trump’s divisive campaign rhetoric has made it ok to hate, ok to blame the ‘other’ for all problems.

The road to the White House is a long and winding one, and anything can happen between now and November. While probable Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton still leads according to most pundits, Election Day can produce surprises; the Brexit experience immediately springs to mind.

The question is: will Mr Trump adopt more sober positions now he is the official Republican candidate, or will he continue with his inflammatory trumpery?

Also, even if he fails to win the presidential election, the fact is that Donald Trump has brought a style of shrill, ugly and divisive politics to the mainstream. Unfortunately, this type of politics — emphasising hatred and exclusion over tolerance and acceptance — seems to be the dominant global trend currently.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2016