Americans and the rest of the world are still coming to terms with the fact that a “man-baby” businessman and reality show host with a toupee-like hairstyle will be the next US president.

The immediate consequences of his misogynist and racist campaign were anticipated. As in the United Kingdom following the Brexit vote, hates crimes have increased across the United States — against people of colour and the queer community whether white or not. White supremacists have celebrated the victory of “their” candidate.

Ditto with respect to the world writ large. Emboldened by the imminent departure of President Obama’s administration, Russia has recommenced bombardments in Syria. While Israel has approved yet more illegal settlements in Palestinian territory in the occupied west Bank.

It is a not-so-Brave New World. One in which two terms are heard more and more: “Normalisation” and “illiberal nationalism.” Normalisation is a term Kenyans should understand very well. The process through which a surprising and undesirable electoral outcome is sanitised.

Illiberal nationalism is also a term Kenyans should understand well. The appropriation and assertion of identity and self-determination to cover and legitimise assaults on freedom, equality and justice.

The only comfort is the confirmation that Kenyans are no longer alone. This blowback and pushback is, finally, truly global. If it weren’t so disheartening, it would almost be amusing.

To see, for example, President Barack Obama trying to situate the “whitelash” in terms of economic grievance — in much the same manner that we try to situate our own “tribalism” in terms of economic and political grievance.

There’s been much debate too on what this specifically means for Africa. It’s hard to tell, given that foreign policy featured very little in the campaigning — and Africa was totally absent. A reminder of how little we matter in the large scale of things.

But we matter to ourselves. And, for ourselves, the obvious has already been said. A shift away from hopeful interventionism to making sure strongmen can keep the lid on things themselves. All the strongmen are, no doubt, celebrating. A shift away from market and trade liberalisation to satisfy domestic protectionist demands.

The irony, of course, being that these two shifts have been longstanding demands not from the “right” but from the “left” — including the African “left” (such as it is).

In the long-term, the irony pointed out above tells us that this global blowback and pushback may turn out to be a good thing. It is a reminder that change is not linear; it truly is dialectic. It is a reminder that we know less than we think we know.

The post-Cold War compact is now at an end, and those excluded from or left behind by all the changes that ensued, together with all economic and political actors who lost out as a result, are on the ascendency again.

In that sense, it is a reminder that addressing economic and political grievance can only be postponed so long.

L. Muthoni Wanyeki is Amnesty International’s regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes