So this is how the boorish megalomaniac Donald Trump beats Hillary Clinton to become the 45th President of the United States of America.

Mr Trump has spent the months since his nomination insulting everyone from service veterans to small babies, while running a campaign so disastrous he fired his top team several times rather than heed advice to moderate his language and behaviour.

Yet thanks to a faltering misstep as she clambered into a car, the most qualified candidate ever to run for the White House may just have gifted the nuclear codes to a dangerous clown.

The imagery of Mrs Clinton’s fall was, naturally, alarming. The Democratic candidate was attending a service to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks when she became unwell.