WTF USA? Shock and Horror as Donald Trump Wins Presidency

Far-right candidate plunges world into despair as billionaire television personality wins nation's highest elected office

by

Common Dreams staff

President-elect Donald J. Trump.

Huge swaths of the American population, and countless people watching around the world, reacted with shock and outrage early Wednesday morning when it was reported that Hillary Clinton had called her Republican rival to concede the election and Donald Trump subsequently declared victory in the 2016 election.

Trump is now slated to become the 45th president of the United States of America.

The results confounded mainstream pundits and upended major polls and electoral analyses throughout the night. But while the final results remained outstanding in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire, Trump victories in the key battleground states of Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina tilted the electoral math in his favor. As of this writing, Trump was widely seen as having the much better chance of winning the electoral college vote and the concession by Clinton appeared to acknowledge that her campaign saw no path to victory.

Trump himself addressed a crowd of supporters in New York City just before 3am local time to deliver his acceptance speech.

Watch:

The reaction to the election results among voters and progressives on social media was both immediate and severe. While some expressed disbelief and anger, others tackled the questions about how this happened or how people should now respond:

Adam H. Johnson 

✔@adamjohnsonNYC

How the fuck. Did. This. Happen.

6:53 PM - 9 Nov 2016

ruth conniff @rconniff

This is unutterably horrifying

6:49 PM - 9 Nov 2016

Kate Aronoff @KateAronoff

A rapist, a bigot, a man who has promised untold pain to so many people in this country is now our president. #ElectionDay

6:59 PM - 9 Nov 2016 · Brooklyn, NY, United States

DanielleMoodie-Mills @DeeTwoCents

The chants of #USA have never sounded so sinister. I literally hate EVERYTHING about our country right now. #ElectionDay

6:50 PM - 9 Nov 2016

Glenn Greenwald 

✔@ggreenwald

I don't think anyone can yet come close to processing the implications of Donald Trump actually being President of the United States.

3:49 PM - 9 Nov 2016

Katie Halper @kthalps

Trump is awful, which is why it was so irresponsible for media & elites to ignore what made him popular. I'm disgusted.

4:43 PM - 9 Nov 2016

 
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Katrina vandenHeuvel 

✔@KatrinaNation

Resistance,organizing,solidarity.

5:50 PM - 9 Nov 2016

Trevor Timm 

✔@trevortimm

So glad Democrats institutionalized a vast and unaccountable national security apparatus that will soon be controlled by a madman.

4:02 PM - 9 Nov 2016

Glenn Greenwald 

✔@ggreenwald

Unfortunately, the next President will have command of a vast nuclear arsenal, biggest military in history, & a vast surveillance apparatus.

4:01 PM - 9 Nov 2016

jeremy scahill 

✔@jeremyscahill

A Trump presidency is a frightening prospect. The fascists he empowers and seeks to legitimize present a terrifying immediate future.

2:53 PM - 9 Nov 2016

Winnie Wong 

✔@WaywardWinifred

this is what you get for referring to working people as deplorable.

3:06 PM - 9 Nov 2016

Trevor Timm 

✔@trevortimm

Rudy Giuliani is cackling on MSNBC right now: "this is like Andrew Jackson's victory," he says. You know, the racist genocidal maniac.

3:44 PM - 9 Nov 2016

Linda Sarsour @lsarsour

I am not going to despair. We are gonna wake up tomorrow and organize like we never organized before regardless. #ElectionNight

3:40 PM - 9 Nov 2016 · Brooklyn, NY, United States

Warren Gunnels @GunnelsWarren

The biggest mistake you made was to dismiss & disparage the candidate who had the best chance to defeat Trump. It's a damn shame. https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/796180480282468352 …

ate Aronoff @KateAronoff

Pundits literally don't have scripts to understand this. The left needs to step in with a cogent plan and analysis #ElectionNight

4:12 PM - 9 Nov 2016 · Brooklyn, NY, United States

@emptywheel

Q: How much of this result is about coastal complaisance with union decline?
NV--Solid Dem win.

Other key states--fuck you.

David Sirota 

✔@davidsirota

The 2016 Dem primary, and specifically how it was tilted to Clinton by the machine, now becomes one of the darkest moments in party history

George Takei 

✔@GeorgeTakei

The unthinkable happened before, to my family in WWII. We got thru it. We held each other close. We kept our dignity and held to our ideals.

4:18 PM - 9 Nov 2016

And finally:

David Sirota 

✔@davidsirota

In an alternate universe, Bernie Sanders is giving his victory speech right now.

6:14 PM - 9 Nov 2016

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