American dread

Americans woke up to a transformed country and a rattled world yesterday after the realisation of Donald Trump's stunning return to power.

- Ed Pilkington

As the extent of Trump's victory began to sink in - including clear dominance not only in the electoral college but also probably in the popular vote, with at least 71m votes, and control of the US Senate - there were expressions of jubilation among the former reality TV star's supporters.

On the other side of America's ever more gaping partisan divide, confusion and foreboding reigned.

"This is going to be glorious," said Trump's eldest son, Don Jr, summing up the Maga mood on X, the social media platform owned by the billionaire Elon Musk, who played an outsized role in Trump's success.

Democratic and progressive Americans, at least 67 million of whom voted for the Democratic candidate and vice-president, Kamala Harris, struggled to come to terms with the overnight reality.

They were confronted with the fact that Trump's pitch to the American people, built on his dark and lie-packed vision of a country in decline, "swamped" by murdering "illegal aliens", and on the point of a communist takeover, had prevailed.

Van Jones, a political commentator, talked for many when he said people had been waking up "in a nightmare. But we will find a way through."

Trump made little attempt to assuage the fears of those who did not vote for him when he gave a victory speech in West Palm Beach, Florida at 2.30am three hours before the Associated Press officially called the result. He talked of creating a "strong, safe and prosperous America", but also said that he was going to "seal up those borders", and referred to the media as the "enemy camp".

Harris staged a watch party at her alma mater in Washington DC, Howard University, on election night but failed to address the crowd after the prevailing winds of the election became irrefutable.

She gave an address to the nation from the same location yesterday afternoon, saying: "The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for.