| What happens now? It's going to be a volatile four years | This time last week I told you that Donald Trump had a clear path to the presidency.
Did I expect such a decisive victory? Nope. I really did think that IF he won, it would be by a whisker.
Pressed (by @latrioli no less) in one of my many live television hits on election afternoon to make a prediction, I couldn't.
Too many tied states, and just a sense from what I've seen on the road this year that Mr Trump had created something larger than anyone really had a handle on, made me doubt Hillary Clinton's chances even though she had extended her lead in the polls. It seemed more logical that she would win it, but it's not a year for logic.
"For heavens' sake," I responded. "This thing could turn on a dime."
Well, I was wrong on that. He won it.
BIGLY.
I think Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said it best.
"This is the most incredible political feat I have seen in my lifetime."
Seriously. Wow.
So now we have President-elect Trump, or PEOTUS as he's being described (do you reckon he'll change his Twitter handle BTW?).
Not only is America highly polarised about Mr Trump, so is the world. Social media has fanned toxic vitriol between the opposing sides, and the candidates themselves, the most unpopular ever, attract horrible rancour.
Mr Trump's victory has also inspired fear. The prospect of restrictions on travel for Muslims, deportation of illegal immigrants, building a wall across the Mexican border, winding back abortion rights by repealing Roe vs Wade, imposing trade sanctions on China, regression in women's rights and a host of other things has people wondering if his election is the end of the world as we know it.
Standing at the top of the TV riser at Mrs Clinton's non-victory party on Tuesday night was like overlooking a kind of global liberal freak out.
Clinton supporters in the crowd were shell shocked, mostly just staring into space, some weeping. Across town Trump supporters were ecstatic, as the news of the anti-politician's victory spread across the world.
He had done exactly what he said he would do, and suddenly the words of all of those supporters I had met in Ohio and Pennsylvania and North Carolina and other places came back to me.
"He's going to win in a landslide."
"The polls are wrong."
That indeed was true.
HE SAID
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business" – Donald Trump to supporters at his victory night party on Tuesday.
SHE SAID
"And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams." – Hillary Clinton in her concession speech.
POTUS SAID
"We have to remember that we're actually all on one team. This is an intramural scrimmage. We're not Democrats first, we're not Republicans first, we're patriots first. We all want what's best for this country" – when he addressed the nation the day after the election.
FREE MEDIA
The President-elect has had a testy relationship with the press, at best. However, since his victory on Tuesday Mr Trump has removed himself from the spotlight. In perhaps a worrying blow to transparency, he refused to let journalists travel with him to cover his meeting with President Obama breaking a long-standing practice. Further, his office is not reading out his calls with foreign leaders – instead Americans are relying on news through foreign governments.
AMERICA REACTS
Check out this video from the New York Times showing the moment folks around the country learned who would become their 45th President:
NAKED COWBOY
In the aftermath of the election, protesters and supporters alike descended on Trump Tower in New York City – including, as fellow correspondent Stephanie March found, The Naked Cowboy, who is a big fan of Mr Trump:
BY THE NUMBERS
We will be trawling over the data from the 2016 election for some time but there were definite and apparent indicators worth mentioning:
Young people
Mr Trump said America was going to experience its own Brexit and he was right.
And, just like Brexit, the results went against what millennials wanted. Take a look at this incredible map from Mic about how people between the age of 18-25 voted.
Which leads me to my next point...
Turnout for what?
Mr Trump received just 25.6 per cent of the total vote.
Let that sink in.
Only one in four Americans actually picked him to be president. Mind you, while Mrs Clinton actually won the popular vote – only one in four Americans wanted her as president as well. The remaining 46.9 per cent?
They didn't vote.
Turnout for the election was just 53.1 per cent.
Mr Trump got 1.1 million fewer votes than John McCain in 2008 and 2 million fewer voters than Mitt Romney in 2012.
Given both of those former candidates lost in their respective elections you'd think Trump would've lost? Well, Mrs Clinton got 7 million fewer voters than Obama in 2012.
Ouch.
Town versus country
Mr Trump won big in rural America – driving up the turnout among white, working class Americans, as he predicted.
This map shows the counties where Mr Trump ran ahead of Mitt Romney's campaign in 2012 by more the 12 per cent.
In part, these are the folks that delivered him the White House. He struggled mightily in big cities – only winning two major cities in America: Phoenix and Jacksonville.
It's important to note though that just because he has a lot of working class support, not all of his supporters are poor. Research shows that by and large they're mostly middle class and employed. The connecting thread is that they're chasing a return to some sort of long lost American dream.
Nearly there
The polling got it wrong, yes. However, according to Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight, Mrs Clinton came within 2 points of polling being correct in 49 of 50 states:
A (small) consolation prize for pollsters.
WEIRD THINGS AT DONALD TRUMP'S VICTORY PARTY:
This cake:
(Which sparked an endless number of memes).
A "Make America Great Again" hat in a glass cabinet:
And a cash bar!
WHERE'S BERNIE
Obviously, somewhere with no mobile reception. The former Democratic candidate for president, who gave Mrs Clinton a hard race during the primary season, admitted on CNN that he hadn't spoken to the defeated Mrs Clinton since she lost the election on Tuesday – even after campaigning vigorously on her behalf.
Bernie always said he would beat Mr Trump in an election. I wonder what Democrats are thinking now.
OH, CANADA!
Many – including Hollywood celebrities – said they'd move to Canada if Mr Trump won the election.
It's hard to confirm whether anybody has done so yet but certainly the intentions are there. Canadian officials revealed that at 11pm more than 200,000 people tried to access the Canadian immigration website, causing the website to crash.
New Zealand's immigration department website also had a 25-fold increase in traffic overnight!
Democrats have been asking me all year how difficult it is to seek asylum in Australia. (I've told them to consider easier options which may explain the NZ thing.)
SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Can you believe they've already started setting up around the White House for the inauguration in late January?
In the meantime Mr Trump will name his cabinet and sort out who will staff his presidency.
He has a huge number of things on his list for his first 100 days in office including limiting term limits on members of congress, beginning the process to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, introducing middle class tax relief, repealing and replacing Obamacare and starting the process to build his famous Mexican wall.
Expect some speed bumps as the realities of governing become apparent to the anti-politician.
His other key task? Dealing with the deep disunity in America that's been compounded by a horribly angry campaign. Mrs Clinton won the popular vote so although he won the electoral college more people opposed him than backed him.
It's going to make for a volatile four years.
ABC team USA has worked around the clock all year to bring you coverage of the election and never more so than over the past week. My thanks to correspondents Stephanie March and Michael Vincent, producers Roscoe Whalan and Brooke Wyllie and camera operators Brad Fulton and Nick Castellaro. |  | | | About this email You received this email because you are subscribed to ABC News email alerts. This message was sent to you at starnewsposting@gmail.com. Please add newslists@your.abc.net.au to your email address book to see images by default and stop the email being treated as spam. This email address is not monitored - Please don't reply to this email. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Add or remove topics | Unsubscribe | Contact Us |
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