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Donald Trump on Tuesday night was declared the winner of the 2016 presidential contest. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/cc)

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

Jon Queally

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 presidential 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:

And finally:

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