Donald Trump wins presidential election, plunging US into uncertain future

Donald Trump shattered expectations on Tuesday with an election night victory that revealed deep anti-establishment anger among American voters and set the world on a journey into the political unknown. 


The Republican nominee has achieved one of the most improbable political victories in modern US history, despite a series of controversies that would easily have destroyed other candidacies, extreme policies that have drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle, a record of racist and sexist behaviour, and a lack of conventional political experience. 


After surprise early victories in Florida, North Carolina and Ohio, it fell to the Rust Belt states of the industrial midwest to determine the result of his stunning upset. 


Wisconsin and Michigan, two states hit hard by a decline in manufacturing jobs and lost by Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, were led by Trump as the race headed for an early morning cliffhanger. 


As results started to come in, two candidates with very different views of America were watching television just two minutes’ walk from each other: the Clintons at the Peninsula Hotel in midtown Manhattan and the Republican team in Trump Tower. 


But the mood in the Trump camp shifted early after signs of a strong performance in Florida and Clinton supporters began contemplating the consequences of a result few thought was possible. 


As Clinton remained holed up in a Fifth Avenue hotel, Democratic campaign chairman John Podesta appeared before distraught supporters in New York to announce that she would not be appearing to give a concession speech. "Everybody should head home," he told them. "Get some sleep. We’ll have more to say tomorrow

Source: NNA