Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election provoked an anguished reaction from the left liberal news media and Kamala Harris supporters.
MSNBC commentator Joy Reid launched a tirade live on air as Florida turned out overwhelmingly in favour of Trump, slamming voters and describing the state as being under the power of an ‘extremist, right-wing, fascist-type government’.
‘Think about the last two weeks and the things that Donald Trump has said into the TV that people could hear him say and do,’ she said, becoming increasingly more irate.
‘The vulgarity in front of families with young children and the threats to do mass deportation and a violent start to his dictatorship on day one, you name it.’
Reid told her fellow MSNBC panellists that she couldn’t fathom that Trump was securing support from half the population in spite of his often controversial stances.
‘If all of that gets you half of the votes… what does it tell you? We need to really take a step back and think about what does that say about us.’
After Florida was called for Trump early in the evening, Reid said: ‘It’s a pure Project 2025 in miniature in Florida.
‘That extremist sort of right-wing, fascist type government in Florida, does that make it more of an attractive place?’
When Texas was called for the former president, Reid described black voters in Houston as ‘deeply suppressed’ and went on to blame ‘white women’ voters after North Carolina became the first swing state to plump for Trump.
CNN’s Jake Tapper could not hide his anger and frustration as the results rolled in
That performance on the MSNBC ‘Election Night’ panel was followed by former White House Communications Director Nicole Wallace insisting Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris were still in a ‘dead heat’ – even as the Republican candidate pulled ahead in the polls and won two swing states in North Carolina and Georgia.
‘It was always going to be a blue wall night,’ she said, refusing to acknowledge that lynchpin state Pennsylvania, with 19 Electoral College votes, was leaning toward Trump with more than 90% of ballots checked – and ultimately awarded all its votes to the Republican.
Meanwhile, CNN political analyst and former Obama staffer Van Jones looked on the verge of tears while delivering a sombre speech as the vote counts stacked up in Trump’s favour.
The 56-year-old has been overcome with emotion live on air on several occasions, and viewers had joked on social media in advance of election night that he was likely to burst into tears regardless of the result.
Jones was clearly fighting against choking up as he condemned the vote and painted a dystopian picture of America under Trump.
CNN presenter Jake Tapper was also on air for much of the election night and on several occasions seemed flabbergasted by voting results.
He performed double takes when looking at polling numbers and stumbled over his words when reporting the voter turnout in favour of Trump in the likes of Georgia, New Carolina and Virginia.
The reactions were gleefully shared across social media by joyous Trump supporters, who point out that much of America’s mainstream media outlets lean left and claim they often misrepresent, misquote and unfairly target the Republican candidate.
A torrent of memes poked fun at the aforementioned liberal media personalities while others delighted in Trump’s success.
Memes delighting in Harris’ failure were gleefully shared across social media by joyous Trump supporters
Memes delighting in Harris’ failure were gleefully shared across social media by joyous Trump supporters
The race initially appeared neck-and-neck as Americans went to the polls Tuesday after a tense months-long build-up that peaked when Joe Biden abandoned his quest for a second term and the Democratic party ushered Vice President Harris to the fore.
But as night fell, Trump steadily began pulling ahead thanks to support from solidly red states including Florida, Texas and Alabama.
Democrat candidate Harris’ support came from her party’s strongholds on the East and West coast in states like New York, Delaware, and California.
A notable difference between this year’s election night and that of 2020 is that fewer voters – which leaned Democrat – used mail-in ballots, while states have been quicker to process those votes.
Four years ago, that meant Trump’s votes were often counted first as his supporters voted in-person, before Biden votes piled in later and helped the incumbent president to a late victory.
This year, however, the number of voters from both sides using mail-in ballots are more even, meaning the Harris campaign cannot count on large batches of outstanding votes to put her over the line in the key battleground states.
That prompted many election watchers and political experts stateside to predict a Trump victory as early vote counts suggested a favourable result across several swing states, leaving Kamala’s supporters at election watch parties in for a long night.
Under the US voting system, a majority of 270 out of 538 electoral college votes are needed to win the presidency.
By 7:30am GMT, Trump had won Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina, capturing three of the seven heavily contested battlegrounds and coming within a few electoral votes of winning the presidency.
He declared victory and took to the stage in Florida to deliver a lengthy speech to legions of adoring fans that also featured shoutouts to the likes of his vice presidential pick JD Vance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Elon Musk and UFC President Dana White.
‘We are going to help our country heal, we are going to help our country heal. We have a country that needs help and it needs help very badly,’ Trump said in Florida.
The Republicans also reclaimed control of the Senate, picking up seats in West Virginia and Ohio.
Top House races are focused in New York and California, where Democrats are trying to claw back some of the 10 or so seats where Republicans have made surprising gains in recent years.
