US election: World media digests Trump election win

"United States of Populism" says Spain's La Razon newspaper 

 

Global media has begun reacting to Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election with shock in some regions and a subdued acceptance of events in others.

As results showed a trend towards victory for the Republican candidate, some news outlets in the Middle East jumped the gun to tell their readers that he had already won.
European press, meanwhile, reflected shock and dismay as Trump took to the stage at his headquarters to accept victory.

Europe stunned by "Brexit 2.0"

Image copyright Frankfurter Allgemeine 

"Avenger in the White House" says Frankfurter Allgemeine of Germany 

"How could this happen?" reads a stunned headline on the website of German daily Die Welt; while Die Tageszeitung's website had "Brexit 2.0" as its main headline, later changed to "Victory of the horror clown".
"The avenger in the White House," reads the headline of an online commentary in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine that predicts that America's allies will have to "hold on tight".
"After Brexit, the old structure of the Western order has been dealt a new blow," it adds. "The anger of many Americans was clearly stronger than scruples about engaging in a dangerous experiment."
In France, a front-page editorial in conservative Le Figaro said America was "a country in need of reuniting". "Reducing divisions in America will be a tough task" for any incoming president, the paper says. It later published a piece called "From clown to president".
French business daily Les Echos didn't hold back in its criticism of Trump in their piece entitled "The new face of America". "Racist, populist, male chauvinist, arrogant and unpredictable. We do not know what is most terrifying in the personality of Donald Trump," the paper said.
Spain's La Razon newspaper lead with the headline "United States of Populism"; while ABC says "The new president will have to restore the pride of the country divided by two candidates with more capacity to generate tension than enthusiasm."

"Winter is coming" 

Poland's Rzeczpospolita conservative daily compared the result to Game of Thrones: "Winter is coming and you can't help it. We have woken up in the completely unpredictable world, and business does not like uncertainty"
In Ukraine, Inter TV told its viewers: "The nation was mentally ready to have Clinton as president. Therefore the numbers that we are seeing and the possible victory for Trump have shocked many people."
Another Ukrainian channel - One Plus One TV - said: ""It feels rather awkward and unusual to talk about this."
In Russia, state-run Rossiya 1 TV described Donald Trump's win as "a real sensation". Its Washington correspondent says, "It's a political earthquake in the US and the world, an historic fait accompli."
Another official channel, Rossiya 24 TV, reported that the rouble and oil prices have "fallen sharply" on news of the Trump win.

Worldwide uncertainty

"Peso in free fall," says Mexico's El Universal 

 

In Mexico, newspapers are highlighting how the local currency is performing against the dollar. El Universal says the peso is on a "free fall". It adds the country "faces now one of the worst possible scenarios", as Trump promised to build a wall with Mexico, review the North American Free Trade Agreement and deport millions of undocumented migrants from the US.
Argentina's Clarin carries an opinion piece with the headline: "Donald Trump, an emerging neo-fascist who goes beyond the elections" on its front page. "The phenomenon is not circumstantial; it correlates with many European ultranationalist figures and grows in a serious moment of the world," Clarin said.
Elsewhere, an opinion piece in China's People's Daily newspaper said "uncertainty regarding economic and political policy will be huge if Trump is the next president".
However, the paper notes, it will make it easier for China to cope if Trump is elected, as he "has always insisted on abandoning ideological division and minimising the risks that unnecessary conflicts with other countries may bring to the US".
There was mixed reaction in India. While the Times of India tweeted "Congratulations, Mr President elect!", another paper, Daily News and Analysis stated bluntly: "This is the world's worst headline: Donald Trump is the new President of the United States".

'Earthquake'

In the Middle East, several news websites greeted their morning readers by announcing a Trump win before the results had been officially declared.

Al-Youm Al-Sabi of Egypt calls Trump's win a miracle 

UAE's Ittihad calls it for Trump 

Egypt's Al-Youm Al-Sabi carries a front-page picture saying: "Trump makes the miracle and wins the presidency of the USA".
UAE's Ittihad newspaper website went for "Political earthquake, Trump is the president of the USA" in a headline published while the results were still nominally in the balance.
Also calling the result early in the Middle East were Kuwait's Al-Watan ("Contrary to all expectations, Trump becomes the president of the USA", Bahrain's similarly titled Al-Watan and Iran's conservative Tasnim news agency.
One recurring theme across Arab-language media is that the election - whatever the result - would mean little change in the Middle East and in Syria in particular.
An analyst on pan-Arab Al-Mayadin TV summed up the general feeling: "Wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya continued regardless of who was in charge... I have not noticed any change that would allow us to say now that Republican policy would be worse or better for the Middle East".

"President Clinton," says one Turkish newspaper 

With the election too close to call overnight, it's hardly surprising that a paper went to print calling the wrong result. Turkey's Posta daily said that "the polls did not lie this time, and Hilary Clinton has become the first female president of the United States".