‘How could this happen?’: World’s media reacts to Trump’s US election victory

Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the US election has been splashed on front pages across the globe, as the world watches on to see what the impulsive Republican’s second term in the White House may bring.

Following an election campaign in which pollsters predicted a knife-edge race, the former president made gains against his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris in nearly every state, and was on course to win all seven swing states while seizing control of the Senate.

The election was closely watched around the globe, with America’s allies and adversaries offering congratulations and cautious verdicts on Wednesday as the ballots were counted.

Some quarters of the media, however, were less diplomatic – recalling the former president’s last four tumultuous years in the White House and anxiously eyeing his return to the helm of the world’s most powerful military at a time of increasing geopolitical turbulence and as the world must unite to decarbonise.

Die Zeit, Germany’s biggest weekly newspaperpaper, led its website with a reaction piece headlined simply with the English word : ‘F***’, while it’s front page had noted prior to the vote that the world was “holding its breath”, illustated using a sinister image of Mr Trump.

Borrowing another English phrase, the left-wing German outlet Die Tageszeitung asked “Why though?” at the top of its homepage, while its daily edition carried a picture of the White House overcast with clouds, headlined: “71 million Americans re-elected Donald Trump as president. How could this happen?”.

Italy’s La Repubblica wrote simply: “I’m back”, adding that Mr Trump’s ally Elon Musk had earned $13bn in one day on the stock market.

In the UK, the Daily Mirror was headlined: “What have they done … again?”, adding that there was “uncertainty and fear” as the world was rocked by the US election result.

Noting that “Trump’s back for season 2”, The Sun’s front page read: “Shot, sued, tried, insulted and written off … but ordinary Americans say ‘You’re rehired’”.

In a play on Mr Trump’s distinctive hue, while quoting his victory speech, The Metro ran with the headline: “America’s Golden Age”, colouring the second word orange.

The Independent described Mr Trump’s victory as the “greatest comeback in US political history”, after he defied both the polls and a criminal record to become the first Republican to win the popular vote since George Bush in 2004.

Scotland’s Daily Record splashed with a picture of Mr Trump titled “The star spangled banner”, under a strapline reading: “America decides: The 2nd dumbing”. Underneath, it stated: “US votes for another four years of Trump, and abortion bans, the ‘largest mass deportation operation in American history’, abandoning Ukraine, bonkers trade tariffs, abolition of the education department, climate denial.”

The Namibian carried a photograph of Mr Trump kissing the American flag, headlined: “It’s this man’s world.”