In France, reaction to Donald Trump's victory has been swift.
The National Front (FN) party, who has engaged in much of the populist rhetoric that swept Donald Trump to victory, have celebrated the victory as their own. His win means success for them in the 2017 presidential elections:
Leur monde s'effondre. Le nôtre se construit. #PlaceAuxPeuples
"Their world collapses. Ours is built. #PlaceForThePeople,"
FN leader Marine Le Pen tweeted out.
The National Front was also quick to point out similarities between Trump and Le Pen's contentious relationship with the media.
95 % des médias USA faisaient campagne contre Trump. Tout le système s'est mobilisé contre lui (même Noah...lol). Ça vous rappelle pas qqn?
"95% of US media campaigned against Trump," wrote Steeve Briois. "The whole system has mobilized against him [...] Remind you of anyone?" Le Pen has faced staunch criticism from the press for presenting herself as a candidate who is against public institutions.
Reached by BuzzFeed News, Louis Aliot, vice president of the National Front, welcomed Trump's victory, not because he supports his policies, but because it proves, according to him, the will of the people to "turn over a new leaf":
"The media did behave in such a way that they made Trump a nice guy. Beyond his political program, it is a tremendous nose-thumbing for a system that decides who is good and who is not good. For several months, I've heard dump trucks of insults and criticisms. The American people voted for him. Media professionals should at least be attentive, and show some little humility. It reinforces our belief that there exists an alternative. We must start everything afresh. And we can only do so with new people."
The left-wing took the Democrats loss as an opportunity to warn against divisions within their own party.
Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, First Secretary of the Socialist Party and an unswerving supporter of President François Hollande, took the opportunity to reprimand critics of the president as "childish."
La Gauche est prévenue ! Continuons nos enfantillages irresponsables et ça sera Marine Le Pen. #Presidentielle2017 #Trump #USElection2016
"The Left is prevented! Continue this irresponsible childishness and it will be Marine Le Pen," he wrote.
The Socialist Party supported Clinton and Hollande had even prepared a letter of congratulations for the Democratic candidate.
This idea was echoed by Laurence Rossignol, Minister of Women's Rights, who's cautioning against division on the left:
Je vois déjà ceux qui pérorent "2017: le barrage à l'extreme droite, c'est moi ". Seul le "nous" fera barrage. #politicbusinessasusual
"I see those who insist '2017: I will stop the far right'.' Only 'we' will stop them. #politicbusinessasusual"
For Razzy Hammadi, Socialist MP, there is need for the left-wing to urgently unite in order to avoid collapse and "the victory of a populist in 2017":
"We need to wake up. They tell me that on the left-wing, some should stop, on the left side of the left-wing. We need to have awareness Any candidate who has not assembled his camp will take a hit. Whether it's the environmentalist left-wing, the communist left-wing, or the different shades of gray that the socialist left-wing comprises, everyone should sit around the table and see how serious the situation is."
For former-President Nicolas Sarkozy's Les Republicans (LR) party, bad polling preceding the US decision was a cause for hope for the center-right party.
With Sarkozy far behind Alain Juppé in all opinion polls ahead of the right-wing primary election, Eric Ciotti, an MP from LR and supporter of the former president took the opportunity to retweet a Figaro journalist calling the polls into question:
Others saw the Democrats' choice of Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders as a lesson.
Sanders aurait gagné. Les primaires ont été une machine à museler l'énergie populaire. Maintenant vite descendre du train fou atlantiste.
"Sanders would have won. The primaries were a machine to silence popular energy. Now quickly get off the Atlanticist crazy train."
Danielle Simonnet, a national coordinator for the Left Party reached by BuzzFeed News, explained it like this:
"The defeat of Clinton is evidence that she embodied public institutions. If there is a lesson to be learned in France, it is that Bernie Sanders could have beaten a Donald Trump, just as Mélenchon in France could beat Marine Le Pen. He's the only one who is capable, and whose orientation corresponds to total crisis of confidence. The only one who is capable of giving hope to the lower classes, to show them that we can act at the root level of things."
As the world's focus shift's to France's election, it's clear that no matter who the candidates wind up being in the general election, Trump will clearly be on their minds.
