With Donald John Trump just announced as the next President of the United States, one can only imagine the feelings of some US citizens — especially those who are watching away from home.

The US Embassy and the American Chamber of Commerce co-organised an event to watch the election results on Wednesday, which saw about 800 guests, many of whom are US citizens, some with their children and families in tow, turn up to watch the two candidates' race to the requisite 270 electoral college vote mark.

As the polls showed increasingly to lean away from Clinton, the crowd dwindled to a paltry few who were left in shock, struggling to come to terms with a Trump presidency.

Mothership.sg speaks with five of them to find out about their views.

Caitlin Ramsdale, 32, Marketer

"I'm devastated. I'm really devastated. I feel like a very close friend had died, I had to leave a meeting, I've been crying all morning."

"[Being] Angry is not going to help...Trump is an angry person. I'll leave all the anger to him. I'm just really sad. I think [Hillary Clinton] has worked her whole life to support women, children, families, education, local community, she's worked her entire life, and she deserves to win. She deserves this, and I'm just really sad for her."

Snehal Patel, 40, Entrepreneur

"People are very nervous about this outcome, and there is a lot of uncertainty in the world that we're not sure of how it's going to play out so, it's a little scary to some extent. We'll hope for the best."

"We're here for now, we'll see - I'm obviously American and my wife also, and at some point planning on going back... it's too early to say. We'll see how it all turns out."

Steven Okum, 50, Vice Chairman, Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce

"It's a lot closer than people certainly thought it was going to be, it is a year in which change seems to be the driving factor all over the world, in the UK , in the Philippines and certainly in the United States, so while surprising not shocking that it was going to be this close."

"I lived here for over 13 years. This won't change plans one way or another."

Melindah Bush, 40s, Attorney

"I'm a Canadian-American, I'm a Republican supporting Clinton."

"Disappointed so far, but I'm optimistic about the future of America as America, at its base government ruled by law, and as long you have a country governed by the rule of law, no matter of who is in power, there are limits to what they can do to abuse that power, so whatever his rhetoric was on the campaign trail, whatever he said on the campaign trail I have faith in the American legal system that he will never be able to put it into effect, because it violates the principals of our constitution, and the constitution is more powerful than any individual man even Donald Trump."

"Our system of checks and balances will restrain his extremes. I put faith in the legal system even though my candidate did not win tonight."

Vanessa Hangad, 40s, Writer

"I'm disappointed, but some ways I'm not surprised. I think a lot of people are just tired of the same old same old, of big government, but I didn't know that the hatred and the misogyny ran that deep that they can support the person who outwardly... he doesn't even try to hide an opinion, he says it out loud. People are willing to overlook that because he's the change [they think] that's what's needed right now and it just makes me sad."

"I hope that when he does his speech it will be a reconciliatory one that will bring everyone back into the fold,  and not just to the people that responded to him by voting for him. I'm sad but I'm also cautiously optimistic. I'm in Singapore right now and I love this country, but I'm also an American and I'm always going to love America. I'm hoping it's going to be a way for the people who are more progressive to not be complacent and to not be smug and to really work on appealing to the people they could not reach in this election. "

Hangad also shared with us part of a Langston Hughes poem Let America be America Again that she thought it was fitting for the occasion:

"O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!"

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Top photo by Juan Ezwan

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