Ellen Rulon from Pennsylvania was sightseeing at Blarney Castle shortly after the election results were announced. However, she was finding it difficult to focus on the task as she struggled to come to terms with the news.

“We are scared for our kids and our grandkids,” she told the Irish Examiner. “We don’t know what this means for the future and personally I’m afraid for the world. 

“I couldn’t believe that, after everything we heard that man say and watched him do, people would actually put him back into office. He’s not presidential. He never was and I think he’s dangerous.

“Is he going to attach himself to China, North Korea or Russia and just kick our allies? Only time will tell.” 

Maureen Joyce from Pennsylvania fought back tears as she spoke about Trump’s success.

“I wanted to cry. I couldn’t believe it. When the votes were being counted, I kept telling myself that it would change. There was always a chance but it never happened. 

I was crushed, devastated, shocked but mostly angry. However, there is no way I am going to let him ruin my holiday. 

It was a bitter-sweet day for republican Deanna McIntosh from Colorado. While an avid Trump supporter, her mood was far from jubilant. The victory was a divisive one for her and her vocally anti-Trump best friend Ana Huezo who had joined her in Ireland for the holiday.

The pair had never discussed their differences until that morning when they both woke up to history. After a two-hour discussion Ana and Deanna vowed to never let politics get in the way of their friendship.

“I don’t feel anything,” Deanna admitted. “I did vote for Trump but this is something you don’t talk about. Ana is living with my brother so I consider her family. I’m a republican Christian. It’s how we were raised. 

“I know that Ana and my brother have had many conversations about this. They butt heads about it but they still love each other. We have to accept each other for who we are. I have a lot of friends who are anti-Trump but I don’t judge. I live and let live.”

She admits to finding the constant questions about Trump while in Ireland frustrating.

“The minute we opened our mouths and people heard our accents they only wanted to talk about Trump. We just had to walk away. We had already spoken about it with each other for two hours so things were already emotionally stirred between both of us.”

Ana revealed her antipathy towards Trump is mostly down to his anti-immigration policies.

“I live in the US but I originally come from El Salvador,” Ana explained. “I don’t like Trump or his morals. Anti-immigration is what he is shooting for. He is all into religion and anti-immigration but it’s all propaganda. The first time he ran it was difficult. Now, I know that it is what it is.”

Meanwhile, Paddy O’Brien from Pennsylvania said they had been depending on the younger generation to save their country.

“I don’t know how this happened. I really thought Gen Z would pull us through. They had massive registrations. There was voting in the colleges. They had to get extra machines because the lines were longer than anybody could have ever imagined. I thought that more women would vote for Kamala but that didn’t happen and I will never know why.”