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Crowds Are Gathering At Trump Tower

by Alexandra Spychalsky

Crowds of both Donald Trump supporters and protestors gathered outside of Trump Tower early Wednesday morning, as trump was announced the winner of the election. People started to convene earlier in the day, but as the election remained undecided into the early hours of the morning—though eventually ending in a Trump victory—the crowds began to chant in favor of Trump, saying things like "We are here to protect and defend the Constitution."

Approaching 3 a.m., and awaiting the final results of the election to be announced, the crowds didn't seem to dwindle. The crowd chanted one phrase after another. Some clear Bernie Sanders supporters chanted like "Who did we want, Bernie. Who did we get, Trump. And who do we blame, the DNC," and "Bring Bernie back." Others who were not thrilled with Trump's victory in the election yelled, "America is racist." And some took issue with the election system as a whole, saying "Trump is not the problem, money in politics is the problem," and "The whole world is watching." People waved signs, and the video below, filmed by New York Magazine, captured some altercations between supporters and protestors.

Trump Tower is where Trump started the night, watching the results come in. But his election party will be at the New York Hilton Midtown. Because Trump Tower is privately-owned, private political events cannot be hosted there. When he announced his campaign at Trump Tower last year, Trump was fined $10,00 by the City of New York. Both candidates are spending Election Night in the same city, with Hillary Clinton hosting her supporters at the Javits Center, not far from Trump's event.

Trump was not announced the winner of the election until about 2:45 a.m., when he clinched the requisite 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. Some pundits called Trump's victory the biggest political upset in modern politics. Heading into Election Day, many projection models showed a tight race, but with Clinton as the almost certain winner. The results clearly came as a shock to Clinton, as she chose not to make a concession speech after the race was called for Trump. She did call Trump to concede the race before he headed out on stage to address his supporters.

It is clear from the scene outside Trump Tower that this was an election like no other, with deeply entrenched opposing sides. During his victory speech, Trump called on the country to now come together. And while that may seem a hard concept to grasp after the events of the last 18 months, it's all we can do as a nation at this point.