For half an hour, the 30 Australians gathered in a North Sydney pub moved in unison with their counterparts in Palm Beach, Florida.
When the American crowd chanted “USA! USA!”, sang God Bless the USA as Donald Trump walked out, cheered the president-elect’s rambling victory speech, the Australian outpost was right there with them.
“I’m so excited for myself but I’m more excited for my children and for the world,” said Matt Bennetto, who had travelled down from Queensland to spend the day watching the results roll in with friends at the Firehouse Hotel.
“Trump is the antidote to the endless wars … It’s a great day for freedom, it’s a great day for humanity. I wish more people understood the significance of it.”
The significance was not lost on the expatriate Americans and Australian sympathisers at an election watch party for supporters of Kamala Harris 10 minutes away in Sydney’s CBD. As Trump supporters cranked up their celebrations, an American expat stormed out of the doors of the Kent Street Hotel: “This is fucked!”
Another expat, Isabella, who moved to Sydney from Arkansas 11 months ago to study sexual and reproductive health after her state banned abortion, said watching Trump edge closer to victory was one of the worst days of her life.
“I want to get educated, I want to help women, and that’s the reason why I’m here,” she said. “The naive part of me was hoping that we would take a turn, and I’d be able to go back home.
‘Today I’m ashamed to be American’
“But it has been made abundantly clear that is not an option for us.
“On a day like today, I realised that as a woman of colour from a diverse background, they do not care. They do not want us.
“But also, they don’t want to advocate for the people that I love, like my best friend who is Palestinian. I think the reason why we are here is because Kamala wouldn’t take a stance on Palestine.
“Shame is what I am feeling right now,” Isabella added. “Today, I’m ashamed to be an American.”
A friend of Isabella’s from California, who opted to remain anonymous, was disheartened by what she called Trump’s ability to exploit a lack of education in America.
“This shows, especially as black Americans, that Americans do not give a shit about black people at all, and that is very sad,” she said.
“It is very disheartening, especially because of how many black people, black and people of colour, live within the United States. But [Trump] has been able to appeal to the ignorance of the American population.”
‘Its a little bit like dread, holding your breath’
Just eight hours earlier, the mood at that same hotel had been vibrant.
Animated American voices could be heard from the pub as an energy of nervous excitement built up at the watch party hosted by Democrats Abroad and Sydney Expats Americans.
“There’s certainly anxiety, but it’s a good kind of anxiety,” Jasper Lee, the chair of Democrats Abroad Australia, said.
American flags were strung up in rows to the ceiling, and CNN’s live election coverage played from screens across the pub. Tables were crowded with people gathering to watch – some in shirts with Kamala Harris logos, others wearing flags, and badges with Democrat slogans.
Emily, an American visiting Sydney, said “it was buzzing” at midday. “Like before a really fun concert starts, something anticipatory.”
Hope, an American-Australian dual citizen, said: “I really think the fate of western democracy is on the line with this election. This isn’t just about America, but also I’m enraged on behalf of women and minorities and the republic and the constitution and Australia as a country that always follows America culturally and politically.”
And Alexandra Chalupa, an American who has been studying in Australia since 2022, brought her 17-year-old daughter Sophie during her school break.
“I think people are cautiously optimistic,” Chalupa said. “They understand how much is at stake.”
But by 3pm, Emily said the reality started to set in.
“Seeing all the red states makes me a little bit nervous,” Katie, an American living in Sydney, said.
“There are key swing states that are still too early to call, so we have to just wait and see.”
“It is a little bit like dread, holding your breath,” Emily says. “It’s like when you are on a rollercoaster, you know the drop is coming.”
‘We want to bring this to Australia’
At another Trump event at the Sanctuary Hotel in the Sydney’s CBD, the early results were enough for his Australian fans to declare the former president the victor – three hours before he took the stage.
“He’s up in Pennsylvania. He’s ahead in Georgia. He’s ahead in North Carolina. That’s the election,” Edwin Nelson, the organiser of the Sanctuary event, said.
“Donald Trump has won and I can say this is the greatest comeback in history since the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” New South Wales Libertarian MP John Ruddick had earlier told a gathering of Trump supporters at the state parliament building.
Cheers erupted from the crowd, made up of dozens of members of Australian right-wing groups along with their friends and children.
Back in North Sydney, the Trump supporters laughed, took selfies and bought round after round of beers and champagne.
Louise Kedwell was set to be working behind the bar at Coldplay’s concert in Sydney Olympic Park on Wednesday night, but instead was celebrating in her Trump shirt and badges and a MAGA hat she brought home from Florida.
“I’m just so emotional,” she said. “I thank God for this … it’s great to be validated.”
The single mother and One Nation member hoped the result was a sign for Australia’s next election, due by May 2025.
“We want to secure the borders and we want to bring this to Australia,” she said. “I hope that the politicians are afraid.”
