Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders hopes Trump victory can boost populist parties in Europe
Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders said Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election was a sign that the West was living through a "patriotic spring" that would boost support for populist parties in Europe like his own.
Wilders, whose anti-immigration, anti-Muslim Freedom Party tops polls ahead of next year's parliamentary elections, said mainstream politicians had lost the trust of voters in the West by ignoring the issues they cared most about.
"Trump winning proved to me that people are fed up with politically correct politicians who are concerned and involved with issues that regard themselves but not those that are important to the public," he said.
Republican Donald Trump stunned the world by defeating heavily favored rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential election, ending eight years of Democratic rule and sending the United States on a new, uncertain path.
A wealthy real estate developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger toward Washington insiders to win the White House race against Clinton, the Democratic candidate whose gold-plated establishment resume included stints as a first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.
Democratic President Barack Obama, who campaigned hard against Trump, telephoned the Republican "to congratulate him on his victory" and invited him to the White House for a meeting on Thursday, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday. Obama will make a statement later on Wednesday about the election, the White House said.
"Ensuring a smooth transition of power is one of the top priorities the President identified at the beginning of the year and a meeting with the President-elect is the next step," the White House said.
Worried that a Trump victory could cause economic and global uncertainty, investors were in full flight from risky assets.
The U.S. dollar, Mexican peso and world stocks fell on Wednesday but fears of the kind of shock that wiped trillions of dollars off global markets after Britain's "Brexit" vote in June have failed to materialize so far.
Trump collected enough of the 270 state-by-state electoral votes needed to win a four-year term that starts on Jan. 20, taking battleground states where presidential elections are traditionally decided, U.S. television networks projected.
He appeared with his family before cheering supporters in a New York hotel ballroom, saying it was time to heal the divisions caused by the campaign and find common ground after a campaign that exposed deep differences among Americans.
"It is time for us to come together as one united people," Trump said. "I will be president for all Americans."
He said he had received a call from Clinton to congratulate him on the win and praised her for her service and for a hard-fought campaign.
His comments were an abrupt departure from his campaign trail rhetoric in which he repeatedly slammed Clinton as "crooked" amid supporters' chants of "lock her up."
Republicans also kept control of the U.S. Congress. Television networks projected the party would retain majorities in both the 100-seat Senate and the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats were up for grabs.
