These 28 Memories Of Election Night 2016 Are A Genuinely Important Reminder Of How People Felt When Trump Won
As the 2024 presidential election winds down, folks are reminiscing over previous election night drama. We asked the BuzzFeed Community, "Where were you on election night in 2016, and how did you react to the news that Trump won?" Here's what they had to say:
1."It was my birthday, I was playing bar trivia, and the whole night went to shit. Had to give my teenage daughter the news the next morning that the sexual predator manbaby won the highest office in the country over the clearly more qualified woman. Not a great birthday present."
2."I went to bed early CERTAIN of a Hillary win because HOW could anyone vote for that criminal? Woke up, blew two tires on the way to the office, and spent the next several hours in a tire shop being devastated and overdressed."
3."I fell asleep because the results weren't official yet, but I thought Clinton had it in the bag for sure. Oh boy, waking up the next morning was rough. And since I'm a teacher, facing my students with the sickening truth was rougher."
4."I was working at a restaurant, and we were super busy; I didn’t have time to follow what was happening, and we don’t put the news on at the bar. My boyfriend was picking me up, and I got in the car and he looked at me and said, 'Trump is up and it looks like he’s going to win,' and we sat in silence the whole ride home. He went to bed early, and I stayed up all night, certain the results would change. They had to change."
5."Being a Brit, I think I was sleeping in bed, but the next morning, I saw the news and was dismayed. It came in after we were reeling from the Brexit decision, and the world has been going downhill since."
6."I went to bed early. I woke up, looked at the headlines, and thought, 'Oh. That’s not good.'"
7."I was staying with family in Pennsylvania. I cried when Trump won."
8."Well, I voted for him, and I was a Republican then, but I am a Democrat now and will never make that mistake again. We are never going to back down!"
9."My friend and I were watching the results on TV at a restaurant but eventually went home and went to bed. At 3 a.m., I got up to use the bathroom, so I flipped on the TV. The election had been called for Trump, and my heart sank. I didn’t even realize what a depression I had sunk into until another friend said she went through the same thing. It was NOT good."
10."I had moved to Prague, secure in the knowledge that my country of origin was in good hands with Clinton. I still remember being awake all night, hitting refresh over and over in disbelief. I was so sure she had it! I’m still in disbelief. How can anyone, especially now, want him as a leader? If my grandfather acted like him, we would put him in a home."
11."I don’t remember how I felt when Trump won. It’s a feeling I’ve suppressed, hopefully never to experience again."
12."I was at home. I went to bed early and peacefully believing Hillary was in the lead. I woke up and felt a sense of dread in the pit of my stomach that did not leave for four years."
13."I was 24 and hosting an election night party with my colleagues in my first solo apartment in Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. Things got bleak right around 8:30/9:00 p.m. My apartment was empty by 9:45 p.m. because everyone wanted to get home and watch the train wreck unfold from their own beds."
"I was such a nervous wreck that I had the entire rager cleaned up by 11 p.m. and then just sat there staring at the news until 2 a.m. More than half of my office called out sick the next day out of pure shock and disgust. That night is the reason I have frequent, chronic anxiety attacks when Election Day comes around every two years."
14."I was 10. I went to bed terrified. The next morning, my parents sat my little siblings and me down to tell us the news. I’m 18 now and proudly voting for Harris. There is only one choice in this election. 💙💙💙"
15."I was 16. Even though I couldn't vote, it was the first election I was old enough to care about. So many of my friends were women, queer folks, or both. I cried when they called the race on election night. I came to school the next morning to find most of my friends crying and afraid. I just felt so hopeless and disappointed in our country."
16."I went to bed that night before hearing the result. The next morning, I found out and cried in my bed. I later left my apartment building to head to work and saw two young girls wearing head scarves (there was a lot of Islamophobia in Trump’s 2016 campaign), and I thought of their future and started to cry all over again."
17."At home. I was devastated and horrified. But the next day, I learned my 9-year-old niece thought our family was getting deported since we are Mexican. Hatred and racism are his platform. So, in her pragmatic child mind, we clearly weren't welcome and were going to be forced to leave our home. That broke my heart."
18."I was working at a restaurant in Austin, Texas, with other extremely invested coworkers. The host was giving us updates, and we were very hopeful until we weren’t. The next afternoon, I had to work with the same people, and we definitely were having drinks at work to numb our feelings."
19."I was at a well-known Philly dive bar with a large group of friends, casually watching the results while we hung out, fully expecting Hillary to win and thus not worried and enjoying a night out. That was the last presidential election that did not have everyone glued to their TV, desperately watching MSNBC, hoping democracy can survive four more years."
"And I mourn that kind of carefree, casual election result night because I do not think we will experience them again. I hope Kamala will win, but I think we will be clawing for our freedom with our fingernails for the rest of our lives."
20."That was the night that I had the worst ugly cry in my entire life. A few years later, I found out my daughter and my granddaughter also had the ugliest cries in their lives. I pray this bastard never sets foot in the White House again."
21."I was with my Trump-supporting ex. I am Hispanic, but I was also naive and ignorant at the time. I hadn’t finished forming my belief system yet. I remember lying in bed pestering my ex with questions about Trump’s policy because my gut knew it would be bad, but I didn’t know enough to understand why. Nowadays, being Republican, and especially a Trump supporter, is a deal breaker for me."
—gigi
22."I was in college. The next day was...eerily quiet. It was very much a state of shock across the whole campus."
23."I was at work running a medical clinic where every person on shift was a woman, a POC, or LGBTQ+. There were a lot of tears. 😢 I’m so worried for Tuesday."
24."I went to bed that night, and my mom woke me up and told me the news. I instantly started crying. The next day, I went to my 10th-grade Spanish class, and the kid I sat next to told me to go back to where I came from."
25."I was a senior in NYC, and I popped champagne and invested all the money I’d saved from birthdays and Christmas in the stock market and saw almost a 20% return on that. By the time I went away to school, I was able to day trade for spending cash in college until the pandemic. It was a great time, and I’m hoping (but not willing to bet) that we get to run it back on Tuesday."
26."At home. In bed. I was upset that he was the one chosen for the Republican party and still stewing over the fact that he somehow beat the other Republicans wanting to run for the presidency. I never in my wildest dreams thought he'd win."
"Since he did that, I personally feel like he has ruined the Republican party forever. I now just consider myself a conservative-moderate who absolutely refuses to vote for that wretched man and for what the party has turned into. His running mate is an idiot as well."
27."Living in Brooklyn, working in midtown Manhattan on the 5th. I got the news that Trump won when I woke up the morning after Election Day. To put it delicately, it felt like hot steaming cat diarrhea being gratuitously ladled over my head. It's going to be a full-body immersion in cat crap spa on Wednesday if he wins again."
28.And finally, "I worked in a county elections office during the 2016 election. It was an exciting and busy day; we worked 20 hours straight as voters and ballots came pouring in. We'd steal away from work periodically to get updates from the news. My heart dropped as it became more and more apparent that Trump was going to win."
"All the wind was taken out of me. I had to keep processing and certifying ballots for another eight hours and then a month after that, knowing that in the end, it still meant Trump was president. I don't think I'll ever forget that day, and I'm desperate not to experience it again."
What are your plans for tonight? Will you be watching the election results at home? With friends? At a bar with copious amounts of alcohol? Let us know in the comments.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and clarity.
