Initial thoughts on the American election

Last night I spent hours talking with mates in California as the final nails were pounded into the coffin of Democrats’ hopes. We’re all on the progressive side, so it was not a fun chat.
My childhood friend Peter is an American history expert and his take was that this is without precedent in the US. At this early stage it is impossible to know what the longer term implications are, but it’s not a good or hopeful kind of uncertainty.
As an Australian I would say the greatest threat of all is the president-elect’s rejection of climate science. If he follows through on his statements in that area, it could profoundly impact global efforts to respond to what is unequivocally an existential threat to all humanity.
Coming a close second is the knowledge that an extremely unstable, easily angered man will have his finger on the nuclear button. (Fortunately there are many safeguards in the chain of command between that button and the missiles.)
Jostling around for third place in my mind on the Australia-specific consequences are topics such as our commercial and political treaty arrangements with the US (some treaties can be abrogated by a president on his own); secondary effects from treaty changes between the US and major Australian relationship countries such as China.
More thoughts later…