When I boarded the short lunchtime flight from Sydney to Melbourne on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton was forecast to be the next President of the United States. The New York Times had her at an 85 per cent chance of winning, their infographic speedometer pointer poking towards 'likely'. It was a reassuring end to a testing campaign in which Clinton's opponent had managed, it seemed, to egregiously offend everyone bar the predominantly white male demographic that appeared to make up the bulk of his support base.

And although Clinton had been plagued by ridiculous allegations about deleted emails, dishonesty and (in the most bizarre of assertions) claims that she was an actual robot, she appeared set to rise above all that and take the White House. For who, aside from the most virulent of racist, misogynist bigots, would consider voting for someone who had not only openly admitted to the enthusiastic sexual assault of women but who had also been so successful in gleefully fanning the flames of racism that he had been officially endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan?

Three hours later, I sat in a pub and watched, dumbfounded, as Donald Trump's electoral college votes rose higher and higher. My three American companions began crying, and wept on and off for the next six hours. As queer women of colour, this result wasn't just galling for them. It also represented an attack on their humanity and ability to remain safe in a country whose colonialist heartland - made up of men and women from varying economic and educational backgrounds but united in their singular belief in their own white supremacy - had just resoundingly indicated that the time of 'politically correct, leftist tolerance bullshit' was over.

Trump's campaign slogan promised to 'Make America Great Again', and the sentiment has been dutifully adopted by our own Australian Trump-sucks, including renowned racists Cory Bernardi and Pauline Hanson. Because, of course, what he has always meant is, 'Make America White Again' and by proxy return it to the white imperialist rule that has given those of us with white skin legislated dominion over all others and gifted the greatest amount of that power to white men.