Donald Trump has pulled off “the biggest con possible”, and may leave many in the United States like “roadkill”, one of the first women to accuse him of sexual assault has told the Guardian.

Jill Harth, a former business partner of Trump’s, claims the incoming president cornered her in 1993 during a purported “tour” of his Mar-a-Lago estate, pushing her up against the wall in one of the children’s rooms and groping her. Her lawsuit against him alleging “attempted rape” has been on the books since she filed it in 1997, and though she later dropped the charges, she has always stood by her story.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that the man who used to get annoyed at me for being so respectful and friendly to ‘the help’ and who introduced me to people by how many millions they were worth is now the president of the United States,” Harth told the Guardian. “I watched him judge women solely on their youthful looks and attractiveness to him whether they were in a beauty contest or not. He was elected by hard-working, blue-collar workers and women: the same people he showed utter disdain for when I worked with him and spent time with him on a personal level.

“Trump will always be a cartoon character to me,” she continued, “all show and no go. He pulled off the biggest con possible. Now time will tell what happens next. I’m hoping for the best, I really am, but afraid he will leave many of us as roadkill.”

She added that she was “saddened” that voters had fallen for “his superficial tough guy act”, explaining that the biggest laugh to her was how “loyal” Trump is supposed to be, misinformation she said the media had helped spread. “I personally witnessed and experienced the opposite from him. He promised big things and never delivered. He turned on and hurt me and other friends and colleagues who were good to him, helped him, did what they promised they would do and were loyal and supportive to him. He used me [and] my colleagues for his own purpose and is now using the American people to get the power and adulation he always craved.”

Harth’s lawyer Lisa Bloom, who tweeted in the wake of the election result that Trump’s victory was “a major blow to feminism”, reiterated an offer she first made in October, when Trump first vowed to sue the numerous women who came forward in the final weeks of the election to say he had sexually mistreated them.

“I will proudly represent any woman sued by Mr Trump for speaking out truthfully about his sexual misconduct, at no charge to them, and crowd fund defense costs,” Bloom said in a statement. “It is my privilege to represent Jill Harth and three other Trump accusers. Women were not silenced by candidate Trump nor will they be silenced by President Trump.”

The wave of accusations came in the wake of the release of a 2005 video showing Trump boasting that he forced himself on women and grabbed their genitals. “How can people not believe me now?” Harth asked on Inside Edition after the video came out. The other women’s claims ranged from stories similar to Harth’s, to claims Trump kissed them on the lips unsolicited or barged into the dressing rooms of naked and, in some cases, underaged beauty queens. Trump has denied the claims.

Other women whose stories became entwined with Trump’s candidacy have also spoken out about their dismay at his election. Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe, who was fat-shamed by Trump after she gained weight, used Twitter to proclaim in Spanish that she was saddened by Tuesday night’s result.

“Very sad to see the triumph of hate and division I move forward with my projects and my responsibility to raise a good person! Blessings,” she tweeted in the early morning hours, shortly after the election was called. She declined to elaborate further for this story.

Sheena Monnin, a former Miss USA hopeful who Trump sued for $10m after she wrote something unflattering about his pageant on Facebook, signaled that Americans should not conflate Trump the man with the office of president, the latter of which she said was deserving of respect.

“I believe it would be psychologically unhealthy to ask the people of this nation to pretend to rejoice with the result of the electoral college’s vote, given how so many of the people themselves voted,” she said.

“Looking at it from the standpoint of psychology, I can see how it would be nearly impossible to expect people to blindly close their eyes to past behaviors, demeaning words, threats to certain types of people, overt rudeness and constant negative reactivity, and to suddenly trust and respect the man who is the president-elect without first seeing character changes in him, but what I have been telling those around me who are flabbergasted by the result of the electoral vote is this: many times in history the people of this country have found it difficult to respect the person in office, but what we can all do is continue to respect the position itself and to go on with our lives, together, as a nation,” she said.

With over 99% of the popular vote counted, Hillary Clinton has 47.8% to Trump’s 47.3%, although he won the electoral college.

“Anger, disrespect, arrogance – these all demonstrate a lack of both character and impulse-control,” Monnin added. “We must avoid behaving in a way that will ultimately pull our country apart. That is what I advocate to all of us during this time.”

Former model and Bravo actor Kari Wells, who had previously spoken to the Guardian about what she saw as an instance of Trump’s sexual entitlement in 1992, said she was trying to stay positive about the election result.

“Just like a lot of the country I was shocked to see that he won the election,” she said. “Hopefully, he will use his time in office wisely, perhaps even pass some laws for the benefit and protection of women. It would be nice to see men like him realize that sexually predatory behavior is unwelcome and that no means no.”

As a parent and a mentor of girls though, she said she felt the need to hold out some hope. “I teach them to never judge people based on their race or religion and to always try to see another person’s point of view,” she explained. “For me, it is going to be a long four years. I think President Obama put it best when he said, ‘Who you are, what you are, does not change when you take office; it just magnifies and shines a spotlight on the person who you are.’”