Reporters around the world were left terrified, heartbroken and angry over the vote in the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union.

"No words. The dream is over. Britain has voted to fall into the sea. This is the end," Fusion's Felix Salmon opined on social media. "I despair. This is not my England."

"I feel like there's been a death in the family. There needs to be some kind of funeral," he added.

U.K. journalist Oliver Bullough despaired, "If you voted Leave, you voted to destroy my country and ruin my children's future. Do not expect me to be cool about this, because I'm not."

Political scientist and columnist Ian Bremmer contemplated, "Brexit is the most significant political risk the world has experienced since the Cuban Missile Crisis."

"No one really knows what happens now. The collective imagination leads to dark places," the New York Times said in a note dripping with panic.

An early look at next week's cover, “Silly Walk Off a Cliff,” by Barry Blitt: https://t.co/brZjcbpbbZ pic.twitter.com/LJ1kZjABpg — The New Yorker (@NewYorker) June 24, 2016



The so-called "Brexit" vote Thursday gave voice to U.K. residents' worries over immigration and lost jobs, as well as their apparent distaste for being governed by a world body headquartered in Brussels.

For many reporters on both sides of the Atlantic, the surprise success of the "leave" vote marks a dark and terrifying moment in world history, mostly because, they say, it shows that aging racists and xenophobes won the day.

"Fascinating and telling to watch some in the U.S. blame 'neoliberalism' for Brexit vote, ignoring racism, xenophobia, and nationalism," said the Guardian's Jill Filipovic.

Salmon decided, "this was a racist campaign that ended up causing both death and disaster."

CNN's Christiane Amanpour linked the vote to xenophobia five times during her Brexit coverage late Thursday evening and early Friday morning.

"We must learn from brexit: Elderly xenophobes will lie to pollsters to hide their racist views, then vote for destructive policies anyway," said blogger Anil Dash.

Journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown warned, "1963 Tory Peter Griffiths won a safe Labour seat with the slogan 'If you want a ni**er for a neighbour vote Labour'. We return to those days."

"Okay, xenophobic exclusionary nationalism. You won a few fights today. But you will lose in the long run," said CNN contributor Sally Kohn.

An Esquire headline declared, "Some of the oldest, whitest people on Earth voted against monsters in their heads."

"Brexit is a an [sic] incredibly sad victory for racists and bigots and much that is vile in the world," said CBS News foreign correspondent Debora Patta.

Vox.com's Zack Beauchamp added in a note of his own, "Congratulations to the U.K. for screwing over millions of people."

He later penned an article titled, "Brexit isn't about economics. It's about xenophobia."

It went on and on, as members of the media declared June 23, 2016, as some sort of apocalyptic victory for society's worst elements.

However, not all media criticism involved allegations of racism and xenophobia, as many in the press chose instead to focus on the possible economic repercussions of the U.K.'s withdrawal from the EU.

Boston Globe columnist Michael Cohen wrote, "The British have literally decided to destroy their economy. We need to revise Churchill's line about democracy being least worst option."

Former Vermont governor and frequent cable news guest Howard Dean added in a note of defeat, "The sun is also setting on David Cameron's time as Prime Minister. Given Scottish results, Brexit likely means the end of the U.K. as well."

"I want my country back," read the headline to an op-ed that appeared Friday in the U.K.'s New Statesman. "This was never a referendum on the EU. It was a referendum on the modern world."

The Washington Post's Griff Witte, Karla Adam and Dan Balz grumbled in a report, "British voters have defied the will of their leaders, foreign allies and much of the political establishment by opting to rupture this country's primary connection to Europe in a stunning result that will radiate economic and political uncertainty across the globe."

"Picture your worst break-up. How long it took to untangle your lives and all the anger and sadness. That's the next three years for the U.K.," said BuzzFeed's Hayes Brown.

CNN published an article proclaiming the Brexit vote a likely "disaster" of historical proportions.

"Britain has had its fair share of foreign policy fiascoes over the past century: the disastrous decision to seize the Suez Canal from Egypt in 1956, the appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s, and the military strategy in World War I, which destroyed a generation and gave us such synonyms for military misadventure as Gallipoli and the Somme," it began.

"'Brexit,' the British vote Thursday to leave the European Union, will surely join this list of disasters," it added.

U.K. journalist Ben Judah bemoaned, "Cameron will be remembered as the second Lord North. A Prime Minister who lost Europe, Scotland and our world role."

Vox.com's Dylan Matthews asked, "Is there another example in history of a country consciously voting to destroy its own economy, knowing that was what it was doing?"