A former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan has boasted that the group’s members played a “huge role” in Donald Trump’s US presidential victory.



“This is one of the most exciting nights of my life,” David Duke tweeted as the result was confirmed. “Make no mistake about it, our people have played a HUGE role in electing Trump!” He added Trump’s campaign hashtag #MAGA, which stands for “Make America Great Again”.

Members of America’s alt-right reacted with glee to the news of Trump’s victory. The provocative conservative movement, largely active online, has been closely associated with Trump’s campaign.

“We just blew up the Death Star!” tweeted the rightwing radio presenter Alex Jones. He later retweeted an image from the Wizard of Oz showing the Wicked Witch of the East flattened by a house, with the caption: “BREAKING video of #Hillary shows why she can’t make a concession speech to President Trump.”

Michael Savage, a shock jock who was banned from entering the UK in 2009 as he was considered “likely to cause inter-community tension or even violence”, posted on his Facebook page the message “WE DID IT”, alongside an image reading: “Scorched earth. Restoring the country after Obama.”

On Breitbart, a news site at the forefront of the alt-right movement, the front-page headline declared: “Shock – and awesome: Movement of ordinary Americans stun global elite.”



Richard Spencer, who is president of the white nationalist National Policy Institute, tweeted “The Saxon has awoken” and “The alt-right just won!”





Mike Cernovich, a pro-Trump author, posted a clip of Clinton supporters weeping as the result was confirmed, with the message: “Cry more!”

• This article was amended on 16 November 2016 to remove a quoted individual who was mistakenly included.