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The president of an Irish-American lobby group has said if Donald Trump wins another four-year term as US president, America “may not recover for another 100 years”.

Father Sean McManus is head of the Irish National Caucus in Washington.

He was speaking as the counting of votes continues in the US presidential election.

He told Newstalk Breakfast: “If Trump wins another four years, America is in profoundly serious trouble and may not recover for another 100 years.

“And I don’t know if people at home in Ireland, and Dublin, realize the seriousness of it.

“I came to this country in 1972 – and I was aware of course of the problems America had.

“But it never even occurred to me to be troubled about the future of America.

“I always hoped that things would improve in the civil rights movement and all of that.

“But now since Trump has taken over him, I have seen how quickly a great democracy can be imploded from inside by the President of the United States.

“He has done ferocious damage to America, he has taken down and assaulted every one of the main institutions in America.

“It’s quite extraordinary and it’s quite frightening.”

“Now he’s talking about the Democrats stealing the election – they’re not trying to do that.

“But he has made every effort to do that.

“He is an appalling figure in American history: he has embarrassed America before the world, he has humiliated America before the world, he has made America the laughingstock of the world.

“This is something I never dreamed I would be saying”.