Voter numbers shatter record as Trump plots next move

Donald Trump, seen here playing golf again on Sunday. The president largely maintained his silence on the weekend despite earlier threats of legal action over the election (Alex Brandon/AP)

Turn-out in the US election has hit a 50-year high and eclipsed the record set in Barack Obama’s triumph in 2008, in what analysts are calling an extraordinary engagement in what amounted to a referendum on Donald Trump’s leadership.

The figures came as Mr Trump maintained his silence despite earlier threats of legal action to prove voter fraud, a stance now interpreted as less about trying to change the result as providing an off-ramp for a loss the president cannot grasp.