WE NOW CROSS LIVE TO ARKIE AND PEARL

Shunning the usual foreign bureau practice of seeking local opinion on local issues, Australian ABC Washington bureau chief Zoe Daniel instead interviews her own children about Donald Trump’s election.

Zoe brings us the big news from her kitchen table

Shunning the usual foreign bureau practice of seeking local opinion on local issues, Australian ABC Washington bureau chief Zoe Daniel instead interviews her own children about Donald Trump’s election.

It’s a cross-generational journalistic breakthrough:

Donald Trump's victory has provoked fear and concern for some children as they try to understand what his presidency means for America, and if or how it will affect them and people that they know.

My own children have grown up mostly as expats. We moved to South-East Asia when Pearl was a tiny baby and Arkie was two …

Back in Washington DC after spending much of the year on the road covering the election, I asked them what they were thinking as they watched the election coverage on Tuesday night.

We now commence the Facebook Christmas message segment of Zoe’s report:

Arkie is almost 10 and has paid close interest to the election campaign, staying up late into the night to watch the coverage of the primaries and caucuses earlier this year.

"I may disagree with Trump's opinions," he said.

"But that's what he thinks is right for America so I think you should give him a chance …

"I think [what friends at school don't like about Trump] is the racism, the sexism, the assaults to the gay people, and Latinos, and all those people who have done nothing in their life for Trump to hurt their feelings that way," he said.

Enough from Arkie. He’s nine, so he’s yesterday’s man. Pearl, 8, knows the way forward:

During the primaries process Pearl did declare a liking for Bernie Sanders — funny how an elderly man connected so well with young people.

Especially young people raised on other people’s taxes. But the youngster is no Trump fan:

"If you're a Mexican or anything like that you'll get kicked out, and some of people's friends are Mexican," she said.

"Like at school, some people are Mexican, so they would get kicked out and have to go back to Mexico.”

Pearl’s insight is forever preserved in the most ABC thing you've ever seen. Your taxes at work, people. Fairfax is also worried about the children.

(Via Padraic Murphy.)