I saw clips on November 8 of various foreign news casts in which they were declaring this a crisis and breakdown of the American system.It might be worth remembering that you saw
clips, no doubt carefully selected and edited. Since commercial TV news has to make an impact quickly, the clips chosen would be designed to give as shocking a picture as possible, playing upon the xenophobia for which the US is renowned. Speaking from here, it certainly seems that the general reaction outside the US is much closer to bemused amusement than to any sense of crisis. The way US news organisations tripped over themselves in their indecent haste to proclaim a winner, only to be forced to spend the next few days scraping egg off their dials, probably contributed to the entertainment value for the rest of us.
