Here's what Barack Obama told his daughters the morning Trump won the election

Like millions of Americans, Barack Obama was struggling to explain the results of last week's election, a New Yorker profile on the president revealed.

Obama campaigned furiously for Hillary Clinton throughout the presidential campaign, and repeatedly painted Republican Donald Trump as bigoted and xenophobic. Much of his legacy depended on a Clinton victory.

But when Trump won the election in a shocking upset, Obama still had some comforting words to say to his daughters.

"What I say to them is that people are complicated," Obama told The New Yorker's David Remnick:

Trump and Obama seem to have struck a conciliatory tone since Trump's election, at least publicly. The two met privately last week, and Obama said he will continue to counsel Trump throughout the transition of power.

Read the full New Yorker profile here.

NOW WATCH: Clinton and Trump's final ads perfectly explain how different they are

Please enable Javascript to watch this video