Madonna has said she feels Donald Trump’s election as president was necessary to teach US citizens a lesson.

But the staunch Trump critic tried to spread a ray of hope, saying things can now only get better.

Speaking hours before his official inauguration, the pop superstar said: “I do believe that Trump was elected for a reason, to show us how lazy and un-unified and lackadaisical and taking for granted we’ve become of our freedom and the rights that we have as Americans.

“I feel like people forgot what was written in the Constitution.”

Her comments came during an event at the Brooklyn Museum on Thursday, where she wore all black and a top emblazoned with the word “Feminist”.

She said she was “horrified” by the US election result at first, but she added: “He’s actually doing us a great service, because we have gone as low as we can go.

“We can only go up from here, so what are we going to do? We have two choices – destruction and creation. I chose creation.”

The event included a screening of her 2013 short film Secret Revolution, dedicated to people who have suffered from abuse and denial of their human rights.