Former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris and won a second term in the White House, suppressing concerns about reproductive rights and democratic norms in a campaign that focused on concerns about the economy.
With his victory in Wisconsin, Trump now has the 270 electoral votes needed to become president.
This victory demonstrated his hands-on approach to politics. He attacked his Democratic rivals in deeply personal terms, often misogynistic and racist, while pushing an apocalyptic picture of a country overrun by violent immigrants. The crude rhetoric, combined with an image of hypermasculinity, resonated with angry voters, especially men, in this deeply polarized country.
As president, he has vowed to pursue an agenda centered on dramatically reorganizing the federal government and seeking retribution against those he considers enemies. On Wednesday morning, President Trump insisted to his supporters that he had won an “unprecedented and powerful mandate.”
The results capped a historically turbulent and competitive election season that included two assassination attempts on President Trump and a new Democratic candidate replacing him just a month before the convention. When Trump takes office on January 20, he will inherit a wide range of challenges, including growing political polarization and a global crisis that is testing America’s influence abroad.
Her victory over Harris, the first woman of color to become a major party candidate, marks the second time she has defeated a female rival in a general election. Harris, the current vice president, took the lead after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race due to concerns about his age. Despite high energy at the beginning of her campaign, she struggled to convince disillusioned voters in a compressed schedule that she was breaking away from an unpopular government.
Trump is the first former president to return to power since Grover Cleveland took back the White House in the 1892 election. He is the first person to be elected president with a felony conviction, and at 78 years old, he is the oldest person to be elected president. His vice president, 40-year-old Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, will become the highest-ranking member of the millennial generation in the U.S. government.
Once Trump returns to the White House, there will be far fewer checks on him. He plans to quickly enact a far-reaching agenda that will transform nearly every aspect of American government. Most of the Republicans who criticized him in Congress have been defeated or retired. Federal courts are now filled with judges he appointed. The U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three justices appointed by President Trump, ruled earlier this year giving the president broad immunity from prosecution.
Mr. Trump’s comments and actions during the campaign raised alarms from Democrats and some Republicans about the impact his return to power would have on democracy. He repeatedly praised powerful leaders, threatened to send the military to target political opponents he labeled “the enemy from within,” and threatened to take action against media outlets that gave unfavorable coverage. , proposed suspending the Constitution.
Some of Trump’s first White House employees, including Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, have refused to support Trump or publicly discuss his return as president. He issued a stern warning at the scene.
While Ms. Harris focused much of her initial message on themes of joy, Mr. Trump evoked strong feelings of anger and resentment among voters.
He took control of complaints about high prices and fears about crime and immigrants entering the country illegally under Mr. Biden’s watch. He also highlighted the war in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, placing Democrats in a position to preside over and encourage a world in turmoil.
It’s a formula President Trump perfected in 2016, positioning himself as the only person who can solve the country’s problems, often borrowing the language of dictators.
“In 2016, I proclaimed that I am your voice. Today I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And retribution for those who have been wronged and betrayed. is me,” he said in March 2023.
Republican Donald Trump addressed supporters after winning key battleground states on election night.
The campaign often took an absurdist turn, with President Trump amplifying bizarre and unsubstantiated rumors that immigrants were stealing and eating pet cats and dogs in an Ohio town. At one point, he began a gathering with a detailed story about legendary golfer Arnold Palmer, in which he praised his genitals.
But perhaps the defining moment came in July, when a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A bullet grazed President Trump’s ear, killing one of his supporters. Trump, his face covered in blood, stood up, pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “Fight!” fight! fight! A second assassination attempt was thwarted a few weeks later when Secret Service agents spotted a gun protruding from a green field while President Trump was playing golf.
When President Trump left Washington in early 2021, it seemed unlikely that he would return to the White House, as he was a man who fell from grace after his lies about his defeat sparked a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol. Ta. He was very isolated at the time, with few people other than his family attending the 21-gun salute he organized at Andrews Air Force Base.
Democrats, who controlled the U.S. House of Representatives, quickly impeached him for his role in the insurrection, making him the only president to be impeached twice. He was acquitted in the U.S. Senate, but many Republicans argued that he was no longer a threat because he had left office.
But Trump sought to maintain his political relevance from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida with support from some elected Republicans. California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who led the party in the House at the time, visited Trump shortly after leaving office, essentially acknowledging Trump’s continued role in the party.
As the 2022 midterm elections approached, Trump used the power of his endorsement to assert himself as the undisputed leader of his party. His preferred candidates almost always won primaries, but some lost in races Republicans deemed within their control. These disappointing results were due in part to a backlash against a U.S. Supreme Court decision that stripped women of their constitutional right to abortion, a decision supported by judges appointed by President Trump. The midterm elections have raised questions within the Republican Party about whether Trump should continue to lead the party.
But if there was ever any doubt about Mr. Trump’s future, that all changed in 2023 when he faced a flurry of state and federal indictments for his role in the insurrection, his handling of classified information, and election interference. He used this accusation to portray himself as a victim of government overreach, a claim that is not entirely hostile to institutions and existing power structures. It also resonated with Republican voters, who were becoming increasingly skeptical.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who challenged Trump for the Republican nomination, lamented that the indictment “sucked all the oxygen” out of this year’s Republican primary. Mr. Trump easily won his party’s nomination without participating in a single debate with Mr. DeSantis or any other Republican candidate.
Here we take a look at the candidates who achieved first place after the 2024 election.
With Trump gaining the upper hand in the Republican race, a New York jury found in May that the pair tried to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to a porn star who claimed they had sex. He was convicted of 34 felonies. He faces sentencing later this month, but his victory raises serious questions about whether he will receive punishment.
He was also convicted in two other New York civil cases. One charge is for inflating his assets, and the other is for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996.
Trump faces additional criminal charges in the muddy Georgia election interference case. At the federal level, he has been charged with attempting to overturn the 2020 election results and for his role in improperly handling classified material. When he takes office on January 20, Trump could appoint an attorney general who would expunge federal charges.
As President Trump prepares to return to the White House, he has vowed to quickly enact radical policies that will transform nearly every aspect of the American government. It includes plans to launch the largest deportation effort in the country’s history, use the Justice Department to punish enemies, dramatically expand the use of tariffs, and upend longstanding foreign alliances. It includes plans to once again pursue a feared zero-sum approach to foreign policy. , including the NATO agreement.
When Trump arrived in Washington in 2017, he knew little about how federal power worked. His policies were blocked by Congress, the courts, and senior staff who assumed the role of guardrails.
This time, President Trump enacts his policies without asking any questions, surrounding himself with supporters who arrive with hundreds of draft executive orders, legislative proposals, and detailed policy documents. He said he was deaf.
