Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris tonight in a remarkable comeback that will return him to the White House after a roller-coaster campaign in which he was indicted four times, criminally convicted, and survived two assassination attempts.
This is really going to be America’s golden age,” Trump told supporters in Palm Beach, Florida, as the Associated Press called the rally at 11:25 p.m. PT. Amid cheers from the self-proclaimed “MAGA movement,” he added: “America has given us a powerful and unprecedented mandate.”
Trump’s expected victory, which reveals a deeply divided nation, paves the way for the consolidation of executive power and, among other things, raises serious doubts about the future of American democracy.
Involved in the campaign this summer after President Joe Biden’s June 27 debate debacle that saw the incumbent exit the race less than a month later, the vice president will not address her supporters or the country tonight. According to her campaign co-chair, Harris is expected to speak early Wednesday in the nation’s capital
The 45th and now 47th president ran a campaign that focused on illegal immigration and inflation, but he has often criticized his political opponents, telling supporters “I am your revenge” and suggesting that Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on his staff under his leadership, deserved to be executed in past years.
In the midst of this campaign, Trump promised to be a “dictator on day one” of his presidency, focusing on executive actions to close the southern border and then move to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. In moves widely seen as favoring Vladimir Putin, Trump also swore to quickly end the nearly three-year war between Russia and Ukraine, which is heavily backed by the United States and NATO.
Trump will also face sentencing in a New York court later this month after being found guilty on 34 counts related to secret payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels prior to his 2016 presidential bid.
Still, even with all that, the majority of voters in key states didn’t mind Trump’s wild statements and outright lies during the campaign, even as his rhetoric became almost daily a source of alarm and warning from experts in societal movements toward authoritarianism. In the Republican Party, the condemnation Trump received in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol gave way to embrace, even from figures like Mitch McConnell. The Senate Republican leader had called for Trump to face criminal prosecution for his role in the riot, but ultimately backed him, even after the former president used racial slurs against McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao.
Trump also ran a relentless campaign against the media, continuing to refer to journalists as “fake news” and “enemies of the people.” In the final days of the campaign, the former president, who was happy to litigate, filed a lawsuit against CBS for the way it 60 Minutes He edited an interview with Harris, not even with himself, because he refused to participate in the program’s election.
In the final weeks of the campaign, John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, told the newspaper New York Times that he agreed that his former boss embraced fascism. Trump and his allies attacked Kelly as disgruntled, but the Harris campaign seized on the statement as another warning bell from administration figures who had previously worked with him.
At 78, Trump is the oldest person ever elected to the presidency. He is also the first person to be elected to a non-consecutive term since Grover Cleveland, who was president from 1885 to 1889 and 1893 to 1897.
But his presidency is widely seen as one in which he will attempt to install loyalists throughout his administration and, most importantly, at the Department of Justice. Special Counsel Jack Smith has criticized Trump for his role in trying to cancel the 2020 election, as well as in his handling of classified documents after he left the White House. The future of these cases is now uncertain.
Both Trump and Harris utilized celebrity endorsements in their presidential campaigns. Hulk Hogan and Tucker Carlson spoke at the Republican National Convention, and Elon Musk poured millions into the race for Trump. Perhaps the biggest endorsement for Trump came at the end, when Joe Rogan said he was backing the former president.
Mark Cuban, the billionaire surrogate for Harris, acknowledged Trump’s victory even before Fox News and News Nation called the race for him, and long before the Associated Press did.
However, Trump and the Republicans have record low support from entertainment industry donors. Only 11.9% of contributions went to GOP candidates this cycle, or $9 million, compared to nearly 87% for Democrats, or $66.42 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Related: Kamala Harris celebrity endorsement: List of celebrities who support the vice president
Trump’s victory came after his campaign, at least until recent weeks, was seen as more disciplined, run by political professionals Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. But the rally at Madison Square Garden, which fulfilled one of Trump’s dreams, instead became a crisis for the campaign. Warm-up speakers made racist and sexist remarks, including one speaker who referred to Harris as a prostitute and another, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who described Puerto Rico as a pile of “garbage.”
What Trump was doing for him was lowering public approval of the Biden-Harris administration. The Trump campaign sought to tie Harris to the president, capitalizing on a remark she made parallax where she was asked what she would do differently than Biden. She couldn’t think of anything, a mistake in an election where voters want change.
His campaign has also been relentless in ads warning of Harris’ liberal stance, including one that highlighted her 2019 support for sponsoring gender affirmation for prisoners. When asked about it, Harris said: “I follow the law.” She also pointed out that Trump also did that when he was president – the first time around.