The results of Wednesday’s long-expected US elections are out. Despite what was considered a disastrous presidential campaign, multiple criminal convictions, indictments, an assassin’s bullet, and accusations of authoritarianism, Donald J. Trump has once again risen to office in a remarkable return to power on Wednesday.
To the majority’s surprise, on his second run for the presidency, he marked the first time that a Republican candidate won the popular vote in 20 years after George W. Bush when he was reelected over John F Kennedy in 2004.
His victory illustrates the political comeback of a man with an infamous record of convictions and rumors of plotting to overturn the last election, who has managed to utilize the fears and frustrations of the people regarding the declining economy, the loss of the American dream, and illegal immigration to defeat his opposing candidate, Kamala Harris.
With one of the closest races in US history, the 2024 elections reflected the essence of America’s deeply divided nation. However, the division was concluded as most of the voters welcomed Trump’s commitment to limit all illegal immigration into the United States by “sealing the southern borders, to revive the US Republican economy with 19th-century-style tariffs and eliminating the income tax, and to retreat from all global conflict after telling Benjamin Netanyahu he’ wants the Gaza war over’ after his visit a week prior to the elections.
After his unexpected victory, Trump will once again be in office as the 47th president after his controversially leaving as the 45th. He marks the first politician since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s to lose re-election and later make a successful return to the White House. Trump has also broken the record for the oldest president ever selected at age 78, beating President Biden, whose mental competence for the presidency he has publicly defamed many times over the last years.
On Wednesday, the election results showed a clear improvement for Trump compared to 2020, with a red wave of states all across America with only a small number of exceptions. He has unexpectedly flipped the majority of the determinant swing states to his favor, such as Georgia and North Carolina, and even the so-called Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania- which has come as a big shock to many. The surprisingly significant victories have helped him far past the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win, now sitting at an unambiguous 295.
The deep-rooted division resulting in the victory of the controversial candidate has opened the door to a new era in both the nation and the world: the era of uncertainty.