Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will defeat his Democratic rival Kamala Harris and return to the White House for another four years, according to NBC News.
After losing President Joe Biden’s re-election in 2020, the 45th President Trump will now become the 47th President.
Trump’s victory marks a series of historic firsts. At 78, he is the oldest person ever to win a U.S. presidential election. He will be the first president in 132 years since Grover Cleveland to serve two consecutive terms. He emerged victorious from the possible the most expensive Presidential campaigns in history.
He is also the first sitting or former president to be convicted of a crime. He is the first president to be impeached twice and return to the White House. He is the first ever inaugurated president to avoid criminal charges in multiple active federal and state cases.
Trump’s victory deprived Vice President Harris of her own historic milestone: becoming the first female president of the United States.
It also represents a stunning political achievement for Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who won his first election just two years ago.
Vance, 40, was a Trump critic who became a loyal supporter and top advocate of the president-elect’s right-wing populist movement and is now first in line to succeed the president.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Erie Insurance Arena on October 14, 2024 in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Dustin Franz | AFP | Getty Images
If Trump follows through on his campaign promises, his second administration will soon begin enacting an ambitious and contentious agenda focused on deep tax cuts, mass deportations and reshaping relations with foreign leaders.
Trump also vowed to impose steep tariffs, claiming they would simultaneously increase U.S. revenues, strengthen domestic industries and deter unnecessary foreign competition.
Mainstream economists have repeatedly warned that tariffs, which are taxes paid by U.S. importers, will raise prices for U.S. consumers.
It remains to be seen to what extent Trump’s presidential agenda resembles many of the claims he made as a candidate.
He vowed to pardon supporters of the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He pledged that he would quickly bring an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a vague stance that could undermine the Biden administration’s policy of heavily supporting Kyiv.
He has said he would appoint vaccine-sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run health policy and invite billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk ) proposes cutting trillions of dollars in government spending.
He dismissed warnings from Democrats that he would behave like a dictator while in office “except on day one.”
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Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents during a campaign rally on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Evan Vucci | Associated Press
Trump’s election campaign was equally historic.
Trump survived an assassination attempt in mid-July when Thomas Matthew CrooksA 20-year-old registered Republican who had donated to Democratic groups opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Crooks shot and killed a rally attendee, with one of the bullets grazing Trump’s ear and leaving blood on his face.
Trump’s first reaction to the shooting was to pump his fist and defiantly tell his supporters to “Fight!” as Secret Service agents ousted him – instantly becoming a defining moment of the campaign.
Just days later, the game was rocked again.
In late July, after Biden announced that he would not seek re-election, 60-year-old Harris jumped to the top of the list of Democratic presidential candidates.
Biden’s shock decision makes him the first sitting president since Lyndon Johnson to voluntarily end his stay at the White House, a move he initially resisted.
The 81-year-old and his allies, including Harris, have vigorously defended his physical and mental health throughout his four years as president.
But the undercurrent of unease in the Democratic Party boiled over after a shocking debate performance in late June, when a weak and distraught Biden delivered harsh, stammering, slurred answers to Trump.
Less than a month later, with internal support collapsing and poll numbers falling, Biden ended his campaign by endorsing Harris as his successor.
The shift effectively recalibrated the campaign, forcing Trump to abandon many of his carefully crafted attacks and adapt to an opponent without Biden’s most obvious weaknesses.
It hasn’t been a seamless transition: Harris defeated Trump in the candidates’ one and only debate in mid-September, and Trump rebuffed her multiple challenges to face off again.
But polls are gradually showing an increasingly tense race, with Trump’s campaign blaming Harris for inflation and immigration issues that have dragged down Biden’s approval ratings throughout his presidency.
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