Trump defeats Harris in a historic presidential election
In a close election that set the nation on edge for months, former President Donald Trump, has won a second term and the 2024 election, beating out Vice President Kamala Harris.
Former President Trump wasted no time early Wednesday morning, declaring victory from West Palm Beach, FL even before the race was called by most news organizations and as votes were still being counted in several battleground states.
“This was the greatest political movement of all time,” Trump said. “And now it’s going to reach a new level of importance because we’re going to help our country heal,” he added.
Harris and Trump were practically tied going into Election Day according to opinion polling. Early Wednesday morning, Trump pulled ahead by 51.0% of the votes. Harris got 47.5% of the votes, according to the unofficial count on Election Night.
At the polls in New York City on Election Day, some voters said they feared another Trump win could change the trajectory of the country.
Trump had previously served one term as US President from 2016 to 2020, during which he was also impeached twice. He lost his initial reelection campaign to President Joe Biden.
Earlier this year, Trump was found guilty in a New York court of all 34 counts of falsifying business records, becoming the first US president in history to become a felon. The trial centered around Trump snuffing out the illicit relationship he had with adult film star Stephanie Clifford aka Stormy Daniels with hush money ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
He continued to deny the 2020 election results throughout his time campaigning against Biden and then Harris.
Trump’s last rally in New York City ahead of the election, held at Madison Square Garden, was marked by racist jokes and vulgar speeches. Attendees were MAGA supporters like former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, former wrestler Hulk Hogan, and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). They took turns making racist and sexist comments about Blacks and Latinos –– including a notably offensive comment regarding Puerto Rico.
He has promised to lean into a far-right agenda, known as Project 2025. This includes a rollback of climate regulations, an expansion of oil and gas drilling, the mass deportation of people who entered the country illegally, a reduction in military support for Ukraine, tariffs on all imported goods and a large tax cut, reported the New York Times.
From our previous reporting:
Recently, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, called the current phase of their operation a “bloodless second American Revolution” but alluded to the possibility of more violent insurrection to carry it out if there is resistance.
The conservative document includes recruitment tactics to identify far-right Republican loyalists to replace civil servants in the federal government, a training program to prepare them to flout government procedures, and a “secret” 180-day playbook for future Republican presidents, said Seeberger.
While the House of Representatives is still in play, Democrats also lost control of the U.S. Senate which means that Trump will likely have a clear path to appointing more conservative federal judges as well as the heads of federal departments. One of the few bright spots was the election for the first time of two Black women to the Senate as Delaware’s Lisa Blunt Rochester and Maryland’s Angela Alsobrooks won their respective races. In New York two important swing districts were won by Democrat Josh Riley and State Sen. John Mannion.
Trump’s language and behavior during the campaign sparked growing warnings from Democrats and some Republicans about shocks to democracy that his return to power would bring. He repeatedly praised strongman leaders, warned that he would deploy the military to target political opponents he labeled the “enemy from within,” threatened to take action against news organizations for unfavorable coverage and suggested suspending the Constitution.
Some who served in his first White House, including Vice President Mike Pence and John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, either declined to endorse him or issued dire public warnings about his return to the presidency.
Black and Brown Americans and other marginalized citizens and immigrants face an uncertain future in a second Trump term which by all indications will be more conservative and have fewer restraints than his first term.
This story will continue to be updated.
Text from the Associated Press was also used in this story.
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