2024 US presidential elections: Trump triumphs in a comeback for the ages

TOI correspondent from Washington: In the greatest comeback in American political history, MAGA supremo Donald Trump is returning to the White House for a second term with a victory for the ages.
The Republican candidate defeated Democratic nominee and incumbent vice-president Kamala Harris 277-224 in the electoral college in an epic rebound, defying two assassination attempts and overcoming almost four years of legal and political adversity after being rejected by voters in 2020, when he lost 232-306.

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In a tense, tight, and titanic struggle Trump overcame Kamala Harris by rousing his white rural base to the voting booth with his promise to “Make America Great Again” by recapturing its manufacturing mojo and shutting down illegal immigration. In more than 1000 rural counties across America, he outperformed his own numbers in 2020 and 2016 by 2-3 per cent.

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At the same time, Kamala Harris underperformed Joe Biden in urban and suburban counties by 2-3 per cent, unable to extricate herself from the albatross of incumbency and overcome the reluctance of male voters to entrust the White House to the first woman of color to run for the presidency.
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It is the second time in a decade that American voters have denied the White House to a female candidate after rejecting Hillary Clinton through the electoral college in 2016.
Trump’s victory is so comprehensive that he is on track to win the nationwide popular vote, something he failed to do in 2016, when he lost by nearly 3 million votes despite winning the electoral college, and in 2020 when he lost both the electoral college and the popular vote by nearly 8 million.
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Trump is also poised to potentially score a trifecta, with Republicans retaking the 100-member Senate and perhaps holding on to the 435-member House of Representatives (whose results will take days to finalize), along with recapturing the White House. Holding all three, along with a 6-3 conservative majority in the Supreme Court, will enable the MAGA supremo to fundamentally reshape the United States to align with his vision. The United States may never be the same again.
Early reading of broad voting data pending granular details suggests the American voters preferred a strong assertive leader, warts and all, to a female leader yoked to ruling dispensation and unable to distance herself from its failures.
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Male voters hewed overwhelmingly for Trump, with inflation, immigration, and incumbency playing a major role in Harris’ defeat. Black and Latino men did not turn up for her in the expected numbers. Remarkably, she also appears to have underperformed Biden in 2020 among women voters. In fact, in county after county, in state after state, she underperformed Biden, who ceded the Democratic nomination to her because of age-related issues. In contrast, almost everywhere Trump performed better than he did in 2016 and 2020.
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Trump becomes only the second President in US history to win a second non-consecutive term after a four year gap, after Grover Cleveland became the 22nd and 24th President in 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. The numbers 45 and 47 will adorn Trump’s name in the White House scroll of Presidents.