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After a long and contentious battle between the Democratic and Republican ticket, Donald Trump has officially won the election for the second time, eventually becoming the 47th president of the United States.
The convicted felon surged past the 270 electoral vote-winning mark with 277, while Kamala Harris was only able to secure 224.
Trump, a twice impeached president, gave a premature victory speech Election night, promising that the gloves would be back on and he’d lead a united country– only after categorizing his critics as “enemies” and “evil.”
“It’s time to put the divisions of the past four years behind us,” he said during his 20-minute speech. “It’s time to unite … success will bring us together.”
Both campaigns have had several hiccups. Donald Trump announced he was running back in 2022 while sitting president Joe Biden didn’t officially announce his candidacy until 2023.
However, things began to break down this past summer, starting with Joe Biden’s poor performance in the first presidential debate. He lost his train of thought, misspoke, and stumbled over his words.
Nearly a month later, he withdrew from the race, naming his vice president, Kamala Harris, to take his place. This made her the first Black South Asian and woman to get this close to becoming the leader of the free world.
In turn, former president Trump had a new aim for the Democrats: to attack Harris’ race.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black,” he said at the National Association of Black Journalists conference (NABJ.)
Trump’s running mate, JD Vance –which he chose in July– instead aimed at her sex, referring to her and others on the left as “childless cat ladies.”
In August, Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, who continued with the barbs, infamously referring to the republican ticket as “weird” and a Trump cheerleader and Tesla founder Elon Musk as a “dipsh-t.”
Only did the harmful rhetoric temporarily stop when Trump survived an assassination attempt on July 14 while at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania,– a swing state. He was shot in the ear, quickly covered by the Secret Service, and rushed off. Then, in December, a second attempt was made on his life while golfing at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
From there, both held rallies filled with star-studded guests. The sports world came out supporting Kamala, including basketball superstars LeBron James and Steph Curry, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, and Beyoncé.
MAGA endorses proved to be more divisive, like Hulk Hogan, Joe Rogan, Brett Favre, Elon Musk, and comedian Tony Hinchliffe, whose joke about calling Puerto Rico “a floating piece of garbage” at MSG drew wide condemnation.
But as the results of battleground states began to pour in—especially with Pennsylvania going to Trump—it became clear it would be called for him.
See how social media is reacting to Trump once again becoming president-elect below.
