On Nov. 5, former President Donald Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election and named the 47th President of the United States. Securing all seven swing states — Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — Trump obtained 312 electoral votes, compared to Kamala Harris’s 226. Previously president from 2016 to 2020, Trump is now entering his second and final term as POTUS.
Trump’s 2024 election campaign centered upon a repeated theme of “America First, A Return to Common Sense.” Overall, the Trump campaign and pro-republican outside groups spent $1.4 billion, while the Democratic Party and Harris’s campaign spent $1.8 billion. Despite the spending differences, Trump obtained greater numbers in the polls, surpassing Harris in the election. According to TIME, numerous exit polls showed that Trump won immense support among Latino men in key states, increased his share of voters without a college degree and Black voters in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and overall, boosted his support from four years ago (32%) to a 54% majority.
Trump’s campaign focused on strict conservative politics, unmovable immigration controls and an emphasis on reviving the economic state of the U.S. Many have connected Project 2025, a 900-page policy list with a set of highly conservative social goals that expands presidential power, to his campaign. Trump himself has not directly supported Project 2025; however, according to BBC, “dozens of former officials from the last Trump administration — including many who might now be called to serve in the next one — contributed to the proposals.” Trump “distanced himself from the project” during his campaign, and when questioned on his stance on Project 2025, said on his social media platform Truth Social, “I know nothing about Project 2025” and “I have no idea who is behind it.”
Trump’s economic policies emphasize reversing “the worst inflation crisis in four decades” with promises to “defeat” inflation, improve fiscal sanity, restore stability, bring down prices quickly and reduce the cost-of-living. He strives to “build the greatest economy in history” as stated during his presidential election campaign. As president, Trump supports extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, set to expire in 2025, and recommends further reducing the corporate tax income rate to 15%, following the TCJA’s previous reduction of the statutory rate from 35% to 21%. He shares plans of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants to reverse Democrats’ Open Borders Policies that he states on his platform has “driven up the cost of housing, education, and healthcare for American families.” As for social security, currently individuals are required to pay taxes on 50-85% of benefits, and Trump’s proposal would eliminate all social security benefits from taxation.
Beyond economics, Trump’s campaign follows a strict plan to stop open border policies that he describes have “opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of illegal Aliens, deadly drugs and Migrant Crime.” His plan includes enforcing immigration laws, strengthening the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, increasing penalties for illegal entries and overstayed visas, and evoking the Alien Enemies Act to remove any suspected members of gangs, cartels or drug dealers from the U.S. He aims to bring back the temporary Travel Ban, a previously signed executive order in 2017 that banned refugees from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, North Korea, Venezuela and Chad from entering the U.S. for 90 days. It also halted the U.S. refugee resettlement program for 120 days. Trump stated the plan was “to end the child trafficking crisis by returning all trafficked children to their families in their Home Countries immediately.”
Trump’s legal immigration system also puts American workers first, prioritizing merit-based immigration, ensuring that “those admitted to our country contribute positively to our society and economy, and never become a drain on public resources.”
In terms of the environment, Trump’s campaign strives to end market restrictions on natural gas, oil and coal and has called his energy policy “drill, baby, drill” to support the increased production of these fossil fuels. During his campaign, he stated that he intends to get rid of almost all of the Biden administration regulations to cut carbon emissions, and repeal the Inflation Reduction Act.
Trump’s stance on protections for the LGBTQ+ community, as stated on his official website, includes plans to roll back numerous health protection laws previously established by President Joe Biden. He has stated, “we will of course keep men out of women’s sports,” and his platform outlines a plan to “cut federal funding for any school pushing … radical gender ideology.” Throughout his first term as president, Trump signed numerous bills to roll back trans protections, and emphasized an anti-transgender stance throughout his speeches, politics, and his written platform. During his 2024 election campaign, Republicans emphasized Trump’s stance on the controversial issue, and spent $215 million on anti-trans advertisements.
Trump declared his win at 2:30 a.m. EST during a speech in Florida, stating that he had led “the greatest political movement of all time.” According to Newsweek, the Associated Press called the race at 5:38 a.m. EST.
His sentiments for the future of his presidency were declared in his victory speech: “I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president. And every citizen, I will fight for you, for your family and your future. Every single day I will be fighting for you with every breath in my body, I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve.”
