Trump paints America red again: 'I am your 47th president'

In a stunning comeback unprecedented in US history, Donald Trump has returned from infamy to win the presidency.

From a pariah in January 2021 even among his Republican Party when he egged on a mob to attack the US Capitol to illegally overturn the election in his favour, Trump now stands not just as the unquestioned leader of the Grand Old Party but is set to be the most powerful President of the United States in living memory.

The Decision Desk HQ and Fox News have called the US presidential election in favour of Trump.

In a speech at West Palm Beach, Trump declared his victory and announced the beginning of a “golden age”.

“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. This will truly be the golden age of America,” said Trump.

Stating the obvious, Trump said, “We’ve achieved the most incredible political thing, political victory, that our country has never seen before — nothing like this.”

In a campaign marred by unprecedented assassination attempts, foreign interference, and vitriolic rhetoric, and fears of violence , the US electorate has chosen Trump, a convicted criminal, over his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris, who was hoping to break the ultimate glass ceiling by becoming the first woman president.

That US voters chose Trump’s far-right anti-immigrant and isolationist platform built on a litany of falsehood, disinformation, and rhetoric so extremist that it would be unimaginable just few election cycles back is tell-tale of the trajectory that the United States has taken in recent years. The US electorate is no longer offended by a felon politician who boasts of grabbing women “by their pussy”, labels political rivals and critics as traitors and enemies bigger than foreign adversaries, and announces that he would allow Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to allies if they don’t do his bidding.

In the final moments of the campaign, the contrast between the choices before the American voters was clear. After reaching out to moderate Republicans and Independents throughout the campaign, Harris said that she would be the president of all Americans, whereas Trump’s running mate JD Vance called Harris “trash” — days after Trump called Harris “shit”. Earlier, Trump had called for using military against his critics.

In the end, Harris’ pitch fell on deaf ears as voters elected Trump.

As the Republicans have won the Senate and are projected to win the House of Representatives as well, Trump is set to have unquestioned hold over the United States . Even though the Legislature is a separate, independent branch of government, the Republican-controlled Congress is set to be a rubber stamp body as Trump has a grip on the party with few —if any— precedents.

Ahead of the Election Day, polls had predicted a narrow race between Harris and Trump , but results suggest that it’s a landslide victory for Trump. However, that was also not unforeseen. Experts had said that even though polls were close, the result could still be a landslide if polls shifted just a little bit .

As per current projections by New York Times, Trump is headed to win 306 Electoral College votes against Harris’ 232 — but that’s not all.

In the ultimate seal of approval for Trump’s far-right agenda, the US voters have blessed him with popular vote victory as well — unprecedented in successive recent electoral cycles where Democrats won the popular vote even if the Republicans won the Electoral College. As things stand, Trump is headed to winning the popular vote by 1.2 per cent, according to The Times.

In an all-round defeat of Harris and Democrats, the US electorate embraced the far-right vision of Trump and handed him unquestioned power for four more years — the time he would take to groom Vance into the next MAGA leader and shape the United States into his image for the foreseeable future.