Pracheth Sanka
November
He’s done it.
Donald Trump has won the 2024 Presidential Election, ascending, once again, to the coveted office at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. He has achieved a feat not seen in over one hundred years, joining Grover Cleveland as the only two presidents to serve non-consecutive terms. He also became the first Republican presidential candidate to gain a majority of the voter share since George W. Bush in 2004, breaking a four-election-long streak of Democratic dominance in the popular vote.
His shocking success arrived following several Election Eve predictions for a Vice President Kamala Harris victory. While many outlets stated the race was “too close to call,” notable pollsters and forecasters painted more optimistic pictures of Harris’ hopes. Ann Selzer’s reputedly reliable Iowa poll indicated a silent majority of democrat support in both conservative and swing states, and Allan Lichtman’s “Keys to the White House” predicted an incumbent party win this electoral cycle. Both The Economist and opinion poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight gave Harris a lead in simulated estimations, albeit with extremely tight results. Despite these grim projections for Trump, he had an outrageously strong showing, winning all seven battleground states en route to gaining 312 electoral college votes and more than 75 million votes.
The White House was not the only favorable outcome for Republicans, as they gained control
of the Senate, retained their narrow majority in the House of Representatives and maintained their majority of Governors nationwide, winning seven out of the ten gubernatorial contests. They won high-profile Senate races, namely in Texas, where the infamous incumbent Senator Ted Cruz won decisively against the underdog U.S. representative Colin Allred. In Montana, political newcomer Tim Sheehy prevailed against the long-time incumbent, the moderate Jon Tester. Both of these races were described as tight and dead heats in the lead-up to November 5th. Still, decisive Republican victories indicate the prevalent and enduring conservative ideals among the progressive facades.
President-elect Trump will now benefit from a perfect Republican trifecta, which entails a conservative control of all three branches of government. In the first two years of his initial term, he was gifted Republican command of the Senate and House of Representatives but battled against a divided Supreme Court. But now, with a 6-3 right-wing majority, Trump has the legal and political framework to enact his Agenda 47, or perhaps the more controversial Project 2025.
He’s also been busy building a czar-studded and loyalist cabinet to reign in the executive branch. There have been some notable picks among the bunch, such as Florida Senator and foreign policy hardliner Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security. Incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, a subtle and often off-stage figure, will head Trump’s advisory team. Rising the ranks as an election strategist, “The Ice Maiden,” as Trump has affectionately anointed her, has become a close right-hand woman on the campaign trail, a quiet character who brings order and competence to an otherwise chaotic campaign trail.
Further, Trump is not scared to appoint those new to government. His expected appointee for the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is a Fox News correspondent who has never worked in the Department of Defense and whose closest experience is being an Army Veteran. To streamline and economize government operations, Trump has picked two leading campaign partners to head the new Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. For Musk, the CEO of X and the world’s wealthiest person, this would be the first public position he’s held, and his contracts with the Federal government have raised alarms of a possible conflict of interest. Likewise, Ramaswamy’s closest call to office came with his 2024 Presidential campaign, a role he was ready to take on after being a career biotech entrepreneur and near billionaire.
These appointees highlight Trump’s vision for a devoted and dependable executive branch. His cabinet and advisory committee will be composed of people who won’t tell him no, an essential element in achieving his goals in the next four years.
This means the “Dictator on Day One” can quickly enact some of his most crucial policy proposals. Expect to see hefty tariffs levied—especially against Chinese imports—and a push toward a more protectionist approach to trade. Despite fears of large migrant detention centers and promises of a mass deportation mission, Trump will much more realistically use executive action to halt catch-and-release policy and restore his 2019 “Remain in Mexico” practice to reign in the crisis in the United States’ southern border. Also, look for Trump to use his executive power to majorly cut down the size of the federal bureaucracy, adding party adherents to the administrative state, and to pardon many of those convicted for their actions of storming the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, another show of affection to his loyalists and fanatics in his quest for a fully conservative government.
Though he needs congressional support for certain legislative measures, Americans should predict a continuation and expansion of his 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and more than likely see a steep decline in aid to Ukraine and an increase to Israel, which comes along with promises to end both conflicts as soon as possible. With the control of the Senate and House, expect a slew of conservative bills to be passed. Republicans have two years before the 2026 midterm elections to enact a hardline, right-wing agenda before their bicameral majority becomes jeopardized.
Though the future looks bleak for many Democrat and left-leaning voters, this election cycle offered some spots of hope. In Arizona, far-right MAGA devotee Kari Lake was defeated by Ruben Gallego, adding to a set of liberal policy-makers and executives who hold statewide office. Despite Trump carrying the state by 3 points, North Carolina saw Democrat wins in its high executive offices. Established Democrats Josh Stein, Rachel Hunt, and Jeff Jackson became the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General respectively, sweeping the top three elected offices in the state. In the State House of Representatives, Democratic wins can help break the years-long Republican supermajority, allowing Stein to effectively use his veto power to curb conservative policy.
Out of the ten states that left abortion measures to public referenda, seven codified or strengthened protections in their state’s constitution. Only Florida, which failed to reach the sixty percent threshold needed, and hyper-conservative Nebraska and South Dakota were unsuccessful in the effort to enshrine and protect abortion rights. Though eclipsed by the result of the Presidential election, these small victories provide optimistic outlooks for Midterm elections and individual state policy for the near future.
But in the end, Trump won. Republicans won. Handily, America’s left-wing lost, and for at least two years, conservatives will have a straightforward path to achieving their ideals. This will undoubtedly manifest itself in a Reagan-esque, populist call back to a time of American “greatness,” with streaks of protectionism and nationalism, a full fall into Trumpism by the Republican right.
While it is possible to gauge some of the precise ways this will come about, with near-guarantees of tax cuts and Trump loyalist appointees, the future does seem fairly uncertain, especially with some small Democratic shifts occurring across the country. What is certain, though, is that come January 20th, President-elect Donald Trump will take office, ushering in a new era of his dominance in American politics.