Donald Trump’s decisive presidential victory this week caps a turbulent four years out of office for the Republican leader. During his time away from the White House, Trump went from embattled one-term president facing internal Republican challengers and multiple trials to a resurgent president-elect with a broad mandate from voters nationwide.
Trump was at his most vulnerable in the wake of the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, when even top Republicans were questioning his leadership and actions around the certification of the 2020 election.
Those questions, however, were short-lived.
The former president faced primary challengers — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Trump’s own former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. But it quickly became clear that Trump’s hold on the Republican base remained dominant. Four criminal indictments, one of which resulted in a felony conviction, did little to damage his popularity and played into Trump’s own narrative that he was being targeted by a vengeful Justice Department.
Trump began the general election running against President Joe Biden, a man he cast as old and out-of-touch. After their first and only debate against each other, one that showed Biden struggling to score rhetorical points against Trump, the president stepped aside and allowed Vice President Kamala Harris to become the new Democratic nominee.
The sprint from Harris’ ascension to Election Day witnessed two assassination attempts against the former president, a confrontational debate between Trump and Harris and hundreds of millions spent by both campaigns to convince a small group of persuadable voters in key swing states.
Trump’s victory represents a jolt to American politics and allows him to enter the White House in January 2025 from a position of strength. Speaking to his election night party early on Wednesday morning, Trump claimed “an unprecedented and powerful mandate.”
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