When Donald Trump first ran for president in 2016, he made his ability to “get away with it” a defining theme of his life story—he claimed that he could run from New York’s Fifth Avenue without losing a single vote. Can shoot someone on the avenue.
Fast forward eight years and America’s incoming 47th president looks like Nostradamus, winning the keys to the White House on Wednesday despite incredible odds.
He is the country’s most controversial figure, having narrowly escaped being killed in an assassination attempt and, at 78, would become the oldest person to hold the Oval Office in American history.
And that’s before even factoring in the fact that he’s out on bail in three criminal courts and fighting huge civil penalties for sexual assault and fraud. Despite the victory, he faces sentencing in a matter of weeks on nearly three dozen felonies related to his 2016 presidential campaign.
Yet by defeating Democrat Kamala Harris, Trump has once again shown that he can defy all political and legal seriousness.
Many people thought that this time he would not be able to manage.
He finished last November with an average of 47.4 percent in opinion polls – a number that moved up just one point in the intervening year.
Far from moving to the center, he continued to publicly praise foreign dictators, while threatening fellow Americans with military retaliation. He reiterated his once unprecedented, now trademark claim that Democrats were trying to rig the election against him.
Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff called him a “fascist.”
For most candidates, any of these controversies, let alone the legal issues, would have been career-ending.
Yet for Trump, controversy is part of the show.
Even an assassination attempt on him at a Pennsylvania rally, at which he was left bloodied, could not stop the man whose self-branded persona has become embedded in the American psyche as the ultimate deal-maker.
Now, Trump is about to be reinstated as commander in chief of the most powerful military in history, despite a criminal record that would bar him from serving as a private in the military.
And his legal troubles may be over as the new president — emboldened by presidential immunity from prosecution — issues pardons, fires federal prosecutors and wins support from a Supreme Court dominated by his allies.
‘Enemy from within’
Born rich and raised as a playboy real estate entrepreneur, Trump surprised the world by winning the presidency in 2016 on a hard-right platform against Democratic heavyweight Hillary Clinton.
The Republican’s first term began with a dark inaugural address highlighting “American carnage.”
It ended in disaster when he refused to accept his defeat by Joe Biden, then rallied supporters before arriving in Congress on January 6, 2021.
In office, Trump overturned every tradition, from the trivial (what is planted in the Rose Garden) to the fundamental (the relationship with NATO).
Journalists became “enemies of the people” – a phrase he later changed to “enemies within” as he called for reprisals against all political opponents.
On the world stage, Trump turned US alliances into transactions as friendly partners such as South Korea and Germany were accused of trying to “betray us”.
By contrast, he has repeatedly praised – and continues to praise – Russian President Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
All the while, his dominance over the Republican Party grew, leading to the elimination of all opposition and his acquittal in two impeachment proceedings.
His loyalty to Trump deepened after he left the White House, with senior Republicans regularly visiting him at his luxurious Florida residence and the dirty Manhattan courthouse where he was tried for fraud this year.
unfettered flow
Before climbing the golden escalator of Trump Tower in New York to announce his 2016 White House bid, Trump was best known as a TV personality.
He was mostly famous for the ruthless character he played on the reality show “The Apprentice,” as well as for developing luxury buildings and golf resorts and for his wife Melania, a former fashion model.
The political upsurge was tremendous. But academics have noted parallels between their development and the growth of autocracies in countries where democratic institutions exist only in lip service, allowing populist strongmen to take power.
Millions were thrilled by his attacks on politics, his coarse language, his promises to expel illegal immigrants, and the gaudy glamor he brought to blue-collar Americans affected by globalization and deindustrialization.
Plus, according to a recent ABC poll, more than half the country agrees with Trump’s top White House aide John Kelly that the tycoon is a fascist.
In office, he enjoyed daily controversy, joking about changing the US Constitution to remain in power indefinitely. As he campaigns to return to power in 2024, he again called for the founding document to be scrapped.
Trump’s allies dismiss such things as mere rhetoric.
But Trump broke all precedent when he refused to accept his defeat in 2020, ultimately inciting a mob to storm the US Capitol while his Vice President Mike Pence went into hiding.
Unprecedented – but forgiven by enough American voters to allow the showman to get away again.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
