‘Golden age of America’: Trump stages historic comeback

Allentown, Pennsylvania | Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered one of the greatest comebacks in American politics to become the country’s 47th president, a feat that makes him only the second candidate to win two non-consecutive elections and the first convicted criminal to sit in the Oval Office.

Despite a tight race and a bruising campaign against incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump, 78, cruised to an early victory with what looked like a near-clean sweep of the all-important battleground states that decide the world’s most powerful job.

In tearing down the so-called “Blue Wall” of Democrat controlled states, he deprived Ms Harris of not only becoming America’s first female president, but its first president of South Asian descent.

Speaking after a victory party in Mar-a-Lago, at his palatial Florida residence and club, Trump said he would now seek to unify the country.

“We are going to help our country heal. This will truly be the golden age of America,” he said to chants of “USA”.

“It was a historic realignment, uniting citizens of all backgrounds, around a common core of common sense.

“I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve.

“We’re going to make you very proud of your vote. I hope that you’re going to be looking back someday and say that was one of the truly important moments of my life when I voted for this group of people, beyond the President, this group of great people.”

Despite an upbeat campaign which resonated with women and young voters, the relatively unknown Ms Harris struggled to cut through with voters because of a lack of detail on her policy response to cost-of-living pressures, the economy and illegal immigration.

Ms Harris sought to cast herself as an agent of change, and urged voters to turn the page on Trump, who she had called a danger to freedoms and to US democracy itself.

Trump, who won the popular vote for the first time in three attempts, galvanised his Make America Great Again (MAGA) base and appeared to win new followers with promises to slash taxes, deport illegal immigrants, slap tariffs of up to 60 per cent on some Chinese imports and repeal spending on renewable energy.

In a big night for the party, Republicans also looked to consolidate their majority in the House of Representatives and took back the Senate. Control of the presidency and the legislature will give Trump almost unchecked power to implement his policy platform. It would also give him the power to replace up to three Supreme Court justices who are expected to retire during the next four years.

Trump’s plan for massive personal and corporate tax cuts is expected to boost growth and inflation, keeping interest rates high and strengthening the US dollar, while also further blowing out the federal budget. Elon Musk, the billionaire boss of Tesla, SpaceX, and social media platform X, has offered to help Trump trim spending.

“We have a new star,” Trump said of Mr Musk. “He’s an amazing guy.

“We have to protect our geniuses. We don’t have that many of them.”

The Australian dollar slumped 1.5 per cent to US65.39¢ as the greenback hit a four-month high as the likelihood of a Trump victory strengthened.

Bitcoin, considered a “Trump trade” on the belief that he will regulate cryptocurrencies, rose above $75,000 to an all-time high.

The former president has already vowed to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet” and has even ventured into decentralised finance himself by promoting crypto venture World Liberty Financial. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency is also expected to benefit from deregulation, tax incentives and economic policies that favour digital assets.

Trump spoke in front of Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, who was a guest among the Mar-a-Lago partygoers, along with Mr Musk, fund manager John Paulson and property mogul Steve Wynn.

Ms Harris, who was only thrust into the race in July when pressure from the Democratic Party forced President Joe Biden to withdraw from the race, has yet to make a concession speech.

The presidential campaign again brought into stark relief a polarised, at-times violent country, with vitriol and abuse from both sides, but which most starkly manifested in an assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania fairground in July.

Police in September also foiled what appeared to be another planned attempt on his life while he was playing golf in Florida at one of his own courses.

Trump’s grievance over an imagined “stolen” election in 2020 underpinned his narrative of a corrupt Washington in a country in decline and overrun with murderous illegal immigrants.

On election night he again aired claims of cheating in the Democrat stronghold of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – a city where he increased his vote on earlier election races and a state where he was set to flip bellwether, low socio-economic counties such as Northampton and Erie.

Throughout the campaign, Trump persisted in his attacks on Harris’s economic management and failures around illegal immigration – two issues that remained top of the list for voters, with concerns around abortion rights, climate change and democracy as lower rating issues.

Trump announced his third tilt at the top job in November two years ago following disappointing midterm election results, which the billionaire blamed on the Republican Party machine.

He promised then to give Americans a “voice” and “restore the fabric of the nation” and that only he had the experience to win back the White House in 2024.

He has since fought 91 criminal charges including allegations of mishandling classified information and lying about it, gaining in polls after each charge.