The historic character of Trump’s win is amplified by the success of the Republican party in wresting control of the US Senate and retaining the majority in the House of Representatives.
Although Donald Trump declared victory before the counting in all the states was complete, there was no political flutter about it. Full counting could take many more days, but Trump has a clear edge over the Democratic rival in most of the remaining states — Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin. He needs to win just one of them, to gain the required electoral college majority of 270. American observers project that he could well win nearly 316 seats in the electoral college. Equally important, Trump is securing a majority of the popular vote — a feat that eluded him when he was elected president in 2016. In the last two presidential elections, the losing party accused the other side of stealing the election. A repeat of that unfortunate outcome has been avoided by Trump’s decisive win. Meanwhile, international leaders, including the European president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, have congratulated Trump, lending quick international recognition to the president-elect.
The historic character of Trump’s win is amplified by the success of the Republican party in wresting control of the US Senate and retaining the majority in the House of Representatives. Underlying these gains is Trump’s major achievement in constructing an expansive and inclusive Republican coalition that had long eluded the Grand Old Party. Trump has drawn in a large number of minority voters who traditionally voted for the Democratic Party and heralded a significant political realignment in US domestic politics. The “miracle moment” is also a personal triumph for Trump, who faced unprecedented odds, making a rare political comeback after two impeachments, a slew of criminal cases and unremitting hostility from the liberal elites. Trump turned this hostility to tap into the growing resentment among the people against liberal condescension and the effort to impose woke ideologies on the masses. It is not often that a leader can engineer fundamental structural changes in a polity. Trump has done that by changing the nature of the Republican party and shifting the centre of gravity in American politics towards what he calls “common sense”, which emphasises border security, economic growth, traditional values, and peace through strength.
While his opponents at home warily note Trump’s tone of reconciliation in his victory speech, the rest of the world is bracing for radical changes in the US engagement with the world in the second term. In his first term, Trump sought to walk away from the established US policies in favour of free trade and security alliances claiming that the US was being ripped off. During the campaign for the second term, he has promised a more vigorous effort to reduce the massive US trade deficit by erecting a high tariff wall and greater military burden-sharing by the US allies. Unlike the last time, Trump is unlikely to be constrained by his advisers, many of whom were drawn from the mainstream establishment. He is determined to reshape America’s international relations and restructure the global order. Adapting to his outsized ambitions in the second term will test America’s friends and foes alike.
