Last Tuesday, November 5th, 2024, President Donald J. Trump and his Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance were elected by an electoral college result of 312-226. This came as a surprise to many as polls before the election showed that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were leading by 1.2 percentage points. As a result, many people were dumbfounded the morning of November 6th when the Associated Press called the race for Trump by announcing that the State of Wisconsin would vote red.
Trump, who is currently 78 years old, will be 82 at the end of his term. Donald J. Trump has a long track record of trying to stay out of politics throughout the 1970s and all the way to the Obama Administration of 2008-2016*. During that time period he was a very successful businessman owning multiple businesses, having his own board game, a hit television show on NBC, The Apprentice, and appearing in the movie Home Alone 2.
*This is disregarding the wildly unsuccessful Trump 2000 campaign
He ran for his first term in the 2016 elections against heavily favored Democratic Party candidate, Hillary Clinton. This comes after bullying his way through the Republican Primaries and beating early favorite Jeb Bush. In this 2016 election, he won by a final electoral college score of 304-227, even though there were seven faithless electors (2 for Trump, 5 for Clinton). In 2020, Trump would lose to then-Former Vice President Joseph Biden, culminating in the infamous events of January 6, 2021.
This year Donald Trump ran a successful campaign with multiple key stops in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and other battleground states. This campaign trail helped to spawn some viral moments such as Elon Musk’s jumping on stage, Trump working at a McDonald’s, Trump driving a Trump-Vance branded garbage truck, and a large rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Although this was a successful campaign, it did not come without his controversies such as 34 felonies (which will likely go unpunished), survived two assassination attempts, and controversial comments at the Madison Square Garden rally. He will be assuming the Office of the President on January 20, 2025 at 12:00 pm EST.
This will be Trump’s second term, which comes along with some history as he is the first President since Grover Cleveland in 1892 to win non consecutive Presidential terms. This begs the question, who will lead the Republican ticket in 2028?
That responsibility may fall into the hands of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance (R-OH) who will become the first Vice President that is a former Marine. Vance, who is currently 40 years old, will also be the third-youngest person to ever take the office.
Vance began his career with four years in the Marines which included six months in Iraq. After this, he would then graduate from the Ohio State University with bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and philosophy. He would then go to Yale to pursue a law degree which he would earn in 2013.
The Vice President-elect also has written a New York Times bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy. After the success of his book, Vance decided to run for Senator in his home state of Ohio. He would have a troubled start to his political career, but would eventually win a senate seat in 2022 even while criticizing President Trump during his first term.
Vance’s journey from bestselling author to Senator highlights a broader trend of public figures entering politics, bringing new perspectives and sparking public interest. After last week’s presidential election, many students here at Pentucket have their own opinions about the outcome of such an important election.
All people that were interviewed were given the same question: How do you feel about Donald Trump’s win and how it might affect our future?
One anonymous senior answered with: “Good win for the economy and for the United States as a whole.” This person believes that some people on the left side of the political spectrum are slightly overreacting. The most important thing that they brought up was how they believe that the country will thrive under the new President.
This is a common trope amongst people who fall into the demographic of males aged 18-29. According to ABC exit polls, 49% of males in this age group voted for President-Elect Trump while women of the same age group voted 61% in favor of Vice President Harris. If women and men are divided on our nation’s problems, how are we supposed to fix these issues that were brought up in both candidates’ campaigns?
Teagan Hines, a senior here at Pentucket, believes that Kamala Harris was the best option to unite our country. She said that since Trump “filed for bankruptcy four times, and since he has gotten away with so much, he will run this country into the ground.” Her concerns lay not only with the potential mismanagement of our nation’s economy, which has been in a deficit since the Clinton administration according to CNN, but also with reproductive rights.
Reproductive rights have been a hot-button issue over these last few years especially with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision, overturning Roe v. Wade over for the states to determine reproductive rights of women. As of November 14, 2024, 13 states have made abortion completely illegal, while 8 more have placed bans ranging from 6 weeks in states such as Florida and Iowa, up to 18 weeks in Utah. According to ABC exit polls, 14% of voters surveyed identified abortion as their deciding problem.
These decisive issues as well as other issues such as healthcare, gun control, foreign affairs, and more have helped to shape politics for at least the next four years. The American people decided to elect Donald Trump in a democratic fashion and believe he represents the most balanced option for our nation. Although many people do not agree with all statements and stances that Trump has presented, it seems that a majority believed that he was the better candidate to lead our country for the next four years.
Only time will tell if that decision was correct.
