DON 2.0

Trump returns to presidency stronger than before, but just as unpredictable

- MOHAMED ZEESHAN

As Donald Trump returns to power, much of the world is bracing for a repeat of his first term in office. Yet, in light of his own conflicting pronouncements and radically unworkable proposals, the new administration’s likely policies are still a wild guessing game.

During his first term in office, Trump ruled the United States in a style that defied convention and routinely challenged established norms, both at home and abroad. After his loss to Joe Biden in 2020, a sense of normalcy was restored, and many commentators assumed that Trump had been an aberration. In the years that followed, the former president was besieged by a series of legal setbacks, including a criminal conviction, which many believed would hurt his political future.

Yet, in this month’s elections, Trump defied all those expectations. In an astonishing result, Trump beat the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, by a wider margin in the electoral college than had been achieved in the previous two elections. In the process, he became the first Republican to win the popular vote in 20 years.

In securing his victory, Trump made inroads into all demographic groups that have traditionally been loyal to the Democratic Party. According to a New York Times study, large percentages of voters among Hispanics and African-Americans, rural and urban populations, educated and less educated sections, and both young and old shifted towards Trump. In particular, compared with 2020, Trump gained in Hispanic-majority counties by over 13 percentage points and in urban counties by nearly 6 percentage points.