Why Trump Won

The 45th and 47th President of the United States pulled off the greatest political comeback in history

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Madison Federalist.

On November 5, 2024, President Donald J. Trump accomplished the greatest political comeback of all time. Remarkably, he became just the second President to be elected for two nonconsecutive terms in our nation’s history.

It may be hard to remember, but he was not the betting favorite to be the 2024 Republican nominee less than two years ago.

On the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration, it appeared as if Trump’s political career was over. In 2022, the Republican Party had a disappointing midterm cycle. The following year, numerous primary challengers announced their campaigns, including Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and even Trump’s own Vice President, Mike Pence.

Trump’s campaign got off to a rocky start, and mini scandals like his Trump NFTs were laughable at best. However, Trump surely and slowly rebuilt his campaign to appeal to a broad range of Americans. Trump’s legal troubles began to clearly be seen as political attacks, helping people sympathize with him and his causes.

However, the day Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet that nearly ended both his political career and life was what guaranteed him the White House. Instead of doing whatever he could to leave the situation, he raised his fist in triumph, yelling “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, letting Americans know that he would never stop fighting no matter what was thrown at him.

Donald Trump began appearing on popular podcasts to help him appeal to young men. While this helped improve Trump’s personal image, he also ran on several popular policies that appealed to the majority of Americans. His tax cuts and deregulation appealed to the Americans who remembered how much better a Trump economy was than the Biden/Harris economy was. His proposals to keep men out of women’s bathrooms and women’s sports appealed to both Republicans and moderate Democrats who were tired of the excesses of the progressive Left.

However, Trump’s America First agenda was what helped him win most. Many working-class voters, especially in the Midwest, supported Trump’s tariff plan to help bring back manufacturing jobs, as he did in his first term. There was also high support for Trump’s foreign policy, which was unashamedly pro-America, whether we were dealing with allies or our enemies.

Under Trump, we forced our NATO allies to pay up rather than relying on the US to protect them. He argued that the U.S. must serve the interests of the American people in all foreign policy matters. Most of all, Trump’s immigration policy declared that Americans want fellow citizens to be put first. Trump has made it clear that he will do whatever it takes to impede illegal immigration because of the incredible harm it has on Americans.

Trump’s election was a bold declaration by the American people that the warmed-over progressive policies of the Biden Administration were not working. Trump managed to achieve the greatest political comeback of all time through his resilience, courage, and America First policies.