Former President and Republican candidate Donald J Trump has won the presidential elections, beating Vice President Kamala Harris and staging a historic comeback after losing the controversial 2020 elections.
- •Trump won both the popular vote and the Electoral College votes, after winning all the swing states Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
- •He will replace outgoing President Joe Biden, who ascended to the seat after defeating Trump in the 2020 election and withdrew from the race earlier this year.
- •The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP) also won a majority in the Senate.
This will also be President Trump’s last term, as he is constitutionally limited to two four-year terms. He becomes the second president in US history to serve non-consecutive terms after President Grover Cleveland’s (1885 – 1889) and (1893 – 1897) wins.
Global leaders are sending in congratulatory messages to Donald Trump. They so far include the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Stramer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
“Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback! Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.This is a huge victory,” Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country’s year-long retaliatory war on Gaza and escalating regional fronts were a major issue in the US elections, posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
Orban, who shares a tough immigration stance to Donald Trump, also posted on his X account saying:
“The biggest comeback in US political history! Congratulations to President @realDonaldTrump on his enormous win. A much needed victory for the World!”
The Win in the Senate
The Republican Party is poised to win a majority in the Senate run after four years of being unable to control the house. The Democrats needed to defend more than 20 seats in the house to maintain their strength in the Senate. Controlling the house meant a lot for both parties as it is the power to legislate or veto key policies.
Aside from the swing States, Trump has also emerged victorious in most of the American South – winning Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Oklahoma. He also clinched the Dakotas (North and South), Iowa, Ohio, Nebraska, Utah, and Kentucky among others.
Vice-President Kamala Harris has won in states like California, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, District of Columbia, New York, Vermont, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Illinois. President Donald Trump will be deputised by Vice President J.D Vance, who is currently serving as senator for Ohio.
Trump’s Second Term Policies
President Trump’s major policies will oscillate between immigration and trade, as his overacting policy bent tends to be more inward-looking. His priorities will be to strengthen border security to prevent unmitigated entry at the south border with Mexico. He has also pledged to undertake the biggest deportation exercise in the history of the US. During the Biden presidency, hundreds of thousands of immigrants entered the US illegally, straining resources of the cities they were hosted in, and prompting concerns about gangs from South America causing havoc to local communities.
Trump also intends to end inflation by cutting federal spending and removing lofty regulations that stifle the growth of businesses. He still believes strongly in the efficacy of tariffs on imported goods, which he says will bring about a revival in American industry. Despite criticism from economists that this would raise prices of basic goods, President Biden’s high tariffs on Chinese EVs watered down the resolve by Democrats to use this critique.
Together, let’s work for the betterment of our people and to promote global peace, stability and prosperity,” India’s PM Narendra Modi said in a congratulatory message.
On the foreign policy front, Trump believes that Biden watched helplessly as geopolitical conflict heightened in Ukraine and Palestine. He intends to foster deals that would quell the conflicts but this is a tall order. The two conflicts have split rivalling factions in both the Republican and Democrat parties, where some wish for support for Ukraine and Israel with others demanding cessation of any funding for these wars.
“I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the “peace through strength” approach in global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer. I am hopeful that we will put it into action together,” President Zelensky said in a statement posted on X.
What it Means for Kenya
An early April poll by The Kenyan Wall Street of over 1, 000 Kenyan professionals showed that Donald Trump was leading incumbent Joe Biden by nearly double among the respondents.
Although Kenyan citizens’ opinions on the election had no material effect, the results illustrate the deep global interest in what happens in US elections. The US election will influence five key factors here in Kenya: Economic Relations, Foreign Aid and Investment, Diplomatic Relations, Global Influence, and Security Cooperation.
All these factors have the potential to visibly impact the lives of Kenyans. Since President Ruto’s election in 2022, Kenyan government and private-sector representatives have taken numerous trips to the US. Read More.
In June, under President Biden’s support and with Washington’s funding, Kenya deployed 400 police officers to help fight gangs in Haiti. Nairobi is set to deploy 600 more officers this month, President William Ruto said while meeting Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille in the Kenyan capital in October. Although it is a UN Security Council-approved mission, it is not under the United Nations, meaning that it is heavily dependent on Washington and other voluntary donors.
In May, Presidents Ruto and Biden signed a raft of investment deals during the former’s state visit to the United States. Such deals may now be up for review, or not rank in President Trump’s priority list as he embarks on his second term. Read More
