Trump's Iron Determination
After his defeat in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump began to return to the political scene despite pressure from both within his own Republican Party for him to step down.
Trump announced his intention to run for the White House after the Republican Party's poor performance in the 2022 midterm elections. Prominent figures within the party blamed him for this loss, citing his involvement in the Capitol riot (the seat of the U.S. Congress) and his refusal to leave the political stage after his defeat in 2020.
Returning to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump, surrounded by aides and loyal allies, criticized everything, including the judicial system. He painted a grim picture of the country after he left office, predicting early on that voters who had not chosen him in the 2020 election would soon turn against the government.
At that time, Trump predicted, “I have no doubt that by 2024, the situation will be much worse, and people will clearly see what has happened and what is happening to our country. The election will be very different.” This was an early indicator of the evolving "journey to becoming the President" once again.
On the morning of November 6, 2024 (U.S. time), Trump’s prediction from years ago came true. Millions of Americans, including key voters in battleground states, cast their votes to deliver a historic victory for Trump. His comeback promised to reshape American politics in the near future.
Building Broad Alliances, Targeting Multiple Voter Groups
Trump's victory this time was notable not only for its magnitude but also for his campaign methods. From the start, his campaign team built new key political alliances for the presidential race. Trump worked hard to court voter groups that had traditionally been loyal to the Democratic Party, including homemakers, wage workers, people of color, and Latino Americans.
At the same time, Trump aimed to win over disillusioned voter groups—those who lived in America’s forgotten regions.
Moreover, Trump’s allies exploited divisions within the Democratic Party and its supporting voter base. For example, a Republican fundraising group used radio ads to urge Arab-American voters in Detroit to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein instead of the Democratic Party, due to issues related to the Middle East conflict.
Additionally, the Republican Jewish Coalition allocated $15 million to target Jewish voters concerned about the diminishing support from the government for Israel and the left-wing support for pro-Palestinian protests at universities.
Trump’s campaign aimed to win over Liberal voters, Bitcoin enthusiasts, auto workers in Michigan, as well as Black and Latino voters in the Bronx. Besides the battleground states, he also visited traditionally Democratic areas.
Trump offered incentives to key voter groups: no taxes on tips for service workers in Nevada, no taxes on overtime wages for workers, and no taxes on Social Security benefits for the elderly. He also tried to convince each voter group that the influx of immigrants from the southern border threatened their jobs and the stability and safety of their lives.
Election data revealed that Trump’s campaign team performed even better than expected. The results from younger voters were far beyond even the most optimistic predictions. When all the votes were counted, Trump became the first Republican candidate since 2004 to win both the popular vote and the electoral vote in a landslide.
Senior advisor Brian Hughes commented on the morning of November 6 (U.S. time) when Trump took the stage to declare his victory: “He built a broad and diverse coalition.”
A Stable Team of Aides, Consistent Messaging
Those inside or close to Trump’s camp explained his victory as a result of a combination of factors, not just his campaign team.
Two key figures in Trump’s campaign team, strategist Susie Wiles and veteran Republican Chris LaCivita, led his team throughout the election process. However, Trump's overwhelming victory on November 6 revealed that his success was not solely due to his campaign team but also several unprecedented events, including assassination attempts on Trump and the sudden withdrawal of Democratic candidate Joe Biden from the race.
The factors leading to the Democratic Party's failure appeared just as Trump had predicted two years earlier: American public dissatisfaction with inflation and weak immigration management.
Vice President Kamala Harris inherited the burdens of the current U.S. administration—Biden had lost much of his support while the U.S. economy struggled.
Leveraging Social Media, Controlling the Republican Party, and Partnering with Outsiders
Donald Trump engaged in several long interviews within the media ecosystem of influential figures.
Trump also opened a TikTok account despite previously threatening to shut down the Chinese social media company. He built an image of being close to workers by working at McDonald's and driving a garbage truck.
Trump’s campaign team succeeded in ousting the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Ronna McDaniel, and placing loyalists into key positions within the RNC, making the operation of the group easier.
A decision by the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 2024 allowed campaign groups to coordinate with outside organizations, such as Turning Point Action, led by Charlie Kirk (a Trump loyalist), and America PAC, founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk. Musk invested significant money and influence in the final months of the U.S. election campaign to support Trump’s re-election.
In late October, Musk's group spent more than $140 million promoting Trump, according to disclosures from the group to federal monitors.