TRUMP CARD TRUMPS AMERICA

Donald wins historic second term as president after defeating Kamala Harris

NT Bureau, Agencies Washington; Donald Trump was Wednesday elected the US president for a second term in one of the greatest political comebacks in American history, four years after an election loss in 2020 that sparked a violent insurrection at the US Capitol. The 78-year-old Republican leader, convicted of felony charges and awaiting sentencing in a hush-money case in New York, defeated his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in a bitterly fought election. According to races called by the Associated Press up to 7 pm (IST), 277 electoral votes had gone to Trump and 224 to Harris.

Trump, the oldest person in US history to be elected president, crossed the halfway 270 votes-mark in electoral college votes with victory in the battleground state of Wisconsin. Addressing his supporters at West Palm Beach in Florida, Trump declared his victory in the presidential election, calling the mandate "unprecedented and powerful". "Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason," Trump said, referring to the two assassination attempts on his life during the election campaign this year. Amid cheers of his jubilant supporters and his family by his side, Trump declared that this will be the “golden age” of America.

"This is a magnificent victory for the American people. This was a movement like nobody's ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time. There's never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond," Trump said. "And now it's going to reach a new level of importance because we're going to help our country heal. We'll help our country...we have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly," he said.

Donald's win ‘a grave threat to human rights’ across world'

Human Rights Watch warned that Trump’s win poses “a grave threat to human rights in the United States and the world." The group cited Trump’s “rights-abusing record” during his first term, his embrace of white supremacist supporters and ideology, and his “extreme antidemocratic and anti-rights” policies and campaign promises, including to round up and deport millions of immigrants and retaliate against political opponents. “Donald Trump has made no secret of his intent to violate the human rights of millions of people in the United States,” said Tirana Hassan, the group’s executive director.

Trump may be even more lenient of Israeli abuses

While Trump has spoken about pursuing peace in the Middle East, his administration could be even more permissive of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and attacks in Gaza, warns Daniel Levy, head of the US/Middle East Project.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Levy said there is likely to be debate within a future Trump administration between those who want a “more assertive” American foreign policy and those sceptical of military adventurism. When it comes to Israel, however, “the Republican ecosystem is deeply supportive of Israeli apartheid, occupation and militarism,” Levy said, pointing to evangelical Christians and “hardline Jewish groups” that are likely to be represented in his staff.

Did gender play a role?

Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss in the US presidential election means that she has become the second female candidate to be beaten by Republican Donald Trump, despite mounting a historic campaign. For the analysts who spoke to Al Jazeera, Harris’s loss brought a sense of deja vu, echoing the defeat of fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. They stressed that Harris’s race and gender played a pivotal role in her defeat at the hands of former President Trump, whose political career has been defined by sexism and racism. “The biggest underlying dynamic in American politics right now is views toward race, views toward gender,” said Tresa Undem, a public opinion researcher focused on gender. Undem and other experts predict the Democrats will face a tsunami of backlash, given the stakes of the 2024 election.