Mr. Donald Trump has been re-elected as the 47th President of the United States of America. However, his second electoral victory also imbued him with several record-breaking firsts, many of which are not exactly complimentary.
Polls for weeks had shown a knife-edge race between Trump and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris.
As a first of its kind in America, Mr. Trump would be the oldest ever president at the time of inauguration.
He would also be the first felon president and only the second in history to serve non-consecutive terms.
Trump also faces sentencing in a criminal case over hush money payments on November 26, while the controversy over his denial of his 2020 election defeat by Joe Biden still persists.
But in the end victory came surprisingly quickly.
The mood shifted sharply at Harris’s watch party in Howard University — her former college and a historically Black university in Washington — as the results came in.
“I am scared,” said Charlyn Anderson. “I am anxious now. I am leaving, my legs can barely move.”
In contrast, the celebrations intensified at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and the watch party nearby.
Tech tycoon Elon Musk, who has backed Trump and stands to lead a government efficiency commission under him, posted a picture of himself with the Republican.
“Game, set and match,” Musk said on X, the social media network he owns along with the Tesla electric vehicle firm and the Space X company.
Millions of Americans had lined up throughout Election Day — and millions more voted early — in a race with momentous consequences for the United States and the world.
They were deciding whether to either hand a historic comeback to Trump or make Harris the first woman in the world’s most powerful job.
Harris, 60, had aimed to be only the second Black and first person of South Asian descent to be president.
She made a dramatic entrance into the race when Biden dropped out in July, while Trump — twice impeached while president — has since ridden out two assassination attempts and a criminal conviction.
She hammered home her message that Trump was a threat to democracy and her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans.
Trump has vowed an unprecedented deportation campaign of millions of undocumented immigrants, in a campaign full of dark rhetoric.
The election is being watched closely around the world including in the war zones of Ukraine and the Middle East. Trump has indicated he will cut aid to Kyiv’s battle against the Russian invasion.
