Following another eventful presidential election, Donald J. Trump emerged as the new president of the United States of America, beating out current Vice President Kamala Harris. According to Fox News, Trump collected 71.7 million total votes, while Harris collected 71.0 million total votes. Trump also secured 312 Electoral College votes compared to 226 votes for Kamala Harris, and as a result, Trump will be inaugurated into office on Monday, January 20, 2025, making him the 47th President of the United States of America. Both Trump and Harris had excellent presidential campaigns, but in the end, Trump would be the one who eventually came out on top. But, how and why did Trump win the presidential election race?
Trump’s most memorable event was an attempted assassination during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th. Trump narrowly survived the shooting when one of the gunman’s bullets hit his right ear instead of any of his vital organs. Soon after the shots were fired, the Secret Service agents surrounded and shielded the former president. While agents were rushing him offstage, Trump raised his fist into the air and yelled, “Fight!”. This was a very symbolic moment in his campaign because it showed Trump would overcome any obstacles that got in his way, even if that meant taking a bullet. This assassination attempt influenced many voters and Trump supporters.
Trump captivated voters with some out-of-the-box political stunts and rallies throughout his campaign. One such example is when Trump took advantage of a debate among voters about whether or not Harris did, in fact, work at a McDonald’s when she was younger, which is something she had mentioned at a campaign rally. Trump decided to work a day at McDonald’s as an attempt to show up his opponent. The publicity of this stunt likely secured additional support because of the funny, laughable humor in the act.
In addition to the traditional campaign speeches and rallies, Trump made appearances on streams and podcasts with famous influencers. For example, Trump was featured on Joe Rogan’s podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, and also appeared on an Adin Ross stream.
Rogan’s podcast is very popular among YouTube enjoyers and listeners of Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Trump came on Rogan’s podcast for around three hours. On the episode, Rogan and Trump discussed a variety of topics, including UFOs, Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Harris, dead whales, Trump’s presidential campaigns, wars, and television shows.
Adin Ross is a well-known streamer who has a large following on the platform Kick. Ross has been a big streamer for a couple of years, and despite some controversial actions and statements, is known by most teens. Trump appeared on Ross’ stream for around 90 minutes at Trump’s home in Florida. Ross and Trump discussed world leaders, politics, and other current events. Ross even gifted Trump a Rolex watch and a Cyber Truck, which is one of Elon Musk’s new electric vehicles.
Trump did many more interviews, streams, and podcasts with other famous influencers and celebrities. Some of these interviews or celebrities were seen as controversial, while others were not. Out of all of these celebrity interviews, Ross’ and Rogan’s were the most well-known and most likely influenced the votes of many young people.
Harris had a wonderful presidential campaign as well, with many rallies, speeches, and memorable dance moves. However, Harris did not have as much campaign time because she was elected the democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Harris had only about 100 days to campaign, limiting her time for action to gain support. Having less time to campaign after President Biden dropped out of the election race hurt Harris the most in the end. Late in the race, President Biden also made public comments likening Trump supporters to “garbage”. Political experts believe that rallied support for Trump in the same way it did when Hillary Clinton referred to Trump supporters as “deplorables” during the 2016 presidential campaign.
This event of Biden talking down on Trump supporters inspired Trump to do another interesting out-of-the-box political stunt: driving a garbage truck. Adorned in an orange and yellow safety jacket, Trump sat in the passenger seat of a white garbage truck bearing his name to answer several questions from reporters. During the interview, Trump said “How do you like my garbage truck? This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.” Many Trump supporters found this act very humorous and entertaining, likely solidifying more votes among the blue-collar, working-class voters.
All in all, Trump won because he had more time for his presidential campaign, a ton of supporters backing him up, he almost got assassinated, and he pulled a lot of interesting out-of-the-box political stunts. Harris lost because she didn’t have enough time to campaign. But, Harris can always run for the next presidential election in 2028.
