Donald Trump has been declared the projected winner of the 2024 presidential election.
On November 5, 2024, millions of voters across America took to the polls and to ballot boxes to decide who would take over the position as the 47th President of the United States.
As the campaign trail kicked off earlier this year, it quickly became evident, that the 2024 battle for the United States’ presidency, was one of the most important in America’s history. After years of political discord, global inflation and a rising cost of living crisis, the US sunk more into social division than ever before.
One could argue that it was this division, fuelled by a growing sense of disillusionment with the Biden government‘s foreign policy as well as the previous president’s public battle with his declining health, that paved a path of discontent strong enough to carry Trump to victory.
This will be Donald Trump’s second presidency, after his shock win in the 2016 election saw him take out 306 electoral college votes compared to Hilary Clinton’s 232. And while Clinton found resounding success in the popular vote, it wasn’t enough to secure her position in the Whitehouse.
In his 2017 inauguration speech, Trump declared his election signalled the transference of power from the government, “to the people.”
“For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.
“That all changes starting right here and right now because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you,” he stated, before announcing January 20th, 2017 as the day when “people became the rulers of this nation again.”
Donald Trump’s Troubled Path To Re-Election
A Donald Trump re-election was considered off the cards after his defeat in the 2020 election which resulted in the subsequent January 7 Capitol riots, that saw a mass of violent protesters storm the U.S. Congress in response to Trump’s refusal to concede to incoming president Joe Biden.
But in the months and years that followed, and despite facing multiple criminal charges and a slew of serious legal troubles, his loyal following only increased.
In fact, the 47th president of the United States is about to become the first convicted felon to take up office, after Trump was found guilty of 34 charges relating to a hush money scheme during his 2016 election campaign.
Trump – who was impeached twice while in office – was also found liable of sexually abusing American writer E. Jean Carroll and ordered to pay US$5 million in damages.
Following the trial, Carroll released a statement that read: “I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back. Today, the world finally knows the truth.
“This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.”
Abortion Rights & Trump’s Role In The Overturning Of Roe v. Wade
Trump’s first presidential tenure coincided with a far-reaching conservative shift that extended to the halls of justice, with several conservative judges appointed to positions of power during his term. This paved the way for a significant influx of similarly inclined leaders, resulting in a conservative majority in the Supreme Court.
It was this court that brought about the landmark decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade – a women’s right to seek a safe, legal abortion – and led to protests around the world as women everywhere watched their rights diminish before their eyes.
The decision to overturn the constitutional right meant that women’s reproductive freedoms were handed over to state governments – some of which banned abortion completely.
The topic of abortion and women’s reproductive rights became a steadfast calling card for Kamala Harris during her bid for the presidency. The former vice president even went as far as to announce her commitment to reinstating the constitutional right if she was re-elected, as one of her first policies.
During this year’s presidential debate, the topic was a point of contention for Harris and Trump, with the vice president describing the decision as a “healthcare crisis.”
“Now, in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans, which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide healthcare. In one state, it provides prison for life. Trump abortion bans that make no exception, even for rape and incest, which, understand what that means: a survivor of a crime of violation to their body does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next,” she said in the debate.
When debate moderator Lindsey Davis pressed Donald “the most pro-life president in American history” Trump on the issue, he responded by thanking the states for making the decision.
“It’s the vote of the people. Now, it’s not tied up in the federal government. I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it, and the supreme court had great courage in doing it, and I give tremendous credit to those six justices.”
Harris also hit back at Trump’s claims that repealing Roe vs Wade was in line with what “every” person wanted, saying: “You want to talk about this is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the healthcare providers are afraid they might go to jail and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot? She didn’t want that … A 12- or 13-year-old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term? They don’t want that.”
While it’s impossible to predict what a 2025 Trump presidency will mean for women’s rights in America moving forward, we do know that the effect’s of the country’s abortion bans are being felt the world over. Especially in Australia, where reproductive rights have re-entered the political landscape in a big way – especially in the latest Queensland election.
Who Is Donald Trump’s Vice President JD Vance?
Many considered senator, writer and marine veteran, James David Vance an odd choice of running mate for Republican candidacy.
After all, the outspoken author of Hillbilly Elegy made no secret of the fact that he wasn’t Trump’s biggest fan, and some might go as far to say that he was even anti-Trump.
Around 2016, when Vance’s memoir catapulted him into the cultural consciousness, quotes from his X (formally Twitter) account read like a Trump take-down site, with clangers like “I’m a ‘never Trump’ guy. I never liked him,” and “I find him reprehensible” to “My god what an idiot,” as commonplace rhetoric.
According to the BBC, a 2016 Facebook message to now-Georgia Senator, Josh McLaurin, went so far as to say, “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole… or that he’s America’s Hitler.”
So how did Vance go from such a stance to being a ‘Donald Trump for President’ cheerleader after maintaining his scepticism as late as 2020?
Since the 40-year-old first-term senator from Ohio became Trump’s vice presidential pick, he took it upon himself to lead as “attack dog” for Trump.
During a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in July, JD Vance voiced his opinions on immigration, stating, “The real threat to American democracy is that American voters keep on voting for less immigration and our politicians keep on rewarding us with more.”
This article originally appeared on Marie Claire Australia and is republished here with permission.
