Donald J. Trump is the new US president, winning enough Electoral College votes (270 are needed to win) to claim the 2024 election. He won the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin. He was previously president from 2017 to 2021.
Supporters regard the Republican president-elect as a savior and hero, willing to defend their values against liberals in the United States. Critics, in turn, pointed out he is a convicted criminal and followed his election campaigns with bewilderment and expressed shock over what they call his radical policies, unstatesmanlike conduct, and impulsive use of social media in and out of office.
In the campaign preceding the 2024 election, Trump had, for example, made waves with the statement that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing neighbors' cats and dogs to eat them, a claim that was proven false.
While what awaits the US and the rest of the world during Trump's second term is unpredictable, a look back at his first term and beyond could provide some insight into what's to come.
Trump's supporters have remained by the president's side. When Trump refused to accept that he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden and claimed it was "stolen" from him, large numbers of conservatives believed him. Numerous reviews proved that claim to be untrue. Still, Trump stuck to the narrative that Democrats had committed election fraud despite all the courts where such claims were brought rejecting the accusations.
On January 6, 2021, a group of right-wing extremists and Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, in an attempt to stop the formal certification of Biden's election win. Earlier that day, Trump had given a speech in front of thousands of supporters in which he repeated his false claims and said, "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." This and his persistent lies about election fraud were viewed by observers as having encouraged the violent mob to act.
On January 13, 2021, a week before the end of his first term, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection. Ten Republican........