Donald Trump, in stunning comeback, redefines American politics

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. ? Donald Trump continues to redefine what is possible in American politics.

Impeached twice. Convicted of 34 felony counts. Ejected from the White House four years ago.

And yet Americans not only voted to send Trump back on Tuesday, they backed him more decisively against Vice President Kamala Harris than his 2016 upset over Hillary Clinton.

Even Trump was left marveling at one of the most remarkable comebacks in political history.

"Look what happened – is this crazy?" Trump told a screaming crowd of supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center early Wednesday.

The former president captured battleground states that for weeks had been considered a toss-up. The race was both improbable and historic.

Former Trump officials – including his vice president and military leaders – had warned against another Trump presidency.

Charges are still pending against him on accusations of trying to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump also survived two assassination attempts and overcame any concerns voters may have had about electing a 78-year-old man to the highest office in the land after he refused to disclose the kind of health details other presidential candidates have routinely shared.

'God is taking care of him'

Supporters gathered in South Florida as the returns came in were awed at how far Trump has come.

Stephen Hamilton, 58, a businessman who said he flew to Palm Beach County from his home in New Jersey to be part of history, said he viewed Trump as a very tough guy.

“Resilient,” Hamilton said.

Blake Marnell, 60, a salesman from San Diego who has attended dozens of Trump rallies in a suit illustrated to look like stacked bricks, said Trump will now have a decades-long influence on the Republican Party and American politics in general.

"His success will galvanize other politicians," said the man whom Trump has called "Brick Suit."

Some supporters saw a spiritual element in Trump's victory.

"It was very emotional - very, very emotional," said Rose Roque, 84, a retiree from Miami Lakes. "God is taking care of him."

The sound system at the watch party alternated between '70s and '80s rock and TV news broadcasts of election returns. The escalating cheers of the crowd hit a crescendo at 1:47 a.m. EST when Fox News projected that Trump had won enough electoral votes to capture the presidency a second time.

Some Trump supporters said the night reminded them of his 2016 victory over Clinton, the former secretary of state.

Others said there is no comparison.

"I don't think it's reminiscent of anything," said Hogan Gidley, a media spokesman in Trump's first White House. "This is the most unbelievable, most improbable comeback story in the history of American politics."

A precedent set by Grover Cleveland

Trump becomes the first president since Grover Cleveland 132 years ago to lose the office and win again four years later.

While driven into near-exile after the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, Trump quickly began planning a comeback from his home base at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. He announced his 2024 candidacy in November 2022, shortly after congressional elections in which Republican candidates did worse than expected.

But the mood of the country was in Trump's favor this year.

In poll after poll, Americans for months overwhelmingly said they believed the country was headed in the wrong direction.

Harris cast herself as a "new generation of leadership" and the forward-looking candidate who would work across the aisle and seek solutions, not political warfare, to address America's concerns over rising costs and housing affordability.

But given Harris’ status as a sitting vice president, she never fit the mold of a traditional “change candidate,” and she remained tethered to President Joe Biden – staying loyal to him even as Americans made clear they disapproved of his handling of inflation and migration at the southern border.

Trump’s victory puts the nation on a vastly different course than the one charted over the past four years by Biden, who beat Trump in 2020 in a close race that Trump still claims he won.

Trump vowed that if given another term, he would begin the mass deportation of undocumented migrants, seek retribution against his perceived political enemies, send the military into Chicago and other cities coping with violence, and impose tariffs of as much as 10% on most foreign goods.

Echoing comments he made on the campaign trail, Trump called his supporters “the greatest political movement of all time” and said his victory and the Republican wins in Congress had provided “an unprecedented and powerful mandate.” He promised to help the country heal after a divisive election season, stressing that “we have to put our county first for at least a period of time.”

“We have to fix it,” he said.

Contributing: Joey Garrison

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump's stunning political comeback