Donald Trump thanks his staff at his campaign headquarters on election day, in West Palm Beach, Fla.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Donald Trump has lived his life with a horseshoe in his sphincter and a different set of rules. He was on third base by the time his umbilical cord was cut, living an early life of wealth and opulence, the type of lifestyle of which most Americans could only dream. When young men his age were being sent to fight (and die) in Vietnam, Mr. Trump avoided the draft first by seeking college deferment, and then by receiving a medical exemption for bone spurs in his heels.
He experienced a succession of remarkable failures throughout the course of his prepolitical life – events or actions that would drown the average person – and yet somehow he always ended up on top. He’d cheat on a wife, destroy his marriage, and then find a new life partner. His businesses would go bankrupt, and then he’d find a new lucrative endeavour. For years, while average Americans were paying their taxes and struggling to get by, Mr. Trump was paying zero income tax. The rules were, and are, different for the former – and now future – president Donald Trump. Mr. Invincible has won again.
Mr. Trump pulled off a spectacular feat on election day. He won not simply by the skin of his teeth, as many polls predicted, but rather decisively, flipping swing states including Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He also managed to win over a majority of Americans – the first time the Republicans have won the popular vote in 20 years.
And yet, by any normal, objective measure, Mr. Trump should not have won this election. This was the first time the Republican Party has run the same person at the top of its ticket for three successive campaigns, the first time a president who failed to win re-election has been trusted to try his hand at winning again. During the midterm elections in 2022, Mr. Trump’s endorsements of individual candidates were a mixed bag: a boon for some, but also a burden for many. Republicans at the time began to seriously reflect on the idea that the former president was dragging them down.
The fact that a twice-impeached former president who turned on his own vice-president and incited a coup at the U.S. Capitol had not become persona non grata in mainstream Republican circles was a feat unto itself. Mr. Trump’s horseshoe came in handy again throughout the course of the campaign. He survived not one, but two assassination attempts over the course of a few weeks. Days after his debate with President Joe Biden, during which Mr. Biden attempted (but largely failed) to attack Mr. Trump over his criminal convictions (which, again, would have disqualified any normal political candidate), the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stunning ruling granting presidents and former presidents broad immunity from convictions for official acts carried out during their presidencies.
The Trump campaign offered little by way of a tangible framework for improving American lives. Indeed, the banner under which Mr. Trump appeared during his Madison Square Garden Rally – the one that read, simply, “Trump Will Fix It” – was perfectly emblematic of his campaign: Mr. Trump has solutions, but no specifics. He promised Americans he will deport “millions” of illegal immigrants, somehow. He said will end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of being elected, by doing … something. (Notably, he declined to say he hoped Ukraine would win the war when asked during the presidential debate with Vice-President Kamala Harris.) Mr. Trump said he has “concepts of a plan” for health care reform. He said he will bring down mortgage rates, even though the president doesn’t control mortgage rates. While Ms. Harris was expected to provide details on her plan, Mr. Invincible went golfing.
Mr. Trump has triumphed despite a comedian at his rally, in the final days of the campaign, insulting Puerto Ricans as living on a “floating island of garbage.” He survived an erratic and off-message debate performance. He persisted even after his former and longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, told The New York Times that he meets the definition of a fascist. He navigated the disorientation of a top-of-the-Democratic-ticket switch, and eventually found substantive lines of attack against Ms. Harris. Yet despite this, Mr. Trump has found his way to the White House once again.
People like Donald Trump are the living manifestation of the axiom that life isn’t fair. Some people break all the rules (and sometimes, the laws), shun all the norms, lie, steal, and cheat, and then, in the end, get rewarded anyway. The next U.S. president has demonstrated he has nine lives. And if we take him at his word, he plans to really make the most of this next one.