Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign

"Trump Vance" redirects here. For the Supreme Court case, see Trump v. Vance.

Donald Trump for President 2024
Campaign	2024 U.S. presidential election 2024 Republican primaries
Candidate	Donald Trump 45th President of the United States (2017–2021) JD Vance U.S. Senator from Ohio (2023–2025)
Affiliation	Republican Party
Status	Announcement: November 15, 2022 Nomination as Republican candidate: March 12, 2024 Official nomination: July 15, 2024 Election victory: November 6, 2024 Inauguration: January 20, 2025
Headquarters	Palm Beach, Florida
Key people	Chris LaCivita Susie Wiles Steven Cheung Boris Epshteyn Karoline Leavitt ...and others
Receipts	US$448,966,052
Slogan	Make America Great Again America First! Never Surrender! Make America Healthy Again Too Big to Rig Swamp the Vote Drill, baby, drill No Tax on Tips Make America Greater than Ever Before Trump Will Fix it
Theme song	"God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood "Hold On, I'm Comin'" by Sam & Dave "America First" by Merle Haggard "Y.M.C.A." by Village People
Chant	"USA!" "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Website
www.donaldjtrump.com (as of November 4, 2024)

Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States (2017–2021), successfully contested the 2024 U.S. presidential election. He announced his campaign on November 15, 2022, initially battling for the Republican Party's nomination. While many candidates challenged the former President for the nomination, they never managed to amass enough support to dethrone him, leading him to a landslide victory in the 2024 Iowa caucuses. Thereafter, he became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee. Trump was officially nominated on July 15, 2024, at the Republican National Convention, where he announced Ohio senator JD Vance as the nominee for vice president. The two initially faced off against the presumptive Democratic Party ticket of incumbent president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris. However, on July 21, 2024, Biden withdrew from the race. Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, with Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

Trump's agenda was branded as populist and nationalist. It pledged sweeping tax cuts, a protectionist trade policy, greater federal oversight over education, more extensive use of fossil fuels, an "America First" foreign policy, an expansion of presidential authority, a reduction of federal regulations, mass deportation of illegal immigrants, stricter law enforcement, an end to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and a rollback of transgender rights. While the campaign's official platform was Agenda 47, it was closely connected to The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, a playbook recommending an authoritarian, rigidly conservative state. In fact, many of Trump's campaign proposals were deemed authoritarian.

Trump's divisive, incendiary rhetoric drew immense media coverage. Characterized as populist, nationalist, Christian nationalist, nativist, and even fascist, it centered on disinformation, conspiracies, and fearmongering. Denying the legitimacy of elections and warning of supposed ruinous migrant crime were key talking points of his. Trump sought to establish himself as a political martyr who had been targeted by the political and media establishment, and that his campaign was one of vindication and a triumph of good over evil.

On the campaign trail, Trump faced numerous legal actions, culminating in four indictments and a criminal conviction. His campaign therefore faced a severe funding shortage. Court cases also arose concerning the former President's eligibility to run again in the aftermath of the January 6 United States Capitol attack, which was eventually resolved. Trump survived two assassination attempts in 2024. Many commentators state that these setbacks, unprecedented in American history, helped Trump's public image.

On November 5, 2024, Trump and Vance were elected president and vice president, winning all seven swing states for a decisive but not landslide victory. The campaign's success was attributed to a distinct appeal to urban, working-class voters, as well as young male voters, a broad racial coalition, an effective media presence, and an airing of the public's sociopolitical/socioeconomic grievances.

Origins

Background

Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign is his fourth, following a brief one in 2000 for the Reform Party's nomination, and two as the Republican Party's candidate, in 2016 and, subsequently, 2020.

As president, Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Democratic nominee Joe Biden. He and his allies in seven key states denied the results. They allegedly went on to devise a plot to create and submit fraudulent certificates of ascertainment falsely asserting that Trump had won the electoral college vote in those states. In the event that the plot failed to "work out," Trump would plan another presidential run in 2024. On January 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol building to prevent the true election results from being certified. The former President was thereafter impeached for incitement of insurrection, but was acquitted.

The Biden administration succeeding Trump's oversaw the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a spike in inflation lasting from 2021 to 2023, a surge in crossings at the border with Mexico, and the outbreak of two major wars in Ukraine and in Gaza. While the President began his term with an approval rating well above 50%, this would not last long. By September 2021, this had dropped to just 43%, according to Gallup, following the "chaotic" U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and a gradual rise in inflation from 1.7% in February to 5.4%. His popularity never recovered. By June 2022, inflation had risen to 9.1%, a 40-year high. Besides a worsening economy, Biden oversaw a worsening in the crisis at the Southern border, with 11.3 million undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. during his term. Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Biden unwaveringly aided Ukraine. He sent the nation a total of $182 billion in emergency funding. When the Gaza war broke out in November 2023, the President strongly supported Israel. These three issues: global uncertainty, inflation, and the migrant crisis, would be the focal points of the future Trump campaign.

By July 2022, amid the public hearings of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Trump was reportedly considering making an early announcement of his 2024 candidacy. A contemporary Intelligencer interview with Trump affirmed that he had already made up his mind. Following the August 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, many of his allies urged that he initiate his campaign even sooner, perhaps prior to that year's midterm elections.

Announcement

Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president on November 15, 2022, in an hour-long address from Mar-a-Lago. It came one week after the midterm elections. Those in attendance included consultant Roger Stone, businessman Mike Lindell, political adviser Jason Miller, attorney Kash Patel, as well as numerous members of the Trump family: Melania, Barron, Eric, Lara, and Jared Kushner. Notably, many of Trump's close relatives did not oversee the announcement, including Ivanka, Tiffany, and Donald Jr. Hannah Getahun added that "many members of Congress were not in attendance".

Trump's announcement was met with a mixed response from both Democrats and Republicans. He was perceived by many as a weak, beatable candidate, owing to his loss in 2020 and the failure of an expected Republican "red wave" in the 2022 midterms to materialize. This led several Republican officials to oppose his campaign, and several Democrats to warily welcome it. The conservative New York Post mocked Trump's announcement by relegating it to page 26 and noting it on the cover with a banner reading "Florida Man Makes Announcement". On the other hand, many Trump-aligned Republicans embraced the campaign, and many Democrats deemed it a threat to American democracy.

Trump was the first one-term president to campaign for a second non-consecutive term since Herbert Hoover (1929–1933), who, after losing in 1932, made unsuccessful runs in 1936 and 1940.

Fundraising

At its inception, Trump's campaign had over $100 million in funding. Its numerous vehicle for fundraising was Save America, a leadership political action committee (PAC), joined by the MAGA PAC and Super PAC. However, his legal expenses from his court cases would absorb much of that funding. In fact, from January 2021 to March 2024, he spent more than $100 million in legal fees from campaign accounts. In 2023, the year of Trump's four criminal indictments, over half of his financial donations were allocated to paying off legal bills.

While running against Joe Biden, Trump overwhelmingly lagged behind his opponent in fundraising. His legal expenses combined with Biden's plentiful financial hauls laid at the heart of this problem. At the start of March 2024, Trump's campaign had $50 million in cash on hand and Trump-aligned Super PACs had $52 million, while Biden's campaign had $155 million in cash on hand and Biden-aligned Super PACs had $64 million. However, Trump's fundraising eventually took a turn for the better. By May 21, Trump reported a total April fundraising haul of $76.2 million, beating Biden's reported $51 million and beating Biden's total fundraising for the first time. Trump and the Republican National Committee entered June with $235 million on hand compared to Biden's $212 million. Things again turned sour for Trump's campaign after Biden withdrew from the race. The new Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, brought in $200 million during the first week of her presidential campaign. In July, Trump's campaign and assorted committees reporting taking in $138.7 million compared to Harris and Democratic committees' $310 million. All in all, throughout their campaigns (specifically, since January 2023), the Trump committee raised $388 billion, while that Biden–Harris raised nearly $1 billion.

According to OpenSecrets, Trump's greatest donors were hedge fund manager and self-described "Reagan Republican" Ken Griffin (who donated $100 million), pro-Israel activist Miriam Adelson ($132 million), railroad magnate Timothy Mellon ($197 million), and, most notably, businessman Elon Musk ($277 million). Musk was not only the largest individual political donor of the 2024 election, but also the largest individual political donor since at least 2010, excluding candidates funding their own campaigns. He also launched a $1 million a day giveaway for swing state voters. OpenSecrets additionally found that the top seven donors of the 2024 campaign were "solidly Republican/Conservative".

Trump was noted for an "unprecedented" mixing of personal business and political fundraising. He promoted $59.99 bibles, $399 sneakers, $99 "Victory47" cologne, and $99 Trump-branded NFT digital trading cards for his personal, non-campaign accounts. Many campaign funds were also funneled into Trump-owned businesses, in particular his Mar-a-Lago resort and the Trump National Doral Miami.

Eligibility

Main articles: Presidential eligibility of Donald Trump and Trump v. Anderson

Republican primary ballot eligibility prior to Trump v. Anderson, the U.S. Supreme Court that established Trump's eligibility

  Case dismissed by state supreme court

  Case dismissed by lower court

  Decision ruled that Trump is ineligible; stayed, pending appeal

  Lawsuit filed

Trump's eligibility to run for president was challenged. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, Section 3, prohibits current and former federal, state and military officials who have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding office again, which was pertinent in Trump's case considering his role in inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. By 2023, the non-profit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and other advocacy groups and individuals were planning state-by-state efforts to keep Trump off state ballots. Court cases sprung up in multiple states.

In December 2023, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that, under the Fourteenth Amendment, Trump was ineligible from holding office and that his name must be removed from the Colorado Republican primary ballot. This decision was the first of its kind in American history. Later that month, Maine's Secretary of State followed suit and banned Trump from Maine's Republican primary ballot. In March 2024, following an appeal from Trump's campaign, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Colorado's Supreme Court ruling, saying that states do not have the authority to disqualify Trump or other candidates from federal elections under the Fourteenth Amendment's insurrection clause.

Agenda and strategy

See also: Agenda 47 and Project 2025

Agenda

Donald Trump's formal campaign manifesto was Agenda 47. It took the form of a series of videos on his official website outlining his proposals one by one. Seeing that the series was cut short in December 2023, Agenda 47 was primarily targeted to Republican voters during the 2024 primary season. His website's homepage contained a list of 20 campaign proposals.

President Trump’s 20 CORE PROMISES TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

• Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion
• Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history
• End inflation, and make America affordable again
• Make America the dominant energy producer in the world, by far
• Stop outsourcing, and turn the United States into a manufacturing superpower
• Large tax cuts for workers, and no tax on tips
• Defend our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms
• Prevent World War Three, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a great iron dome missile defense shield over our entire country—all made in America
• End the weaponization of government against the American people
• Stop the migrant crime epidemic, demolish the foreign drug cartels, crush gang violence, and lock up violent offenders
• Rebuild our cities, including Washington, D.C., making them safe, clean, and beautiful again
• Strengthen and modernize our military, making it, without question, the strongest and most powerful in the world
• Keep the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency
• Fight for and protect Social Security and Medicare with no cuts, including no changes to the retirement age
• Cancel the electric vehicle mandate and cut costly and burdensome regulations
• Cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children
• Keep men out of women's sports
• Deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again
• Secure our elections, including same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship
• Unite our country by bringing it to new and record levels of success

According to Philip Bump of The Washington Post, Agenda 47 was rarely discussed by Trump as well as the media. He notes that it was overshadowed by another presidential transition plan closely tied to—in fact, designed for—the Trump campaign, The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. It planned for massive overhauls to American government, steering it in an uncompromisingly conservative path and relegating much authority to the executive branch. As such, Project 2025 was condemned for unconstitutionally encouraging authoritarianism and moving to turn Trump into a dictator. Trump's campaign officials repeatedly distanced themselves from the plan, stressing that all outside efforts influencing a future presidential transition were "unofficial". Trump himself denied knowing of Project 2025. He went as far as to call some of its proposals "absolutely ridiculous" and "seriously extreme".

Besides The Heritage Foundation, other think-tanks and policy groups aligned with Trump included the Center for Renewing America, the America First Policy Institute, and America First Legal. Trump's preeminent public policy advisers were Steve Bannon, David Bernhardt, Kellyanne Conway, Richard Grenell, Tom Homan, Sean Hannity, Kevin Hassett, Brandon Judd, Kieth Kellog, Larry Kudlow, Robert Lighthizer, Stephen Miller, Stephen Moore, John Ratcliffe, Russel Vought, and Matt Whitaker, though none of them were formally part of the campaign itself. Vince Haley was officially responsible for overseeing the team developing the campaign’s policy proposals.

The main officials of Trump's campaign staff: Chris LaCivita, Susie Wiles, Steven Cheung, Boris Epshteyn, and Karoline Leavitt (left to right, top row first)

Key officials in Trump's campaign team

• Chris LaCivita, co-campaign manager
• Susie Wiles, co-campaign manager
• Steven Cheung, communications director
• Boris Epshteyn, in-house counsel
• Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary
• Eric Branstad, senior adviser
• Alex Bruesewitz, senior adviser
• Taylor Budowich, senior adviser
• Alex Latcham, senior adviser
• Corey Lewandowski, senior adviser
• Jason Miller, senior adviser, focusing on communications strategy
• Tim Murtaugh, senior adviser
• Alex Pfeiffer, senior adviser
• Brian Jack, senior aide, focusing on amassing endorsements from lawmakers
• Dan Scavino, senior aide

Strategy

Media

Trump's media strategy heavily relied on podcasts and online streaming. It largely, but not entirely, cast traditional forms aside, such as interviews on mainstream media outlets and even a 60 Minutes appearance. Rather, the former President would interact with podcasters and YouTube content creators: Theo Von, Patrick Bet-David, Logan Paul, et cetera. He would focus on apolitical matters: sports, family, extraterrestrial life, more than politics. This strategy suited changing media trends, as more and more Americans were resorting to alternative sources for news over mainstream media, as well as being adapted to Trump's "circuitous and colloquial way of speaking". Young people—especially men—were particularly dependent on social media and podcasts for political coverage. On the other hand, Kamala Harris concentrated on traditional media outlets.

By establishing a considerable presence on social media, Trump could home in on his tactic of dominating the news. His message was thus spread among more voters. According to Campaigns & Elections, right-wing influencers posted about 2.5 times as much as left-wing influencers throughout the election. Trump's media strategy also bolstered his image. By appearing on podcasts and YouTube videos, which are informal, homely, and unrestrained by design, he came across as approachable. They "humanize[d]" him. Jason Miller, remarked that Trump's media strategy, above all else, relied on "unscripted moments," which earned him more coverage and familiarity. Another benefit of non-traditional media outlets was that Trump could avoid fact-checks. For instance, in his interview with Joe Rogan, he promoted falsehoods about the 2020 election being stolen and exaggerations of his poll numbers. Michael M. Grynbaum and John Koblin of The New York Times noted that the "influencers he met with rarely challenged [him], and often lavished him with praise". Many of the most popular podcasts, including those that Trump had appeared on, would increasingly post political content with conservative messages in the leadup to the election.

Artificial intelligence

See also: Artificial intelligence and elections

A Trump-aligned committee sharing a deepfake of the candidate embracing a cat and duck, adding credibility to his pet-eating hoax

Trump and his allies extensively used artificial intelligence. In June 2024, Trump remarked that AI was "really powerful stuff," suggesting that he would deliver a speech written entirely by AI: "[My staffer] goes click click click, and like 15 seconds later he shows me my speech, written so beautifully, I said, ‘I’m gonna use this sucker'". As with the Harris campaign, Trump's team shared many deepfakes on social media. These, for instance, presented him astride a lion, or otherwise depicted his opponents unfavorably, such as one of Harris addressing a Soviet-style rally. Such fake images became a vehicle of disinformation, although some commentators note that they were not intended to be believed. Writing for The Guardian, Sophia Smith Galer argues that his campaign deployed deepfakes as "algo-fodder" to sustain his narratives on social media. Trump's campaign also used AI software to enhance efficiency. This included automating repetitive tasks and creating targeted advertisements. One such software, Campaign Nucleus, received more than $2.2 million in funding from his associates.

Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Donald Trump

Abortion and contraception

Trump struck a middle ground and often vacillated on abortion. This was done in an attempt to put the issue to rest, having greatly cost Republicans in the 2022 midterms in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overruled that June. He generally called for abortion's legal status to be left up to the individual states. Trump initially did not state whether or not he supported a national 15-week abortion ban, then leaned in favor of it, and then pledged to veto any federal abortion ban. When asked on how he would vote on Florida's abortion referendum, he deflected. Trump labelled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' six-week abortion ban as "terrible", and criticized Arizona's near total ban on abortion. On the other hand, he stated that he would allow Republican-controlled states to monitor women's pregnancies. Trump's stance on abortion pleased neither progressives nor conservatives, according to political commentators.

In spite of his equivocation throughout the campaign, Trump had previously called himself "the most pro-life president ever", and took credit for overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. He was the first sitting president to speak in person at the annual anti-abortion March for Life rally. In April 2024, Trump reiterated that he was "proudly responsible" for reversing Roe v. Wade.

Trump's ambiguous comments on contraception received extensive attention from the media. Asked twice during a television interview about whether he supported restrictions on contraception, Trump stated that he was "looking at that" and suggested that "some states are going to have different policies than others." Following criticism, Trump assured voters that he would not restrict birth control. At one point in the campaign, Trump pledged to make a statement on the 1873 Comstock Act that prohibits the mailing of birth control medications. He eventually ruled out enforcing the law.

Economy and trade

See also: Economic policy of the first Donald Trump administration

Trump's economic agenda featured protective tariffs, lower taxation, and reduced regulations. He sought an economic nationalist system, with the income tax largely, if not completely, replaced by tariffs to defend local manufacturing. Protectionism had been a priority in his first presidency. In 2024, he vowed to enact even higher tariffs, including a 10% to 20% universal baseline tariff, 60% on China, 100% on Mexico, and 100% on all cars made outside the United States. Analysts noted that the proposed tariffs were especially targeted against China, seeing that, among other things, he proposed a four-year plan to phase out Chinese imports of essential goods such as electronics, steel, and pharmaceuticals. Overall, Trump's protectionist program intended to transform the United States into a self-sufficient economy. Nonetheless, many economists warned of its potential dire consequences on the economy and global trade. 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists signed a letter warning that high tariffs, would "lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality". A global trade war was identified as a major risk.

One of Trump's key pledges was extending and expanding his 2017 tax cuts. These would further slash all individual and corporate tax rates, which he argued would stimulate America's energy industry and reduce inflation. Companies that made their products in the U.S. would see a reduced corporate rate from 21% to 15%. Furthermore, he intended to cut back on regulations he believes stifle job creation. A 50% reduction in energy prices was also in order. By October 2024, Reuters reported that Trump was "rolling out a new tax-cut proposal about once a week in an unusual rush in the final stretch of the campaign to sway voters". He suggested ending federal taxes on tips. Throughout October, Trump stated that he would eliminate federal income tax on Social Security benefits, end double taxation on U.S. citizens living abroad, and make car loan interest fully tax deductible.

In light of the post-COVID inflation surge, Trump campaigned on ending the "inflation nightmare". However, as was the case with Harris' economic proposals, economists criticized his plan for potentially leading to an increase in inflation. In the final analysis, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that Trump's plans could add as much as $15 trillion to the nation's debt over a decade, nearly twice as much as those proposed by Harris. Politico reported that advisors close to Trump drafted plans to devalue the U.S. dollar if elected.

Education

See also: Parental rights movement

Trump campaigned on largely expanding federal management of education, although with exceptions. On the one hand, he pledged to terminate the Department of Education. On the other, he suggested giving funding preference to certain schools and universities. Schools with a mask or vaccine mandate, for instance, would not be federally funded. Education programs that, in Trump's words, that include "critical race theory, gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content" would receive reduced funding. Such proposals formed part of the former President's plan to fight for "patriotic education." This, according to him, "teach[es] students to love their country, not to hate their country like they're taught right now," "defend[s] American tradition and Western civilization" and promotes "the nuclear family". Furthermore, Trump's campaign advocated universal school choice, arguing that parents should be empowered to choose the best education option for their children. In late 2023, Trump proposed an "American Academy," a free online university open to all Americans that would counter private institutions that "[turn] our students into Communists and terrorists". This would be funded by extracting finances from the endowments of private universities.

Energy and environment

See also: Environmental policy of the first Donald Trump administration and Climate change denial

Trump's energy proposals heavily favored fossil fuel production and consumption, with little, if any, regard for environmentalism. He encapsulated them under the mantra "drill, baby, drill", or "drill, drill, drill". Overall, Trump aimed to transform the U.S. into an energy independent country with the lowest electricity and energy costs of any country in the world. This aim was well-suited to deal with the spike in gasoline prices caused by war in Ukraine. He promised to increase oil drilling on public lands and offer tax breaks to fossil fuel producers. Furthermore, Trump planned to slash environmental regulations and initiatives. He would rollback all electric vehicle initiatives, halt all wind energy projects, and eliminate regulations targeting incandescent lightbulbs, gas stoves, dishwashers, and shower heads. Regarding global climate efforts, Trump proposed leaving the Paris Agreement, and drafted orders to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Trump's disproportionate preference of fossil fuels is influenced by his denial of global warming. In a 2022 Fox News interview, Trump labelled it as a "hoax," adding that the climate naturally fluctuated. He did not officially state how he would tackle global warming if elected.

Foreign policy

See also: Foreign policy of the first Donald Trump administration and America First (policy)

Trump's proposed foreign policy was isolationist (a label he denied), which he branded as "America First". In September 2024, Trump said that America's allies "treat us actually worse than our so-called enemies". He added, "We protect them and then they screw us on trade. We're not going to let it happen anymore". He vowed to impose tariffs on trade partners, which economists said could spark trade wars.

Trump promised to "fundamentally reevaluate" NATO's purpose and mission. Trump had said that defending an ally would depend on whether they "fulfilled their obligations to us", called the European Union a "foe" because of "what they do to us in trade", and questioned the value of alliances. On January 10, 2024, Trump said that "NATO has taken advantage of our country" and he would only support allies "if they treat us properly". Trump suggested withdrawing troops from South Korea if it does not pay more to support U.S. troops there.

Trump said he would not defend a NATO ally if they did not meet the alliance's target of spending 2% of GDP on defense.

On the Russo-Ukrainian War, Trump vowed that even before he is inaugurated, he will negotiate an end to the war in a day, stop the "endless flow of American treasure to Ukraine", and make Europeans reimburse the U.S. the cost of rebuilding its old stockpiles. In June 2024, Trump described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "maybe the greatest salesman of any politician that's ever lived ... Every time he comes to our country, he walks away with $60 billion ... It never ends ... I will have that settled prior to taking the White House as president-elect". However, it was pointed out that most of the money for Ukraine actually goes to American factories and workers who make weapons and military equipment. Trump previously said he might recognize Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, and suggested the 2022 invasion could have been prevented by Ukraine giving up parts of its own country to Russia.

Retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg and Frederick H. Fleitz, who both served in Trump's National Security Council staff, presented Trump with a detailed peace plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine. The plan aims to force the two sides into peace talks and a ceasefire based on the current frontlines. If Ukraine refused to enter peace talks, weapons supplies would be stopped; if Russia refused peace talks, weapons supplies to Ukraine would be increased. Fleitz said Trump responded favorably to the plan. Kellogg told Reuters: "Our concern is that this has become a war of attrition that's going to kill a whole generation of young men."

Trump brought in more pro-Israel policies than any president before. He presented himself as a stronger defender of Israel, and is seen as less sympathetic to Palestine than Biden or Harris. He vowed to continue supporting Israel in the Gaza war, and said that Israel must "finish the problem". Trump is expected to continue arming Israel, likely with "no strings attached" for humanitarian concerns. He promised to ban Gaza residents from entering the US. Trump said his government would "crush" pro-Palestinian protests, deport pro-Palestinian demonstrators, and "set the movement back 25 or 30 years".

Trump promised a tougher stance against China than Biden, but has also questioned whether the U.S. should defend ally Taiwan.

Trump suggested sending armed forces into Mexico to battle drug cartels.

In the last days of his presidential campaign, Trump voiced support in favor of the restoration of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, amid the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Government

Trump's platform calls for the vast expansion of presidential powers and the executive branch. In campaign speeches, Trump stated that he would centralize government power under his authority, replace career federal civil service employees with political loyalists, and use the military for domestic law enforcement and the deportation of immigrants.

Trump has called to bring independent agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission under direct presidential control. Trump's allies have drafted an executive order requiring all independent agencies to submit actions to the White House for review. Trump has called for presidential authority to 'impound' funds for Congressionally appropriated programs, a practice which was outlawed under President Richard Nixon. Trump promised to order the Justice Department to investigate political rivals and Joe Biden, and fire Attorneys General who disobeyed him. According to the New York Times, Trump has called for stripping employment protections for thousands of career civil service employees and replacing them with political loyalists if deemed an 'obstacle to his agenda' within federal agencies, the United States Intelligence Community, State Department, and Department of Defense. Trump has proposed instituting a new civil service test of his own creation to test the loyalty of federal workers. Trump has promised to crack down on whistleblowers who are shielded by law and create an independent body to "monitor" intelligence agencies.

Trump's plan to expand presidential powers is based largely on a controversial and not widely-held interpretation of the constitution known as the unitary executive theory. The theory rejects the notion of the separation of powers and that the government is composed of three separate branches but that Article Two of the United States Constitution gives the President absolute authority. The theory is noted to be in line with Trump's thinking owing to comments made in 2019, where he stated "I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president". Such proposals would be carried out via the reintroduction of Schedule F that was originally introduced at the end of Trump's former presidency, which would strip civil service protections of tens of thousands of civil servants to be at-will appointments filled with Trump loyalists identified by Project 2025 of The Heritage Foundation. The reforms have been described as a reimposition of the Jacksonian spoils system. Trump has stated his intention to see these reforms completed in order to root out the "deep state", stating: "We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. And we will throw off the sick political class that hates our country". His proposal has been widely criticized as dangerous for democracy and likely to result in dysfunction through more bad hiring decisions, with his first administration setting the record for the highest turnover rate in any administration.

Trump and his allies have reportedly drafted executive orders to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act on the first day of his presidency to allow the military to shut down civil demonstrations against him. Campaigning in Iowa, Trump stated he would deploy the military in Democratic cities and states. The Insurrection Act would be used to allow the military to detain migrants at the southern border. Trump has suggested overriding the Posse Comitatus Act.

On April 26, 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported Trump allies plan on greatly limiting the independence of the Federal Reserve should Trump win the election. Of particular note were plans to allow the president to directly set interest rates, remove Chair Jerome Powell before his term expires in 2026, and subject the Fed to oversight from the OMB. Trump stated in a press conference in August 2024 at Mar-a-Lago that he "[feels] the president should have at least [a] say in there" with respect to Federal Reserve interest rate decisions.

(EFFICIENCY) Trump pledged to appoint Elon Musk to chair Federal Efficiency Commission. Trump said the commission would audit the entire federal government and propose "dramatic reforms". Musk has also officially announced that he will accept the appointment if Trump is elected. Everett Kelley, president of a union representing federal government workers, criticized the proposal, saying "There's nothing efficient about that". Trump vowed to achieve his long-held goal of drastic reform by minimizing government and cutting red tape government regulations, which he says are the bureaucracies that are holding back American prosperity. He suggested shutting down multiple departments for "bureaucratic waste".

Healthcare and welfare programs

Trump's key message on healthcare was a call to "Make America Healthy Again," a slogan borrowed from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who endorsed the former President. To do so, he would tackle the chronic disease epidemic by going after the pharmaceutical industry and ultraprocessed foods. The former President initially promised to replace the Affordable Care Act, which he had attempted in 2017. However, by the end of the election season, he ruled out altering the Affordable Care Act, going as far as to claim that he "never even thought about such a thing". Trump also insisted that he would keep Medicare and Social Security intact. In March 2024, after alluding to cutting "entitlements," which was avidly denounced by the Biden campaign, he clarified that this did not include Medicare or Social Security. Ultimately, Trump did not commit to reforming welfare programs. He also pledged to make in-vitro fertilization free of charge.

Immigration

Main article: Mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the second presidency of Donald Trump

The New York Times reported that Trump planned a mass deportation of illegal immigrants: "an extreme expansion of his first-term crackdown on immigration", including "preparing to round up undocumented people already in the United States on a vast scale and detain them in sprawling camps while they wait to be expelled", and that it "amounts to an assault on immigration on a scale unseen in modern American history".

During rallies, Trump has blurred the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, and has promised to deport both. Trump has stated he will deport between 15 and 20 million people, although the estimated number of undocumented immigrants is only 11 million. This is estimated by the American Immigration Council to cost at least $315 billion, or $967.9 billion over a decade, and by the Brookings Institution and Peterson Institute for International Economics to result in a decrease in employment for American-born workers". Trump has also not ruled out separating families with mixed citizenship status.

Trump has stated that his plan would follow the 'Eisenhower model,' a reference to the 1954 campaign Operation Wetback, stating to a crowd in Iowa: "Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history." To achieve the goal of deporting millions per year, Trump has stated his intent to expand a form of deportation that does not require due process hearings which would be accomplished by the expedited removal authorities of 8 U.S. Code § 1225; invoking the Alien Enemies Act within the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798; and invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 to allow the military to apprehend migrants and thus bypass the Posse Comitatus Act.

Trump would reassign federal agents to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and deputize local police officers and sheriffs, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and National Guard soldiers volunteered by Republican states which would be sent to blue states. Individuals would be placed in massive camps constructed with funds redirected from the military budget in case of any refusal by Congress to appropriate funding. ICE raids would be expanded to include workplace raids and sweeps in public places. Following arrest, Stephen Miller has stated that immigrants would be taken to "large-scale staging grounds near the border, most likely in Texas" to be held in internment camps prior to deportation. The Trump team will also attempt to overturn the Flores settlement that prevents the indefinite holding of children.

Trump pledged to finish the wall on the southern border if elected.

Trump has promised to reinstate his ban on entry to individuals from certain Muslim-majority nations, and having the Centers for Disease Control reimpose COVID-era restrictions on asylum claims by asserting migrants carry infectious diseases such as the flu, tuberculosis, and scabies. Trump has said he would build more of the border wall, and move thousands of troops currently stationed overseas to the southern border.

Other proposals include: banning visas of foreign students who participated in anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian protests; suspending the U.S. refugee program; directing U.S. consular officials to expand ideological screening of applicants deemed to have undesirable attitudes; revoking temporary protected status to individuals living in the United States, including Afghans who moved to America following the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, while those who helped U.S. forces would be 're-vetted' to see if they really did; ending birthright citizenship for babies born in the United States to undocumented parents; using coercive diplomacy by making immigration cooperation a condition for any bilateral engagement; reinstating 'Remain in Mexico'; and reviving 'safe third country' status with several nations in Central America, and expanding them to Africa, Asia, and South America.

Throughout January and early February 2024, Trump successfully called on House and Senate Republicans to kill a bipartisan immigration deal to address the Mexico–United States border crisis that included several sought-after conservative proposals. He admitted that he did not want a deal to pass as it would be "another gift to the Radical Left Democrats" who "need it politically" and would impact a key plank of his reelection campaign.

Law enforcement

Trump ran on a pro-police "law and order" platform. Calling out crime and homelessness in Democratic-run cities was a central message of his, which often devolved into exaggerated reports of violence and disorder overrunning the country. For instance, he said that Washington, D.C., "is absolutely plagued by numbers and crime that nobody’s ever seen before. … Can you imagine these foreign leaders coming over from from countries and they’re looking at this filth and squalor and crime in our capital?" Despite this, statistics consistently showed that violent crime had decreased since 2020. Trump repeatedly made baseless claims of a "migrant crime wave" caused by the crisis at the Southern border.

To resolve this imagined crime wave, he planned for mass deportations and more aggressive police use of force. He suggested sending the National Guard into crime-struck cities and reserving Justice Department grants to cities that adopt his preferred policing methods such as stop-and-frisk. The former President voiced support for shooting suspected shoplifters and having police carry out "one really violent day" against those committing property crimes. He pledged to expand use of the death penalty, including for drug dealers, smugglers, and migrants who kill American citizens and law enforcement officers. Trump also advocated for the implementation of qualified immunity and full indemnification for law enforcement officers. Regarding homelessness, he campaigned on banning urban camping and instead creating "tent cities" on inexpensive land. These would be staffed with doctors and social workers to help the homeless seek treatment.

Transgenderism and civil rights

See also: 2020s anti-LGBTQ movement in the United States, Social policy of the first Donald Trump administration § LGBTQ rights, and Reverse racism

Trump's campaign has stated its intention to reinterpret existing Civil Rights-era protections for minorities to counter "anti-white racism". According to Axios, Trump's Justice Department would "push to eliminate or upend programs in government and corporate America that are designed to counter racism that has favored whites". Trump has stated that there is a "definite anti-white feeling in the country". Trump's advisors have stated Trump will rescind Biden's Executive Orders designed to boost diversity and racial equity.

Trump promised a rollback on trans rights. Trump stated he will rescind Biden's Title IX protections "on day one" for transgender students using bathrooms, locker rooms, and pronouns that align with their gender identities. Trump has stated that he will ask Congress to pass a bill stating that the United States will only recognize two genders as determined at birth, and has promised to crackdown on gender-affirming care. Trump has stated that hospitals and health care providers that provide transitional hormones or surgery will no longer qualify for federal funding, including Medicare and Medicaid funding. Trump has stated he will push to prohibit hormonal and surgical intervention for minors in all 50 states.

Trump's campaign has been more accepting on lesbian, gay, and bisexual rights. During the drafting of the Republican Party's 2024 presidential platform, he advocated for a more tolerant position on same-sex marriage and successfully removed language that supported conversion therapy.

Rhetoric

Main article: Rhetoric of Donald Trump

Further information: Trumpism § Methods of persuasion, and False or misleading statements by Donald Trump § 2024 presidential campaign

A Trump post on Truth Social dated June 2023, in which he condemns the U.S. Justice Department for supposedly targeting him, and vows to exterminate political opponents

As with his previous presidential runs, Trump's campaign has used fearmongering against immigrants and transgender people, as well as apocalyptic rhetoric by forecasting imminent doom should he lose the election. Trump has repeatedly promoted conspiracy theories and QAnon. According to The New York Times, a computer analysis found that since 2015, Trump's speeches had grown "darker, harsher, longer, angrier, less focused, more profane and increasingly fixated on the past" and were described as "rambling" and tangential. It highlighted an average rally length of 82 minutes compared with 45 minutes in 2016, and a 13% increase in use of all-or-nothing terms like "always" and "never." It also found 32% more negative words than positive words compared with 21% in 2016, and a 69% increase in swear words. The Washington Post described Trump's rhetoric as "frequently hyperbolic and inflammatory language".

Trump made countless false and misleading statements. The sheer extent of lies and false statements have been attributed to Trump's rhetorical style described as using the big lie and firehose of falsehood propaganda technique. During a 64-minute news conference held in August 2024, NPR counted Trump making over 162 "misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies" averaging more than two per minute. They described the amount of Trump's lies as "stunning" and "beyond the bounds of what most politicians would do". CNN has called Trump's claims a "bombardment of dishonesty" and a "campaign of relentless lying".

Trump has employed harsher rhetoric compared to that used during his previous presidential campaign in 2020. Trump's violent rhetoric against his political enemies has been described by historians and scholars as populist, authoritarian, fascist, and unlike anything a political candidate has ever said in American history. Following the Republican primaries, Trump "doubled down" on incendiary rhetoric rather than moderating it to appeal to swing voters.

The New York Times reported that Trump's use of attacks demonstrate his "willingness to continue to shatter longstanding norms of political speech".

A central motif of Trump's campaign was retribution. According to him, "America [had] been wronged and Trump [would] make America great.". Trump framed the 2024 election as "the final battle," and openly promised to leverage the power of the presidency for political reprisals. Another common motif is "martyrdom." During the campaign, Trump continued portraying himself as a victim of a "Deep State" of elites who are attempting to undermine him and America. Trump has said his criminal trials make him a "political prisoner," comparing himself to Alexei Navalny. The New York Times reported the accusation was an escalation in rhetoric and portrayed himself as a "political martyr whose very life could be in danger".

Trump's rallying chants were "USA!" and "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Authoritarian and antidemocratic statements

Supporting dictatorship

In a December 2023 interview with Sean Hannity, Trump said he would only be a dictator on "day one" of his presidency and not after, and did not answer Hannity's question if he would not "abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people". Trump campaign aides later stated that Trump was merely attempting to "trigger the left" and media with his dictator comment. Nonetheless, his comment sparked widespread discussion.

Trump publicly praised several dictators during his campaign. In a December 2023 rally, he quoted Vladimir Putin condemning American democracy. The following year, he flattered Kim Jong Un: "Very strong guy … I got along great with him", Xi Jinping: "[he was] a brilliant man. He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist", and Viktor Orbán: "There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán. He’s fantastic".

Denying the election's legitimacy

Main articles: Republican Party efforts to disrupt the 2024 United States presidential election and Election denial movement in the United States

Trump's sowing of election doubt throughout the campaign compared with his two previous runs

During the campaign, Trump and MAGA Republicans often referred to "election integrity" to allude to their continuing lie that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen, as well as baseless predictions of future mass election fraud. As he did during the 2020 election cycle, without evidence Trump told supporters that Democrats might try to rig the 2024 election. In actuality, voter fraud is extremely rare. By 2022, Republican politicians, conservative cable news outlets and talk radio echoed a narrative of former Trump advisor Steve Bannon that "if Democrats don't cheat, they don't win." In the lead up to the 2024 election, the Republican Party has made false claims of massive "noncitizen voting" by immigrants in an attempt to delegitimize the election if Trump loses. Trump and several Republicans have stated they will not accept the results of the 2024 election if they believe they are "unfair". Trump has repeatedly claimed that he won the 2020 election, and stated that he "shouldn't have left" the White House. The statements are part of a broader trend of election denial within the Republican party regarding the integrity of elections in the United States.

Trump's political operation said in April 2024 that it planned to deploy more than 100,000 attorneys and volunteers to polling places across battleground states, with an "election integrity hotline" for poll watchers and voters to report alleged voting irregularities. Trump told a rally audience in December 2023 that they needed to "guard the vote" in Democratic-run cities.

Trump stated he has the power to "terminate" the Constitution to reverse his 2020 election loss.

After several years of vilifying mail-in voting and early voting as rife with fraud and a contributor to supposed 2020 election fraud, by April 2024 Trump was advising supporters to use those voting methods in the coming election. The RNC was also encouraging Republican voters to use those methods, as well as promoting ballot harvesting, which they called "ballot chasing".

Future elections

During the campaign, Trump suggested seeking a third term in office. Speaking at a July 2024 faith-themed Turning Point Action conference, Trump urged Christians to "get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good, you're not going to have to vote." The comment was criticized by several journalists and experts on authoritarianism as continuing Trump's trend of authoritarian rhetoric.

Targeting political rivals

Trump has repeatedly stated his intention to have the Justice Department investigate and arrest his domestic political rivals, judges, prosecutors, and witnesses involved in his criminal trials. He called for jailing people whose actions he objects to, including Supreme Court critics, flag burners, and the January 6 Committee. Trump has promised to fire U.S. Attorneys that disobey his orders to prosecute someone, which drew comparisons to Richard Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre. Trump has promised to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Joe Biden. Trump has called for "televised military tribunals" against current and former Democratic and Republican officials for treason. Trump called for defunding the FBI and Justice Department in response to their investigations into his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.

On January 6

See also: January 6 United States Capitol attack and Criminal proceedings in the January 6 United States Capitol attack

Trump embraced and celebrated the January 6 Capitol attack and promoted a revisionist history of the event. He would bring up that day's events as a rallying cry, while noticeably downplayed their perilous effects. Trump repeatedly called those charged for their actions on that day "warriors", "hostages" and "great, great patriots". Trump spread baseless conspiracy theories that Antifa and the FBI were involved at the riot. Robert Pape, a political scientist, stated that Trump's comments on the attack "normalizes violence as a legitimate solution to political grievances".

Violent and dehumanizing statements

Against Kamala Harris

See also: Racial views of Donald Trump

Trump's opponents following Biden's withdrawal, Democratic candidates Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Trump made several personal attacks against Kamala Harris, many of which have been described as racially-charged and misogynistic. In a July 2024 interview at the National Association of Black Journalists's annual convention, he said that she had claimed Indian heritage "until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black". Trump suggested that Harris would be "like a play toy" to world leaders who would "walk all over her" due to her appearance. The statement was criticized for sexist undertones, although the Trump campaign denied he was talking about her race or gender. Trump gave her a derisive nickname, "Laffin' Kamala Harris". Another was "Kamabla". Throughout the campaign, Trump called Harris "dumb", "low IQ", "mentally disabled",

Against the media

See also: Enemy of the people § United States

Trump suggested investigating MSNBC and NBC's parent corporation Comcast should he return to office, calling their news coverage of him "treason". Similarly, he pledged to prosecute Google for only displaying "bad stories" about him. He also stated that ABC and CBS should lose their broadcast licenses and their journalists sent to jail if they refused to name confidential sources. He called Facebook "an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media". Trump repeatedly voiced support for outlawing political dissent and criticism he considers misleading or challenges his claims to power.

Against political opponents

Trump's campaign was noted for using increasingly dehumanizing and violent rhetoric against his political opponents. In public remarks in September 2023, Trump called for Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appointed by him, to be executed for treason. A year later, he said that Liz Cheney should have guns "trained on her face". He urged deploying the military on American soil to fight "the enemy from within" which he describes as "radical left lunatics" and Democratic politicians such as Adam Schiff. Trump called Democrats "so evil," "dangerous," and "demonic". Trump sent out false, inflammatory fundraising emails in an attempt to generate attention and cash. His comment stating, "1 MONTH UNTIL ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! THEY WANT TO SENTENCE ME TO DEATH" was especially criticized for resembling a tweet he gave out just before the January 6 Capitol attack: "Be there, will be wild!"

Against the legal system

Trump attacked the witnesses, judges, juries, and families of individuals involved in his criminal trials. Trump repeatedly attacked law enforcement in relation to their criminal investigations into his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents, calling them "political monsters". During and after his criminal prosecution in New York, he and his Republican allies made numerous false and misleading statements and attacked those involved in the trial. Trump called Judge Juan Merchan "a devil", claimed the trial was "rigged" and accused the Democratic Party of orchestrating his criminal trials to prevent him from returning to the White House, of which there is no evidence. In May 2024, Trump falsely claimed Joe Biden was ready to kill him during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago by misrepresenting standard Justice Department policy on use of force. These statements played into his attempts to project himself as a martyr.

Against illegal immigrants

As with his previous presidential campaigns, Trump's 2024 campaign was noted for espousing anti-immigrant language, especially fearmongering, racial stereotypes, and dehumanizing rhetoric. However, The New York Times opines that his language had grown even harsher. Trump repeatedly claimed that certain undocumented immigrants were subhuman, "animals", "savages," and "predators." At rallies, he stated that they would "rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill" American citizens, "grab young girls and slice them up right in front of their parents". In fact, Trump's rhetoric regularly featured details of young women allegedly killed by Hispanic male assailants, while ignoring male victims. Studies find no evidence that immigrants commit crimes at higher rates than native-born Americans, and Trump has not provided any evidence to back up his claims. Trump also spread false statements that foreign leaders were deliberately emptying insane asylums to send "prisoners, murderers, drug dealers, mental patients, terrorists" across the U.S. Southern border. He compared illegal immigrants to the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Trump spread the false conspiracy theory that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating people's pets.

Far-right allegations

See also: Comparisons between Donald Trump and fascism

Many analysts connected Trump's campaign statements to an embrace of far-right extremism, Nazism, and white supremacy. Trump repeatedly stated that undocumented immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country", which has been compared to racial hygiene rhetoric language of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler. In October 2024, Trump falsely stated that immigrants were genetically predisposed to commit crimes and had "bad genes", echoing his longstanding obsession with genes. He also claimed that Biden was running a "Gestapo administration", compared his indictments with criminal trials in Nazi Germany, and alleged that "any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion"—later adding, "if I don't win this election [then] the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss". These statements were forthrightly criticized by the Anti-Defamation League. On Veterans Day 2023, Trump called some of his political opponents "vermin," a phrase criticized for echoing the fascist rhetoric of Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to criticism: "Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, and their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House". In February 2024, Trump controversially commented that his indictments and mugshot boosted his appeal among black voters. According to The New York Times, scholars are undecided about whether Trump's "rhetorical turn into more fascist-sounding territory was just his latest public provocation of the left, an evolution in his beliefs, or the dropping of a veil".

In May 2024, Trump's campaign posted a video on his Truth Social account, which showed hypothetical newspaper headlines in the event of a Trump victory. Under one headline titled "What's next for America?" was a subtitle that read: "German industrial strength significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich". Facing intense bipartisan criticism, the Trump campaign deleted the video the next day. Media outlets noted that the phrase "the creation of a unified Reich" harkened back to Nazi Germany. In response, the Trump campaign stated that the video was not made by a Trump supporter, not the campaign itself.

In October 2024, Trump's former chief of staff John F. Kelly went public with accusations that Trump had once said in a meeting with military advisers, "You know, Hitler did some good things, too," and that he "rebuilt the economy". Kelly went on to say that he believed Trump met the definition of a fascist, would rule like a dictator, and had no concept of the Constitution or the rule of law. After being corrected that Hitler's generals had attempted to kill the Führer multiple times, Trump responded, "No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him".

Struggle for the Republican nomination

Primaries

The main rivals to Trump for the Republican nomination: Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie (left to right, top row first)

Besides the opposition to Trump's candidacy declared by Republican former executive branch officials, senators and representatives, statewide officials, public figures and organizations, Trump was challenged in the primaries by Nikki Haley (February 14, 2023, to March 6, 2024), Vivek Ramaswamy (February 21, 2023, to January 15, 2024), Asa Hutchinson (April 6, 2023, to January 16, 2024), and Ron DeSantis (May 24, 2023, to January 21, 2024).

Other challengers, who withdrew before the primaries, were Perry Johnson (March 2, 2023, to October 20, 2023), Larry Elder (April 20, 2023, to October 26, 2023), Tim Scott (May 19, 2023, to November 12, 2023), Mike Pence (June 5, 2023, to October 28, 2023), Chris Christie (June 6, 2023, to January 10, 2024), Doug Burgum (June 7, 2023, to December 4, 2023), Francis Suarez (June 14, 2023, to August 29, 2023), and Will Hurd (June 22, 2023, to October 9, 2023).

From August 23 to January 10, 2024, there were five debates among the candidates in the campaign for the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States in the 2024 United States presidential election. Trump was absent from all of them, and was not planning to attend the debates scheduled for January 18 and 21, 2024. On January 16, when she and Ron DeSantis were the last challengers left, Nikki Haley announced she would not attend the January 18 debate unless Donald Trump took part in it. ABC News canceled that debate, and CNN canceled the January 21 one.

Responding to Haley's challenge, Trump stated that he had successfully taken two cognitive tests, said that anyone who donated to Haley's campaign would be "permanently barred" from the "MAGA camp".

After winning the primaries in Washington, D.C. (March 3) and Vermont (March 5), Haley suspended her presidential campaign the day after Super Tuesday.

National primary polling showed Trump leading by 50 points over other candidates during the Republican primaries. After he won a landslide victory in the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Trump was generally described as being the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for president. On March 12, 2024, Trump officially became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.

Support for Trump's nomination

Main article: List of Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign endorsements

Donald Trump at a UFC fight in 2024 with Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Johnson, Dana White, and Kid Rock

A number of Republican officials at both federal and state levels were quick to endorse Trump's candidacy. Sarah Palin was the only former Republican president, vice president or nominee to do so. Many podcasters and social media influencers endorsed him, such as Joe Rogan, Alex Stein, Myron Gaines, Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok, and the Nelk Boys. Other prominent endorsements included Kid Rock, Kanye West,

Opposition to Trump's nomination

See also: List of Republicans who oppose the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign

Notable Republican politicians who either opposed or declined to announce their support publicly include former president George W. Bush, former vice presidents Mike Pence, and Dick Cheney, former House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, as well as former representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Some of Trump's 2016 and 2024 primary opponents such as Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Will Hurd also declined to endorse or openly opposed the campaign. Republican organizations such as 43 Alumni for America, Haley Voters for Harris, and The Lincoln Project all endorsed Harris. Half of the members of Trump's cabinet did not support his run for president.

Vice-presidential choice

Main article: 2024 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection

Ohio senator JD Vance, Trump's running mate in 2024

Mike Pence served as Trump's vice president from 2017 to 2021, as well as his running mate in 2020. However, the pair had a dramatic falling out on January 6, 2021, when Pence refused to follow Trump's orders to deny the certification of the 2020 election results. The President thereafter tweeted that Pence "didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution". As early as March 2021, Bloomberg News reported that Trump had largely ruled out sharing a ticket with Pence in 2024. At least sixteen names were raised as possible candidates for the position.

Reported Republican candidates for vice president

• Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota (2016–2024) and former 2024 presidential candidate
• Tucker Carlson, political commentator
• Ben Carson, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (2017–2021) and 2016 presidential candidate
• Tom Cotton, senator from Arkansas (2015–present)
• Byron Donalds, representative from Florida's 19th congressional district (2021–present)
• Tulsi Gabbard, former representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district (2013–2021) and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate
• Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina (2011–2017), former ambassador to the United Nations, and former 2024 presidential candidate
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer and independent 2024 presidential candidate
• Kari Lake, former news anchor and 2024 candidate for senator from Arizona
• Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota (2019–2025)
• Vivek Ramaswamy, businessman and former 2024 presidential candidate
• Marco Rubio, senator from Florida (2011–2025) and 2016 presidential candidate
• Sarah Huckabee Sanders, governor of Arkansas (2023–present) and former White House press secretary (2017–2019)
• Tim Scott, senator from South Carolina (2013–present) and former 2024 presidential candidate
• Elise Stefanik, representative from New York's 21st congressional district (2015–present)
• JD Vance, senator from Ohio (2023–2025)

By June, the Trump campaign had reportedly delivered vetting paperwork to Burgum, Carson, Cotton, Donalds, Rubio, Scott, Stefanik, and Vance. Ultimately, JD Vance was chosen to be Trump's running mate. Media analysts deduced this pick to an attempt to court Midwestern and white working-class voters. At 39, he also provided a counterbalance to Trump, 78 years old at the time. Vance's conservative stances, such as his isolationism and prior opposition to abortion even in cases of rape or incest, established the campaign's full commitment to Trumpism. Vance was the first Ohioan to appear on a major party presidential ticket since John Bricker in 1944, and the first veteran since John McCain in 2008. He was also the first millennial and veteran of the Iraq war (and the wider war on terror) on a presidential ticket.

Republican National Convention

Main article: 2024 Republican National Convention

On July 15, 2024, Trump and Vance were officially named the Republican candidates for president and vice president in Republican National Convention at Milwaukee. Trump formally accepted the party's nomination in a 90-minute address on the convention's final night, just two days after his assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

History of the campaign

Rallies

See also: List of rallies for the 2024 Donald Trump presidential campaign

Donald Trump's campaign events were often described as "freewheeling", like a "rock show". The Associated Press noted that "Trump's rallies take on the symbols, rhetoric and agenda of Christian nationalism." To this end, he described his presidential campaign as a "righteous crusade" against "atheists, globalists and the Marxists".

The most prominent songs used by Trump's campaign were "God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood, "Hold On, I'm Comin'" by Sam & Dave, "America First" by Merle Haggard, and "Y.M.C.A." by Village People He also used music for which the artists and owners of copyrights were not compensated. Artists that openly objected to this included Beyoncé, Celine Dion, Kendrick Lamar, Johnny Marr, Tom Petty, Rihanna, The Rolling Stones, The Village People, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, the Foo Fighters, and Journey. The estate of Isaac Hayes, and David Porter, co-writer of the song "Hold On, I'm Comin'", brought suit against the campaign, which had allegedly used the song 134 times without ever asking permission or paying royalties. A federal judge issued an injunction against further use of the song.

Court cases

From 2023 up until the 2024 election, Trump was engulfed in legal battles. In March 2023, he was indicted for 34 felony counts of fraud stemming from his role in falsifying business records concerning hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, done in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election. This marked his first indictment of four. His second came in June, when a federal grand jury indicted the former President for improperly retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and destroying evidence related to the government probe. In August, Trump was indicted for his illegal attempts to remain in power following the 2020 election. This resulted in a mugshot being taken of him, which was widely circulated on the internet and raised his campaign over $7 million within two days of its release. Finally, later in August, the federal government and Georgia separately indicted him for criminal conspiracy and fraud vis-à-vis his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump denied wrongdoing in all four cases. Besides these indictments, he was found liable in a civil lawsuit for sexual abuse and defamation against journalist E. Jean Carroll. In May 2024, Trump was convicted of felonies regarding the Stormy Daniels case. This made him the first former U.S. president ever to be convicted of a crime.

In Trump v. United States, Trump argued that the Constitution allows for absolute immunity for all presidential actions taken—even if criminal—unless the Senate successfully votes to impeach. His argument was rejected by most political commentators and two lower courts. In a unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the court stated that if Trump's theory of constitutional authority were accepted, it would "collapse our system of separated powers" and put a president above the law. Nevertheless, in July 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Trump in a partisan 6–3 decision. It determined that the Constitution affords the President with absolute immunity for acts within his constitutional purview and presumptive immunity for official acts, but provides no immunity for unofficial acts.

December 2022–March 2024

Return to social media and establishment of Truth Social

In the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack, many of Trump's social media accounts were banned. In November 2022, Elon Musk, who had recently taken ownership of Twitter, reinstated Trump's accounts. The former President had been banned from the platform in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack due to Twitter's Glorification of Violence and Civic Integrity policies. A few months later, his Facebook and Instagram accounts were restored.

In October 2021, Trump's own social media platform, Truth Social, was founding, to counter the social bans imposed on him. He would primarily use it to spread messages. It is alt-tech.

Dinner with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes

In November 2022, Kanye West, then a candidate for the 2024 election, dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, alongside white nationalist Nick Fuentes. West had recently posted a series of antisemitic statements on social media. Trump, on his part, claimed that this meeting was unexpected. At one point during the dinner, West asked Trump to be his running mate, after which the former President "started basically screaming at [West] at the table telling [him] [he] was going to lose". Republican candidates Asa Hutchinson and Mike Pence openly rebuked Fuentes' presence in Trump's campaign, and Mitch McConnell went as far as to suggest that he would not win the election because of the dinner. By October 2023, West had suspended his campaign. He endorsed Trump.

First campaign appearances

Trump rallies in New Hampshire

On January 28, 2023, Trump held his first campaign events in South Carolina and New Hampshire.

On March 4, 2023, Trump delivered a lengthy keynote speech at the CPAC convention.

On May 10, 2023, Trump appeared one-on-one with news host Kaitlan Collins on CNN Republican Town Hall with Donald Trump at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, with an audience of Republican and undecided voters.

March 2024–November 2024

At the Libertarian National Convention

Trump spoke at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention in May, becoming the first president to address a third party convention in modern U.S. history. He urged the Libertarian Party to nominate him lest they "keep getting [their] 3% every four years". In an attempt to court the crowd, the former President vowed to appoint a Libertarian to his cabinet and commute Ross Ulbricht's prison sentence. However, his speech was blanketed with jeers; one attendee even held up a sign that read "No wannabe dictators!" Biden did not attend the convention. Come nomination day, Trump had been eliminated during balloting, and Chase Oliver was selected as the Libertarian nominee for president.

Debate with Joe Biden

Main article: 2024 Joe Biden–Donald Trump presidential debate

On June 27, 2024, the first of two debates in the election season took place, with Trump up against Joe Biden. The debate was defined by Biden's "disastrous" performance, as he rambled incoherently and repeatedly lost his train of thought. This exacerbated already-existing concerns about the President's fitness to serve. With Trump comfortably proclaimed the winner of the debate—an Ipsos/FiveThirtyEight poll found that 60% of respondents thought that Trump won, compared with only 21% for his opponent—the former President's lead in national polls expanded, and Democratic officials began calling for Biden to drop out of the race. Nevertheless, some commentators pointed out that Biden's poor performance merely overshadowed Trump's persistent lying throughout the debate. Doyle McManus of The Los Angeles Times opined that "nobody won, but Biden clearly lost".

Attempted assassinations

Main articles: Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Florida

One of Evan Vucci's iconic photographs of Trump following his assassination attempt at Butler
View – via The Atlantic

In the span of three months, Trump faced two assassination attempts. On July 13, 2024, during a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, he was shot and wounded in the upper right ear. He was escorted out of the venue by United States Secret Service. The Secret Service swiftly killed the identified shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks. In addition, Crooks also shot three other spectators, including 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed instantly. The assassination attempt was memorialized in a series of photographs by Evan Vucci. These depict Trump being escorted off the podium, with blood coating his cheek, his fist raised defiantly, and an American flag fluttering in the background. Vucci's photographs became a symbol of the campaign, with Tyler Austin Harper writing for The Atlantic, "the Trump of MAGA’s imagination and reality became indistinguishable".

Later, on September 15, 2024, Trump became the target of a second assassination attempt at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The secret service agent walking the course before Trump's golf party arrived at the hole and saw a rifle barrel protruding from the bushes which opened fire in that direction. The perpetrator, Ryan Wesley Routh, fled the scene but was quickly apprehended. Routh was eventually charged with attempted first-degree murder and terrorism.

Biden's withdrawal

Main article: Withdrawal of Joe Biden from the 2024 United States presidential election

On July 21, 2024, following his poor debate performance, Biden withdrew from the election. He endorsed Kamala Harris as his replacement. On August 5, she became the Democratic Party's official presidential nominee, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz was chosen to be her running mate. Trump criticized Biden's withdrawal and Harris' subsequent accession without a competitive nominating process, calling it a "coup". He and his allies would point out that Harris "got zero votes [in the primaries]". Biden's withdrawal reportedly caused problems within Trump's campaign. In fact, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of The New York Times characterized the ensuing situation as the campaign's "worst three weeks". This reflected in national polling. By late August, with Harris as a presidential candidate, polls had her beating Trump by multiple points, giving the Democratic Party back their lead they had lost under Biden.

Kennedy, Gabbard, and Musk's endorsements

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Trump rally in August 2024, shortly after endorsing him

In August 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed Trump. On the campaign trail, Kennedy's trademark message was "Make America Healthy Again." He and Trump pledged to resolve the chronic disease epidemic by targeting big pharmaceutical companies, ultraprocessed foods, and certain chemical additives to foods.

Foreign interference

Main article: Foreign interference in the 2024 United States elections

China, Iran, and Russia all interfered with Trump's campaign and the broader presidential election with their general aim being to spread disinformation and propaganda and, ultimately, foment distrust in the electoral process and discredit American democracy. Networks of fake social media accounts and websites were deployed. These networks, described by The New York Times as "sophisticated," were state-run and targeted at particular voter demographics. China, through its Spamouflauge influence operation, promoted fabricated content related to divisive political issues, such as that of pro-Palestine protesters. It created fake pro-Trump accounts, but its interference in the election did not necessarily favor any particular candidate. In August 2024, Trump's campaign confirmed that it had been hacked by Iranian operatives. According to a Microsoft report issued the previous day, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence unit conducted a spear phishing attack. Iran attempted to tip the race in Biden and Harris' favor, even though they too were targeted in disinformation campaigns. Russia disseminated Trump-aligned content, such as a video purporting to show voter fraud in Georgia, to aid the former President's effort. After all, his campaign had taken a softer stance on helping Ukraine in its war with Russia relative to Harris'.

Arlington National Cemetery incident

Main article: Donald Trump Arlington National Cemetery incident

TikTok Video of Trump's visit at Arlington National Cemetery
View – via Trump's official TikTok account

During the an August 2024 visit at Arlington National Cemetery, Trump's entourage brought in a photographer and videographer to Section 60, to capture promotional content for his campaign. However, such content is not permitted in Section 60. When a cemetery official attempted to stop them, two campaign staffers, Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, allegedly pushed and verbally abused him. Arlington National Cemetery confirmed the incident. Later in August, Trump's campaign released a TikTok video of Trump's Section 60 visit, as well as photos of the former President standing next to graves while smiling and giving a thumbs up. Facing criticism, the campaign denied all wrongdoing. In fact, family members accompanying Trump during the visit had accepted to be "respectfully captured". Vance criticized the media and Democratic party for "[making] a scandal out of something where there really is none", adding that "[Harris] wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up … She can go to hell." Harris had not yet commented on the incident. On August 29, the U.S. Army issued a statement rebuking the Trump campaign, followed by a similar one from the Defense Department, the Green Beret Foundation, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and VoteVets.org.

Debate with Kamala Harris

Main article: 2024 United States presidential debates § September 10: Second presidential debate (ABC, Philadelphia)

On September 10, 2024, Trump debated Harris in the second and final presidential debate of the election season, and the only debate between the two candidates. He had previously been reluctant to attend another debate unless hosed by Fox News, but eventually relented in August. During the debate, Trump made several "extreme" false claims. He alleged that some states allowed post-birth abortions, and that Haitian migrants in Springfield were looting and eating residents' pets. This prompted the debate moderators to fact check him. In response, Trump and his allies criticized these fact checks as "unfair", especially in light of the fact that Harris too lied and yet was never fact checked. Subsequent polling overwhelmingly concluded that Trump lost, with Reuters, for instance, finding that only 24% of respondents thought that he won, as opposed to 53% for Harris. Even Fox News writer Doug Schoen considered Harris the "clear winner". Trump's brazenly false statements, constant dwelling on the past, such as his claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, and overall irascible and uncomfortable demeanor, were the preeminent cited reasons for his loss. Nonetheless, the debate's impact on the race was questionable. Polling numbers for both candidates did not change much following the debate, with Harris acquiring a minor gain. Later on, Trump confirmed that he would not participate in another debate.

Appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience

In October 2024, Trump appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), the most popular podcast in the U.S. The interview covered a wide range of issues, political: the 2020 election, Kim Jong Un, and apolitical: aliens, The Apprentice, et cetera. Trump had already committed much time to podcasts, including Theo Von's and Logan Paul's—to a greater extent than Harris. The JRE appearance helped him appeal to young male voters. Within a day, it had amassed 27 million views on YouTube, more than the opening game of the World Series.

Madison Square Garden rally

See also: 2024 Trump rally at Madison Square Garden

Trump held his last major campaign event at Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, one week before the election. Among its featured speakers were comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who prominently called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage," suggested that Harris had worked as a prostitute, and stated that he and one of his black friends had "carved watermelons" together, as well as Trump's friend David Rem, who referred to Harris as "the antichrist". The rally was noted for its vicious rhetoric; Democrats tied it to a Nazi rally held at the same venue in 1939. The New York Times labelled Trump's rally as a "Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism". Hinchcliffe's comments, particularly the "floating island of garbage" remark, proved especially controversial. He responded to Democratic outcry on Twitter, stating they "have no sense of humor" and that he was merely calling out Puerto Rico's landfill problem. Several Republicans also expressed their disgust with Hinchcliffe's joke, including Cuban American Representatives María Elvira Salazar and Carlos A. Giménez, and Puerto Rican-born Congressman Anthony D'Esposito.

McDonald's and garbage truck stunts

Video of Trump's shift at McDonald's
View – via WFAA on YouTube

In the final days of the campaign, Trump staged two stunts. First, in late October, he worked a half-hour staged shift at McDonald's serving fries. This was done as a response to Harris' claimed time working at the fast food chain while in college, which Trump denied. With the stunt, Trump "troll[ed]" her and "cosplay[ed] as a minimum wage worker". Writing for The Spectator, Juan P. Villasmil remarked that the visit managed to cast doubt on his opponent's working-class appeal. On the other hand, Jonathan Cohn in a New Republic podcast called it disingenuous and "almost too casual, it’s a bit insulting". A few days later, Trump, dressed in a bright orange vest, rode on a personalized garbage truck. This too served to counter a Democratic opponent's statement, namely, Joe Biden calling Trump's supporters "garbage." He subsequently held a rally donning the vest.

Polling

Primaries

Main articles: Nationwide opinion polling for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries and Statewide opinion polling for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries

Presidential election

Main articles: Nationwide opinion polling for the 2024 United States presidential election and Statewide opinion polling for the 2024 United States presidential election

Aftermath

Main article: 2024 United States presidential election

Electoral college results of the 2024 presidential election; Trump won a majority of 312 votes

Results

Donald Trump's campaign was successful. He won the 2024 presidential election with 312 electoral votes and 49.8% of the popular vote. He carried 31 states out of 50, including all seven swing states. One of them, Nevada, had last gone to the Republican candidate in 2004. Trump's victory was "decisive"; he was the first Republican since George W. Bush in 2004 to win the national popular vote, as well as the first non-incumbent Republican since George H. W. Bush in 1988 to do so. All 50 states, including Washington D.C., shifted to the Republican Party since the 2020 presidential election. However, Trump's triumph was not a landslide. He only won a plurality of the popular vote, with his 49.8% total being one of the slimmest of a winning candidate in American history.

Trump being inaugurated on January 20, 2025 as the 47th president of the United States

Trump became the second president to be reelected to a non-consecutive term, after Grover Cleveland in 1892. Aged 78 on election day, he remains the oldest candidate ever elected to the presidency. JD Vance became the first Ohio native to be elected to the vice presidency since Charles Dawes in 1924, the first veteran since Al Gore in 1992, as well as the first to have facial hair since Charles Curtis in 1928. Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2025 as the 47th president of the United States, and Vance, as the 50th vice president of the United States.

See also

• Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign
• Joe Biden 2024 presidential campaign
• Donald Trump 2000 presidential campaign
• Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign
• Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign

External links

• The campaign's financial information at the Federal Election Commission