Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump faced off on Nov. 5, in the 2024 presidential election. Trump won with 312 electoral votes.
Both parties fought hard in their campaign to win battleground states and minority support using their unique characteristics. They have each held rallies in swing states and other potentially important states.
Throughout his rallies, Trump made several threatening comments, such as saying, “I would bring back waterboarding” during a 2017 rally, and “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole – that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for this country,” during a rally in March, according to U.S News.
According to The Daily Beast and Forbes news, Trump even suggested creating an annual night where all crime is legal, identical to the concept in the horror movie series, “The Purge.”
In addition, recently he threw a bizarre dance party at a Pennsylvania rally, where he “stood there frozen in a 40-minute K-hole, waving his arms to the music. Lurching side to side, eyes glazed over, shaky on his feet, dazed and confused,” according to Rolling Stone.
“This is a 40-minute mess that future historians will study frame-by-frame like the Zapruder film, to figure out how America went so wrong,” Rolling Stone added.
However, these bizarre occurrences did not disway voters, as Trump did win the election, along with all seven battleground states.
The seven key battleground states in this election were Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. NBC News rated all these seven states a Toss Up, meaning “these races are the most competitive with either party having a good chance of winning.”
Trump’s sweep in the battleground states was a disappointing loss for the Democratic party, especially after their stellar performance in the 2020 election.
In the 2020 election, Biden won all seven of the key battleground states, finishing with 306 electoral college votes. However, there was extreme pushback from the Trump Campaign, as they believed it was “fraud on the American Public,” and that “we [Trump] did win this election,” according to ABC News.
In turn, this led to what the FBI classified as a “domestic terrorist attack” by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, the day when the electoral votes were officially counted in Congress.
“‘Apparently when anyone votes against him, it’s an act of theft,’” Ted Cruz, a Republican Texas Senator, said about Trump in 2016 when Cruz was running against him in the Republican primaries.
Trump’s claims of election fraud have continued throughout the Biden-Harris administration term. In addition, he has made other concerning comments in his campaign for the 2024 election. This includes when asked by Sean Hannity during a Fox News Interview if he could assure the American public that he would not “abuse power as retribution against anyone”, and he responded “Except for Day one,” where he vowed to “close the border and drill, drill, drill.”
Not only did Trump make concerning comments throughout his rallies, but his running mate was also quite controversial.
This controversy was due in part to the fact that Vance has been a strong critic of Trump. According to CNN, back in 2016 Vance sent a private message to a friend saying, “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a**hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?”
In addition, Vance “liked tweets that said Trump committed ‘serial sexual assault,’ called him ‘one of USA’s most hated, villainous, douchy celebs,’ and harshly criticized Trump’s response to the deadly 2017 White nationalist rally in Charlotteville, VA,” in a now-deleted tweet CNN added.
This election held more historical significance with the extreme controversy that surrounded it. AP U.S. Government teacher Alison Bryar said, “This is only the second time in U.S. history where there is a woman on the ballot for president, and this is also only the second time that a former president, who lost the election for a second term, is on the ballot again for a main party.”
Unfortunately, the controversies, and lies, that emerged from the Trump campaign was not enough to discourage people from voting for him.
“Harris had the advantage among women, winning 53% to Trump’s 46%, but that margin was somewhat narrower than President Joe Biden’s in 2020,” according to an Associated Press survey.
Conversely, “More than half of men under 30 supported Trump over Harris,” the Associated Press added.
This breakdown shows the extreme hypermasculinity that plagues America. Although Trump had a whopping 34 felony convictions, it did not prevent men from voting for him, reinforcing sexist beliefs that are still deeply rooted among American men. Although, there are still men that do not support him.
Chase Curtis, junior, said, “He’s [Trump’s] embarrassing, like we elected this idiot,” and the outcome of the election is overall embarrassing for Americans. He added that he is concerned for minorities, as Trump’s personal agenda, and Project 2025, threaten their constitutional rights.
Curtis added Trump might not do much while in office due to his age and mental decline, explaining that Trump’s threats don’t necessarily mean much in regards to his actual plans, or as stated by Trump, his “concepts of a plan.”
Harris, meanwhile, had a solid agenda. She aimed at reducing inflation, raising taxes on big corporations, protecting abortion rights, tackling the border crisis, and working to fight climate change. If elected, Harris would have not only fought against the issues plaguing America, but she would have also protected both minority rights and democracy.
The very fabric of the nation has been threatened by the results of this election. Trump has made it abundantly clear that not only does he not care about democracy, or one’s rights. The fact that his offensive remarks, along with his sexual assault convictions and 34 felony counts, did not sway voters shows the grim reality of American beliefs, specifically those of young American men. One should fear for their democracy, for their rights, and for their freedoms.
Support Our Sponsors
