Donald Trump has emerged winner of 2024 United States Presidential Election.
Trump according to media reports has secured 270 Electoral College votes as of 12midnight.
He is returning to power after losing 2020 poll.
He defeated incumbent Vice President and Democrats Presidential Candidate, Kamala Harris.
Harris has garnered over 200 electoral college votes as of the time of filing this report.
By Bisi Olawunmi
With a few days to the November 5, 2024, U.S. presidential election, the campaign tempo has reached fever pitch, with the two candidates, Vice-President Kamala Harris (Democrat) and former president, Donald Trump (Republican) in a dead run to the finish line.
The final national New York Times/Siena poll, published on 25 October 2024, had the two candidates deadlocked at 48% to 48% for the popular vote.
Aggregate of national polls also project the election as neck-and-neck, with the two candidates tied at 48%, making it a cliff-hanger. Both candidates have taken the electoral fight to the battleground states which oscillate in their voting pattern between the two parties; states whose votes can swing the election either way.
About 10 of America’s 50 states are considered swing states, accounting for a total of 91 electoral college votes – Michigan 15, Wisconsin 10, Pennsylvania 19, Georgia 16, North Carolina 16, Nevada 6, and Arizona 11 – and these could determine the race.
In 2008, former President Barack Obama won in eight of the states, Trump took Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2016 to clinch the presidency, while in the 2020 election, Joe Biden not only took back the three states but also wrestled Arizona and Georgia from Trump, on his way to The White House.
Two major issues have dominated the 2024 presidential election campaign, the economy and immigration with issues of abortion, Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) and foreign policy taking second place. The economy, under the Biden/Harris administration had experienced high inflation rate and consequent higher cost of living felt by all.
Trump highlights the improved economy under his administration before the advent of COVID-19, the global pandemic that ravaged the world economy.
Trump plans to use tariff on imports to raise revenue and as well protect local industries
Harris is for taxing the rich to generate revenue but laissez faire on unbridled imports, in spite of its consequent drag on the U.S. economy, a manifestation of Democrats’ “Father Christmas” disposition to making America a liberal market for imports.
On immigration, while Trump is not opposed to legal migration, he pledges to stop the tidal wave of illegal immigrants from south America on its southern border and to deport illegal immigrants.
According to him, illegal immigrants are polluting American way of life and taking the jobs of Americans.
Some dub this a racist agenda, but it resonates well with Trump constituency. Democrats are liberal on immigration and not committed to forceful removal of illegal immigrants, a stand that earns Democrats 65 % of Latino votes in southern U.S. States.
Abortion and LGBT issues are not just electoral but are national matters that have deeply polarised America to the extent that die-hard conservatives have fire-bombed abortion clinics and launched murderous attacks on gay and lesbian gatherings.
Trump is opposed to LGBT and an indiscriminate, free for all abortion.
Democrats, and particularly Kamala Harris, celebrate LGBTs with Harris insisting they should be allowed to flaunt their sexual preferences! She is a disciple of Barack Obama, the evangelist for Gays and Lesbians, who had threatened African countries which enacted anti-Gay laws with sanctions! The audacity of it all. The Democratic candidate’s vocal stand on LGBT has its cost in votes.
Foreign policy may be a muted election issue, but it had in recent times crept into American public consciousness with Israel’s genocidal war against Hamas in Gaza for the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023, incursion into Israel which left about 1,200 Israelis dead and over 200 abducted and being held hostage. L
However, Israeli military killing over 40,000 Palestinians in its latest one-year battle with Hamas, has provoked unprecedented outrage and demonstrations across America, especially on university campuses, against Israel and the Biden/Harris administration for its refusal to pressure Israel to agree a ceasefire.
Vice President Harris risks loss of votes on account of this, particularly in the crucial swing state of Michigan with an estimated 200,000 Arab American population.
On Europe, while Trump regards the Russia-Ukraine war that started in 2022 as avoidable and pledged to bring it to resolution if elected, the Biden/Harris government is inclined to perpetuating the conflict, recently pledging additional $US20 billion military package to embattled President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. This runs counter to emergent American mood against avoidable war and its cost to the country’s taxpayers.
The anti-war voters will be a loss to Harris.
These seemingly little losses of votes for Kamala can become significant in a tight election contest where razor-thin vote margins can snatch victory.
For instance, in 2008, Senator Barack Obama (Democrat) beat his Republican presidential opponent John McCain in Arizona state with just 3,903 votes out from 2,887,725.
*Trump and Upsurge in Voter Turnout*
Trump’s foray into presidential election contest in 2016 as an unconventional outsider, against the deodorized correctness of professional politicians, literally took the political Establishment by storm, and electrified the electorate. In the presidential race that year against former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, voter turnout was 136,787,187 (59.2%) as against 129,139,997 (58.0%) in 2012, an increase of 7.6 million voters.
By the 2020 election that pitted President Trump against former Vice President Joe Biden, the stakes got higher and so was the surge in voter turnout, at 158,429,631 voters (66.8%), a record increase of 21.6 million voters over 2016 and the turnout promises to be even higher in 2024.
*The Big Bucks Factor*
Top billionaires, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Elon Musk have waded into the presidential contest. Gates and Buffett were one-time the richest men in the world while Musk currently hods that title. Bill Gates donated $US50 million to a pro-Harris non-profit organisation while Buffett who had endorsed Presidents Barrack Obama and Joe Biden has decided this time around not to endorse any candidate, which, by inference, meant non-support for Kamala Harris.
On his part, Musk has not only donated $75 million in support of a Political Action Committee (PAC) engaged in getting out the vote for Trump, particularly in the swing states, he has been actively engaged in political election campaigns with the Republican candidate.
*Harris Loses Major Media Endorsement*
Contrary to what has become a contentious media practice of endorsing presidential candidates, owners of major newspapers have stopped planned endorsements of Harris in this election cycle.
These newspapers include The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, America’s largest newspaper chain, The Chicago Tribune and Minnesota Star Tribune. Gannett, owners of USA Today, in announcing the stepping down of Harris endorsement stated: “our public service is to provide readers with facts that matter and the trusted information they need to make informed decisions”.
For decades, American media had brazenly violated media code of ethics which demands fairness, accuracy and non-partisanship in media content.
*Prognosis*
Kamala Harris brought sunshine charm, infectious laughter and irrepressible energy into the 2024 American presidential election campaigns, that almost rattled Trump, and gave her an initial momentum.
However, that momentum has since waned. That former President Obama had to complain that Black American men are not enthusiastic enough about Harris’s presidential bid is indicative that Harris may not get the huge Black American block vote of 87% given to Democratic presidential candidate Biden in the 2020 election should worry Harris’ camp. Her ardent advocacy for gays and lesbians will be another significant vote loss.
Also, during the campaign, Harris could not effectively defend the administration’s performance record on the economy, but would rather launch into what she would do, if elected. So, her biggest albatross is a national economy that is in the doldrums and remains a big concern for the electorate who will be inclined to vote for a change in government for a new economic direction. The omens are, therefore, dicey for Kamala Harris.
On his part, Trump he faces a formidable battle in the gang up of America’s Political Establishment – Democrats and Republicans – against his re-election.
Former Republican Vice President, Dick Cheney, and his daughter, former Congress woman, Liz Cheney, lead the anti-Trump posse. Trump’s abrasive, and perceived crude manner will alienate votes.
Ultimately, though, the parlous state of an inflation-wracked economy under the Biden/Harris administration and a sustained, aggressive grassroots get-out-the-vote mobilization have the prospect of tilting the presidential election outcome in Trump’s favour and makes him the man to beat.
(Dr. Bisi Olawunmi, a Senior Lecturer with Adeleke University, Ede, is former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) and Fellow, Nigerian Guild of Editors ( FNGE ) Email : olawunmibisi@yahoo.com Phone : 0803364 7571)
A source close to Beyoncé has revealed that the singer’s team has threatened to send a cease-and-desist letter to Donald Trump’s campaign for using her song FREEDOM in a social media video.
According to the source, Beyoncé’s team was not pleased when they discovered that the Trump campaign had used the 2016 song without permission. The video, which was posted on social media, featured a montage of images and clips set to the song’s powerful beat.
The source alleges that Beyoncé’s team has warned the Trump campaign that they will take legal action if the video is not removed and the song is not licensed for future use.
This is not the first time that a musician has clashed with the Trump campaign over song usage. Several artistes, including Adele, Elton John, and Aerosmith, have previously objected to the use of their music in Trump campaign materials.
Beyoncé’s team has not publicly commented on the matter, but the source confirms that they are taking the issue seriously and will take action to protect the singer’s intellectual property.
BREAKING: Donald Trump Backs Out Of Presidential Debate With Kamala Harris—-Former President Donald Trump said late Friday night he will not participate in an ABC-hosted debate against Vice President Kamala Harris and proposed an alternative Fox News debate against Harris, whose campaign said the former president was “running scared” from a “debate he already agreed to.”
Trump said he won’t participate in the Sept. 10 debate on ABC because President Joe Biden will no longer be his opponent after bowing out of the election, and he also cited his defamation lawsuit against the network.
Trump said the Sept. 4 Fox News debate will have similar rules to the ones in his first debate with Biden in June, except it also would be televised in front of a “FULL ARENA AUDIENCE.”
Harris’ campaign said Trump was “running to Fox News to bail him out” of the planned ABC debate.
“To the people of Middletown, Ohio, and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and every corner of our nation, I promise you this,” says J.D. Vance. “I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.”
MILWAUKEE, the United States, (Xinhua)/Flowerbudnews: — J.D. Vance, a senator from the U.S. state of Ohio and author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” on Wednesday night accepted the nomination for vice president at the ongoing Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Introducing himself to the nation as Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, Vance used his speech at the convention to recount his tough upbringing and argue that the Republican Party is most attuned to the difficulties faced by struggling Americans, especially the overlooked working class.
“To the people of Middletown, Ohio, and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and every corner of our nation, I promise you this,” Vance said. “I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.”
Vance, 39, had a tumultuous childhood and was raised by his grandparents in impoverished Rust Belt Ohio. He joined the Marines after graduating from high school and later attended Ohio State University and Yale Law School.
He was once a fierce critic of Trump but shifted his opinion after meeting Trump in 2021, becoming a close ally and a staunch defender. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 with Trump’s endorsement.
Wednesday marks the third day of the Republican National Convention. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Former Director of the U.S. Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott were among a long list of speakers.
On Tuesday, Trump’s former rivals and critics, including former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Senator Marco Rubio, took the stage to make speeches, highlighting the party’s unity.
Trump, who just recently survived an attempted assassination, is expected to accept the Republican nomination for president on Thursday and will make a keynote speech.
Flowerbud News
In spite of his recent appeals for unity and restraint following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, U.S. President Joe Biden didn’t hold back in an interview on Monday.
He went back to accusing his Republican rival of inflammatory rhetoric.
Trump talked about there’d be a bloodbath if he loses; Biden told NBC News anchor Lester Holt, two days after Trump was injured by a shooter at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Biden, who in the wake of the attack stressed the need “to lower the temperature in our politics.’’
He said it was Trump’s own rhetoric not his that had heated up the campaign ahead of November’s presidential elections.
Biden said, “Look, I’m not the guy that said I want to be a dictator on day one,.
“I’m not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election’’ Biden said, referring to previous remarks made by Trump.
“I’m not the guy who said that wouldn’t accept the outcome of this election automatically.
“I have not engaged in that rhetoric. My opponent has engaged in that rhetoric.’’
Following the attack on Trump on Saturday, Biden called for unity and condemned the attack several times.
“In America, we resolve our difference at the ballot box, not with bullets.
“The path forward through competing visions of the campaign should always be resolved peacefully, not through acts of violence,’’ Biden said in a formal Oval Office address on Sunday evening.
Asked by NBC’s Holt what he could do himself to cool down the political debate, Biden said.
“Continue to talk about the things that matter to the American public.’’
“It matters whether or not you, for example, talk about how you’re gonna deal with the border instead of talking about people as being vermin, those things matter.
`That’s the kind of language that is inflammatory.’’
Some of Trump’s fiercest supporters have accused Biden of being partially responsible for the attack due to his rhetoric.
Biden has repeatedly described his rival as an existential threat to democracy.
dpa/NAN
Analysts say Vance’s selection will boost Trump’s support in the Nov. 5 election, especially in some Rust Belt states where the election is likely to be decided, but it offers less opportunity to win over more moderate voters and women.
WASHINGTON, (Xinhua)/Flowerbudnews: — Former U.S. President Donald Trump has emerged Republican nominee after receiving enough delegate votes on Monday to officially become the party’s nominee and announced that he has chosen Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The former president garnered a majority of votes from delegates at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He reached the required threshold with votes from Florida, which were announced by his son, Eric Trump.
Trump is scheduled to formally accept the party’s nomination in a prime-time speech on Thursday. He will lead the Republican Party through a third consecutive election, following his victory against Hillary Clinton in 2016 and his defeat to current President Joe Biden in 2020.
The four-day convention commenced in downtown Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum two days after Trump barely survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and hours after he secured a significant legal victory when a federal judge dismissed one of his criminal prosecutions.
The assassination attempt, which killed one bystander and left Trump with a bloodied ear, immediately shifted the focus of the presidential campaign.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled on Monday to dismiss federal charges against Trump for retaining classified documents after leaving the White House, which effectively removed a major legal threat against the former president, who faces other criminal cases that he says should also be thrown out.
“This dismissal of the lawless indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of all the witch hunts,” Trump said on Truth Social on Monday, also referring to the prosecution of hundreds of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Earlier Monday, Trump announced via his social media platform Truth Social that he had chosen Vance as his running mate, ending months of speculation on his vice president pick.
Vance, 39, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 and sworn into office in January 2023. He was a fierce Trump critic in 2016 but has since become a prominent supporter of the former president’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, particularly on trade, foreign policy and immigration.
He first achieved recognition with the 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” a bestseller which detailed his Appalachian family background and Rust Belt upbringing. The book gave a voice to rural, working-class resentment in left-behind America.
Analysts say Vance’s selection will boost Trump’s support in the Nov. 5 election, especially in some Rust Belt states where the election is likely to be decided, but it offers less opportunity to win over more moderate voters and women.
Earlier in the day, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, the other two finalists, were told they would not be selected.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump was shot at a rally in Butler in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania on Saturday (local time).
Here are the latest.
WASHINGTON, (Xinhua)/Flowerbudnews: — U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke with former U.S. President Donald Trump on phone after the latter was injured in a shooting incident at a campaign rally in Butler in the state of Pennsylvania, media reported.
TRUMP OUT OF HOSPITAL AFTER SHOOTING – MEDIA
NEW YORK, July 13 (Xinhua) — Despite being injured in a shooting at a rally in Butler in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania on Saturday, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign said he will attend the Republican National Convention next week as scheduled.
NEW YORK, July 13 (Xinhua) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that he was shot at a rally in Butler, U.S. state of Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” he said on his social media platform Truth Social.
BIDEN SAYS HE IS “GRATEFUL” TRUMP IS SAFE
NEW YORK, July 13 (Xinhua) — The shooting incident at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania is being investigated as attempted assassination, local media reported on Saturday night, citing law enforcement officials.
NEW YORK, July 13 (Xinhua) — The shooter at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s rally was killed by Secret Service personnel, the U.S. Secret Service said in a statement, adding that one spectator was killed in the incident, while another two were critically injured.
NEW YORK, July 13 (Xinhua) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump was whisked off the stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania of the United States on Saturday after loud noises rang through the crowd.
Xinhua
NEW YORK, April 15 (Xinhua) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday appeared in a criminal court in Manhattan, New York City, in the hush money case, making him the first former U.S. president to stand a criminal trial.
Trump arrived at the court in Lower Manhattan around 9 a.m. with a heavy presence of security guards, press representatives as well as activists from different political camps.
Trump descended from his motorcade and talked to the press briefly before entering the courtroom.
“The trial is a political persecution… It’s an assault on America… it’s a country that’s failing,” said Trump.
The case should never have been brought, said Trump, who also complained about the gag order imposed on him.
Trump’s lawyers made at least three tries in the previous week in order to delay the trial but the requests were denied by judges.
Facing 34 felony counts on falsifying business records in a bid to hide hush money payment of 130,000 U.S. dollars to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, Trump is expected to be present at the court very often as the trial goes on.
The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks as jury selection kicked off on Monday, according to a release by New York State Unified Court System.
Carrying flags and banners, a number of Trump supporters and critics went to Collect Pond Park in front of the court building, and they even traded barbs.
“Our legal system is corrupt, and I’m here to stand with Trump because he’s much more honorable than our court system,” said Steve Merczynski, a New Yorker, who supports Trump by marketing themed hammocks and hammock chairs.
Merczynski said the U.S. judicial system is partisan and the problem makes people don’t trust the system, noting that he expected Trump to be found guilty as the vast majority of the jury in New York City are Democrats.
“The justice system is on trial… I think if Trump is found guilty, it shows we don’t have a fair system here, because this case should not have been brought. If he’s found not guilty, or if there’s a hung jury, I have faith in the system that at least some people know of the baloney that this case is a mistake,” he said.
For Marc Leavitt, nevertheless, “this is a beautiful day for a trial and for the rule of law.”
“I believe strongly in democracy. No man or woman is above the law. Everyone has the right to be proven innocent or guilty,” said Leavitt, who wore a placard criticising Trump.
A group of protesters marched by the court building in the morning and carried a big banner which read “No one is above the law.”
Leavitt said he believes Trump would get a fair trial in the hush money case and the Republican Party could have chosen a much more worthy candidate in the upcoming presidential election, but he also believes that Trump is guilty of subverting democracy and a “former embarrassment in chief and a scourge on our democracy.”
Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee in the 2024 U.S. general election, is facing four criminal indictments, and a conviction in one criminal trial would dampen his presidential campaign, analysts say.