Last Updated on January 22, 2026 by Ayoko Ahite

On November 5, 2024, Trump triumphed. His election as the 47th president of the United States surprised and shocked the world more than his first victory in 2016. This is because he was underestimated again.

When Trump first announced his candidacy in 2016, most people didn’t think he could make it past the primary, let alone win the general election, but he proved everyone wrong. He owes his victory to his ability to easily connect with the people he called “the forgotten men and women” of the country, who ultimately pushed him beyond the fish line.

Fast forward to 2020, as he sought a second term in office, Trump lost the election to Joe Biden. This is mainly because the country wanted a change in leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Trump’s view, however, he couldn’t lose to a man he called “Sleepy Joe” throughout the campaign.

He believed the election was “rigged” and “stolen” from him. He tried to overturn the results in his favor and organized a big protest that turned deadly on January 6, 2021, but that didn’t work. Ultimately, he left the White House for his beautiful Palm Beach estate, “Mar-a-Lago,” a few days later.

After leaving office, Trump didn’t waste any time and quickly announced that he would run again in 2024. He restarted holding campaign rallies nationwide even before the campaign season started. Despite the negative press, he believed his core voters and the American people who shared his vision would turn out for him, and they did. He made history by winning again, becoming the second president to win two non-consecutive terms in American history, after Grover Cleveland in 1892.