The Saint

By Jordan Beaubois, News Editor

A 2024 Presidential Election Banner – Photo by Euronews.com

Grace Wilson’s Vote Sticker Tumbler of Awesomeness – Photo by Grace Malec

Election day took place on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning where the citizens of the United States cast their ballots to determine who will serve as the most paramount position in this country, perhaps even the world.

Much controversy and conflict occurred on the lead up; President Biden chose not to run for a second term, former President Trump had an attempt made on his life, misinformation was spread, and questions on the stability not only of the United States, but the global world as a whole was brought into question.

The American people voted for former President Trump to serve a second non-consecutive term. The second president to do so, and the first time a convicted felon would take up residency in the White House. He will also be the first ever President to be elected after attempting to subvert a prior election in 2020. 

This election was a deciding factor for many future decisions and debates to come with the now President elect Trump. The questionable security of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), potentially copious amounts of tariffs to be set upon many nation-states, destabilizing the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the unknown future role of female reproductive rights and access to birth control. It would also call into contention the future of how this president will set a precedent towards politics in America. The usage of social media, billionaires, philanthropists, celebrities, and influential spokespersons clearly played a larger role in modern American politics than ever thought imaginable. With people such as Elon Musk, Hulk Hogan, and Doctor Phil taking part in Trump rallies and speeches.

Those who are in positions of government in other nation-states have already begun to congratulate President-elect Trump including: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Mexico’s first female leader President Claudia Sheinbaum, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and many more.

Regardless of the four years to come, the one sentiment that nearly all Americans can agree upon is hope. Hope that these next four years will not be a worrisome few, and how the president will conduct himself and this country will be to the best of his abilities. As it benefits not only the United States, but the global world as a whole. Afterall when the country elects a president, they also vote for one of the most influential figures to play on the chessboard that is global politics, international relations, and the world’s economy. 

Analyzing why Trump won in 2024 as opposed to being re-elected in 2020 can be mostly attributed to the economic instability. In 2020 when the world gripped with COVID in its own way, Trump’s removal from the World Health Organization (WHO) came as quite a shock. With most Americans either out of job or in a job at home, with socialization being practically non-existent, and schools transitioned to an electronic medium via Zoom, Discord, or Google Meets. 

During the president’s last four years of 2016-2020 his position in global politics has been contentious to say the least. Meeting with Kim Jung-Un of North Korea was seen as double-sided as it legitimized a totalitarian government, but provided minute improvements in international relations. 

The former president’s decision to pull out of the WHO during the midst of a worldwide pandemic demonstrated an ignorance to the severity of the situation that the pandemic perpetuated. Ever Since the founding of the WHO the United States has been one of the biggest advocates for the intergovernmental organization (IGO) contributing nearly $900 million or 15% of the IGO’s budget. His pull out from the WHO was a critical blow in the world of international relations: this put heavy strain on America’s commitment to science and health

Under the Biden Administration, international upheaval has perpetrated at such an unprecedented rate such as: America’s embarrassing removal in Afghanistan leading to a power vacuum where the Taliban took advantage to seize control, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causing a massive warfront in Eastern Europe, the later of which disrupted the world’s economy with sanctions on one of the most resource rich nation-states. Finally the incursion into the Gaza Strip by the Israeli government after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. A global conflict that has had many of the world in a state of shock. Whilst Netanyahu had legal justification in retaliation, he continues to ignore Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Just War Theory in the jus in bello (justice during war). To such an extent that the International Criminal Court (ICC) under Karim Khan sent out an arrest warrant out for the Israeli prime minister for the war crimes has knowingly committed.

The global conflicts laid bare to the Biden Administration caused a stranglehold on the economic “bounce back” that many Americans were hoping for after the pandemic; resulting in many Americans with a sentiment of abandonment when they saw many of their tax dollars being sent overseas as opposed to being used inwards on its own citizens. 

With the world in such a state of flux it is a small wonder why the American people had a profound amount of uncertainty in its leadership especially when President Biden’s mental acuity was beginning to show more seriously to the American public. Questions of his aptitude caused such ary that Biden resigned from running for a second term, propping up Vice President Kamala Harris as the best running mate and Democratic Party’s nominee. 

Harris with limited time allocated during the election did what she could to rally the American people with the support of her fellow Democrats and even some Republicans such as; Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, Republican former Vice President Mike Pence, former Californian Governor Arnold Schwartzeneggar, former Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, and many more. American historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present and Pulitzer Prize non-fiction writer Anne Applebaum: have stated Trump has used Nazi like rhetoric to radicalize people who don’t usually view. These comments were made in a shared interview discussing Trump at Madison Square Garden in late October. Harris had support from both political parties and her campaign raising more money than Trump could muster. Harris raised nearly a billion dollars whereas Trump barely scratched one third of that number. So now the questions remain… Why and how did she lose?

The simplistic answer to the question is that Trump spoke to the people, where Harris spoke at them. What is meant by this is that Trump reached audiences in America who were unlikely to vote or never voted before, whereas Harris’s audience was the more traditional realm, those already voting. Ever since Trump ran in 2016, voter turnout has been higher especially amongst Republican voters. In this election, especially many Latina citizens, in 2020 only 35% of Latinas voted for Trump, but in this election that percentile climbed to over 42%.

It was not a simplistic foothold into the election, but an amalgamation of different variables that assisted in it. Author Ben-Ghiat in her previously mentioned book specifically analyzed Trump’s behavior and relates it to how other leaders in similar vein were able to reach those audiences. Other such variables include marketing; Trump’s political marketing was far more successful as opposed to Harris. Trump was not only able to sell himself on social media platforms on X and Truth Social, but also being able to sell his Trump brand on anything buildable, printable and anything in between. The “MAGA” caps are easily recognizable with a four letter phrase that is much more distinct as opposed to Harris’s hats which had “,LA”. 

Politics is marketing at the end of the day; whether that is marketing oneself, a brand, the candidate’s charismatic ability, or even the policy they endorse. If a candidate fails to market themselves successfully, chances are not in their favor. An example of this was during the Presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale, in which Reagen’s age was brought into question, Reagan responded “I will not make age an issue of this campaign, I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience” which was followed by resounding laughter and applause, even by his opponent. It is important to note that at that time in 1984, Reagan was 73 years of age whereas currently President Biden is 81 and President-elect Trump is 78.

What will become of the United States of America and international politics with another term of Trump’s policy, what will it look like? Some people have already begun discussing the possibility of Robert F. Kennedy Junior being poised to be a part of Trump’s administration or to hold significant influence. Kennedy has been a controversial figure in and of himself with a slew of conspiracy theories and the spread of information unfounded by medical boards and professionals. Other talks include potentially Tulsi Gabbard having a role in Trump’s sphere of influence. Gabbard previously ran as a Democrat in 2016, before switching as an Independent in 2022, and then just this year joined the Republican party. Concretely is that on November seventh Trump made the announcement that Susie Wiles would be his chief of staff. Wiles has been a member and supporter of Donald Trump since 2016 and an active political consultant.

As for the talking points, Trump’s statements are plentiful and equally subjective. Trump has mentioned his distaste that many NATO member states do not pay their “fair share” and has expressed ideas of potentially pulling the USA out of NATO. The potential repercussions of leaving NATO would provide little benefit to the United States.

The tariffs Trump claims to put on various nation-states will certainly impact the global economy, no one can say for sure what the effect they will have. A heavy tariff against the People’s Republic of China may finally curb what NAFTA did to hinder the American job market, only time will tell. Tariff placement after all needs to be a delicately placed process otherwise the country will be left in an isolated bubble. Similar in America’s tariff history would be the one Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson employed when he implemented the tariff on overseas vehicle imports, which monopolized the American automotive industry which still plagues the country. 

Regardless of all that transpired on the lead up to the election, the election itself, and the potential future. The election was free and fair as it has always been in the United States of America. The outcome has been accepted as they should always be, and the next four years should be handled with dignity, grace, cordiality, hindsight, and foresight. Even though the election is over, the encouragement to be politically literate should be a practiced endeavor for all Americans to prepare themselves for the next election.