By Spy Uganda Correspondent
Kampala: Donald Trump has won a historic second term in the White House in a shocking political comeback four years after leaving office.
Trump surpassed the magic number of 270 Electoral College votes early on Wednesday after winning key battleground states and also claiming a majority of 51 percent in the popular vote.
Counting is still underway in Arizona and Nevada but those results will not now alter the outcome.
The 45th and now 47th president took to the stage with his family and running mate JD Vance earlier to promise a “golden age for America” and hail “the greatest political movement of all time.”
Republicans have also likely taken control of the Senate, a key victory for the party which has been in the minority there since 2021.
As world leaders rushed to congratulate Trump, Kamala Harris elected not to appear at Howard University in Washington DC, where a watch party had been planned in anticipation of victory but which ultimately ended in tears with supporters leaving early. Harris is now set to deliver her concession speech at 4pm ET at Howard.
Harris was the self-styled underdog against her Republican rival, Trump, having joined the race barely three months ago, but the nature of her loss has some Democrats asking questions about the future of the party.
The sharpest criticism contained accusations that the party had lied to its supporters about President Joe Biden’s mental fitness until a disastrous TV debate with Trump in June raised alarm bells and ultimately led to the president exiting the race.
One Democratic donor asked: “Why did Joe Biden hold on for as long as he did? He should have not concealed his (health) and dropped out a lot sooner.”
Biden, 81, has said privately he thought he was the only Democrat who could beat Trump, and vowed publicly that he was fit to be president for another four years. When he dropped out of the race in July, he said he had decided it was “in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down.”
Biden’s announcement in April 2023 that he would run for re-election was greeted with scepticism by many Democrats, but likely potential challengers quickly agreed to join his campaign as advisers, rather than challenge him.
The party “needs a complete reboot,” said hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a long-time Democratic donor who endorsed Trump in 2024, on X. “The party lied to the American people about the cognitive health and fitness of the president,” he said, and then didn’t hold a primary to replace him.
Two groups Harris was counting on to beat Trump — increasingly diverse young voters, believed to be motivated by climate change, liberal values and her social media savvy, and women worried about shrinking abortion rights under a Republican — moved in his direction instead.
Trump’s overall share of voters under 45 was up two percentage points from 2020 as was his share of women voters, Edison Research exit poll data show.
Trump also increased his support in many suburban areas, where Democrats thought they had made inroads.
The shift came even as the Harris campaign insisted that the race was close, and that she was picking up new voters.
One Democratic National Committee official said he was fielding angry text messages from party members late on Tuesday night. “They feel lied to by the campaign,” the official said.
