Kathryn Deutsch
On Wednesday morning, it was declared that Donald Trump had won the US national election. Trump will be president for his second and final term, from 2025 to 2029. Trump declared victory a few hours before the final results came in, stating that his victory was divinely ordained, saying “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and restore America to greatness”. Also in this speech, Trump declared the House of Representatives to have swung Republican as well, even though (at the time of writing), not all congression districts have declared a winner, as not all the votes have yet been counted.
Harris and Biden pledging to ensure a peaceful transfer of power;
Both Harris and Biden have congratulated Trump for his victory, with both Harris and Biden pledging to ensure a peaceful transfer of power; an especially important statement after the January 6th riot, which Trump currently is accused of encouraging, saying “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore”.
There is now a great deal of uncertainty for the multiple legal battles in which Trump is currently embroiled. Trump is currently fighting many legal cases, including a fraud case in the state of New York, an appeal for sexual assault and defamation, a case related to hush money that Trump has paid women with whom he’s had sexual relations, the federal department of justice case surrounding the stolen Mar-a-Lago documents, an election subversion case for the 2020 election, as well as several more legal cases. It is yet unknown what will occur with these cases, as several of them stalled due to the election. While another person would likely be looking at jail time for at least the New York hush-money case, Trump is unlikely to see the inside of a jail cell.
The UK will continue supporting Ukraine
There have been concerns over Trump’s stance on Ukraine; Bryan Lanza, one of the people who worked on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, has stated that the new administration is not interested in supporting Ukraine to take back its territory “And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he’s not serious”. While the administration has not made any definitive statements, Trump has, in the past, been very supportive of Russia’s aims, and has suggested that the US should cut off all aid to Ukraine. The UK Treasury Minister, Darren Jones, has stated that “Ukraine should be able to recover its country as it was previously structured” and there “shouldn’t be an element of conceding to illegal invasions from Russia”. The UK will continue supporting Ukraine, though if Ukraine will be able to hold out against Russia long-term, or even take back territory, without the US’s support is unknown.
For now, the main question is about who will form Trump’s cabinet; his advisory council. So far, Susie Wiles is his future chief of staff, his future border tsar is Tom Homan, and his future United Nations ambassador is Elise Stefanik. There have been many names floating around for the other positions, but no one can say for sure who will achieve these coveted roles.
Kathryn Deutsch
