WASHINGTON (AN) — Elected the 47th U.S. president, Donald Trump will return to the White House with an "American First" approach to global challenges that conflicts with international cooperation and development.
"People told me that God spared my life for a reason," he told supporters on early Wednesday morning – referring to the assassination attempts he survived – as the twice impeached former president celebrated victory with a big lead in the Electoral College before the final results were tallied.
"Success is going to bring us together and we are going to start by all putting America first. We have to put our country first, for at least a period of time," he said. "We have to fix it, because together we can truly make America great again for all Americans."
Within hours, Trump had clinched more than the 270 electoral votes that were needed to win, the Associated Press reported, marking "an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts."
"The victory validates Trump’s bare-knuckles approach to politics," AP continued. "He had attacked Harris in deeply personal – often misogynistic and racist – terms as he pushed an apocalyptic picture of a country overrun by violent migrants. The coarse rhetoric, paired with an image of hypermasculinity, resonated with angry voters – particularly men – in a deeply polarized nation."
He is only the second president to be defeated and then re-elected to a subsequent term. At 78, Trump also is the oldest person in U.S. history to be elected president. And he is the first convicted felon ever to win a U.S. presidential election, beating the entire judicial system that has threatened to imprison him for a mountain of criminal offenses.
"The outcome of this election is not what we wanted. But hear me when I say the light of America's promise will always burn bright, as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting," Vice President Kamala Harris told a crowd of supporters at Howard University, her alma mater, but advised them that "we must accept the results of this election."
"On the campaign, I would often say, 'when we fight, we win.' But here's the thing. Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn't mean we won't win. The important thing is don't ever give up," she added. "While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this election."
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres commended Americans "for their active participation in the democratic process" and congratulated Trump.
"Cooperation between the United States and the United Nations is an essential pillar of international relations," Guterres said. "The United Nations stands ready to work constructively with the incoming administration to address the dramatic challenges our world is facing."
It's now an open question whether or to what extent America's post-World War II role as a leader of the free world and rules-based international order fits within Trump's "America First" approach of narrow self-interest.
Trump's second term "poses a grave threat to human rights in the United States and the world," Human Rights Watch said, pointing to his "rights-abusing record during his first term, his embrace of white supremacist supporters and ideology, the extreme anti-democratic and anti-rights policies proposed by think tanks led by former aides, and campaign promises, including to round up and deport millions of immigrants and retaliate against political opponents."
The first Trump administration from Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2021 withdrew critical U.S. funding and participation from international organizations and treaties. U.S. President Joe Biden largely reversed that approach.
A second Trump term will almost certainly revive U.S. antipathy to multilateralism, posing a serious challenge to United Nations-led efforts on climate change, global health and trade, and to Western-led support for Ukraine. Not all organizations are prepared to chart such hostile waters.
“Donald Trump has made no secret of his intent to violate the human rights of millions of people in the United States,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch. “Independent institutions and civil society groups, including Human Rights Watch, will need to do all we can to hold him and his administration accountable for abuses.”
Trump will almost certainly continue to oppose much of the work of the U.N. and other international organizations on issues like war crimes, culture, education, reproductive rights, human rights, and Palestinian refugees.
"For much of his campaign, Trump offered a message of xenophobia and misogyny and racism, of cruelty and darkness and hate," and at times he "echoed rhetoric from Nazi Germany," the Washington Post reported. "If he wins, it will be because enough of the nation embraced that message, too."
'International organizations are not helpless'
Academic research on the challenge from Trump shows international organizations' effectiveness in responding depends on their leadership, structure, and support networks, according to Hylke Dijkstra, a professor of international security and cooperation at Maastricht University.
European capitals, the European Union and NATO also should start preparing now for the challenges of a Trump presidency but "the global governance deck is massively stacked in Europe's favor," he posted on X.
"Bottom line: international organizations are not helpless when faced with Trump," he said. "Moreover, if the rules-based liberal international order is under siege by Trump, China, Russia and the rest, it is wishful thinking that the E.U. (which is based on that very liberal template) will stand tall."
Dijkstra and three PhD candidates at Maastricht University wrote in a 2022 article published in Cambridge Review of International Affairs that Trump's 'America First' approach put international organizations on the defensive.
"Little remains known about whether IOs can cope with and counter these existential challenges," they wrote. "Policy-makers are well-advised to continue to invest in IOs and particularly their leadership and bureaucracies to make them more robust to further challenges."
'Joy' for Russia, uncertainty for Ukraine
Pollsters and pundits predicted a closer race against Harris, but voters, dissatisfied with four years of Democratic leadership, rejected fears about handing the White House back to a Republican former president with a criminal conviction and two impeachments who incited an insurrection.
World leaders congratulated Trump, who alienated some of America's longstanding allies and drew closer to authoritarian figures from nations such as Russia, Hungary and North Korea.
“Kamala Harris was right when she quoted Psalm 30:5: ‘Weeping may remain in the night, but joy comes in the morning,’” Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “Hallelujah, I would add for myself.”
“We have many plans that we can execute in the coming year with President Donald Trump,” said Hungary's nationalist president, Viktor Orbán, who will oversee a summit for European leaders later this week.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his congratulations, saying Trump's "historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America."
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte congratulated Trump for his election win and noted the military alliance's members have been increasing their military spending, as he had emphasized.
"His leadership will again be key to keeping our alliance strong. I look forward to working with him again to advance peace through strength through NATO," Rutte said of Trump.
Trump has pledged to end the Russia-Ukraine war in his first day of taking offfice, which could mean capitulation to Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Despite that, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Trump.
Zelenskyy may soon have to contend with a move to significantly cut U.S. aid to Ukraine that could impact its ability to fight Russia. He said, however, that he appreciates Trump's "commitment to the 'peace through strength' approach in global affairs."
This story has been updated with additional details.
