Donald Trump, 78, will be the oldest elected POTUS; president-elect vows to 'heal' America after a 'powerful mandate'

The 78-year-old's campaign as a Republican nominee for one of the most powerful positions in the world has been a dramatic one, especially after he survived two assassination attempts.

Referring to the July 13 assassination attempt, Trump said: "God spared my life for a reason".

He raced ahead of his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, comfortably winning 291 electoral votes in a fiercely fought election.  Harris could bag only 223, according to CNN.

"America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate. We have taken back control of the Senate," Trump said addressing a massive gathering of supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida.

Banking on his promise to "fix America" and "make it great again", Donald Trump has also become the first Republican to win the popular vote in two decades.

“Thank you very much. Winning the popular vote was very nice, very nice, I will tell you," Trump said in his victory speech.

"We are going to help our country heal, fix our borders, we made history for a reason tonight. We have achieved the most incredible political win. I want to thank the American people. I will fight for you and your family with every breath in my body," he said, thanking the nation.

As of 9:51 a.m. Wednesday (US Time), Trump edged Harris by a whopping 71,541,593 to 66,482,858, with 89% of precincts reporting, according to NBC News.

After Grover Cleveland, he is also the second man in US history to win non-consecutive terms.

Among the seven swing states, Trump has won 6 crucial states of Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, Wisonsin and Pennsylvania.

The seven swing states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin were projected to play a key role in determining the President of the country.

Even as Trump bagged a massive popular mandate, many female voters have expressed their disappointment over his win.

Speaking to IBNS, Arizona University PhD student Mary Lilibeth Sanchez said: "I’m disheartened by the results but I think this proves that the Democratic Party needs to do a better job at appealing to their progressive voter base instead of playing it safe."

Another senior reasearcher Brian Scott expressed shock over how Kamla Harris bagged even less votes than Joe Biden. "But then I thought Trump would not sweep popular votes which he did," he said.

Meanwhile, many are hopeful that Trump will deliver on his promise of rebuilding the country for the better and fixing the economy, among others.

Babu Raman K, project manager in the finance sector and active participant in community outreach programs, said: "Now that the people have vested a mandate in Mr Trump, hopefully there will be a change for the better.  The economy gets a boost, the systems that are broken get fixed and we move forward and grow.”

"Hopefully the USA regains its position as a World Leader in the true sense," he added.

When he lost the 2020 US Presidential election to Joe Biden, Trump refused to accept the results and stunned the nation as his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. 

The riots had then disrupted a joint session of the US Congress called to affirm the presidential election results. A grand jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

The Biden-Harris campaign at the time stated that no one is above the law while Trump called the verdict a result of the “rigged” political system.

Trump won the 2016 presidential election as the Republican Party nominee against Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. However, at that time he had lost the popular vote.

Winning the election this time, the Republican leader said he would usher in a “golden age of America.” His campaign massively focused on the economy and immigration, which were major criticisms of the Biden administration.

In his first speech since the results projected his return as the US President, Trump made it very clear about his core agendas asserting to "fix borders."

As he is projected to tighten the borders and immigration policies, experts believe that the same could affect the H-1B visa rules, impacting costs and growth for Indian IT firms.

Even his policies might impact India-US trade as over 80 percent of India's IT export earnings come from the US, making it vulnerable to changes in visa policies.

However, with Trump sharing a strong bond with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his election can be good news for India geopolitically.

"His win can be good news for dealing with India's neighbour Bangladesh where the replacement of elected pro-India leader Sheikh Hasina with Muhammad Yunus, seen as a choice of the outgoing US administration and the Democratic Party cabal, led to utter chaos, Hindu persecution and fear of Islamic radicalisation casting a shadow on India's internal security," said senior journalist and IBNS editor Sujoy Dhar.

"Amid India's diplomatic meltdown with Canada over Khalistan separatism, the election of Republican Trump is a good news for New Delhi as well given his dislike for Justin Trudeau," said Dhar.

Trump's policies during the previous term sparked numerous protests. He was the only U.S. president without prior military or government experience. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged, racist, and misogynistic.

The other key election issue this time had been the abortion debate and Donald Trump's second presidential term could herald a new wave of attacks on abortion access across the United States even without a Republican-controlled Congress.

For advocates of abortion rights, a Republican-controlled Congress is a nightmare situation as there is every possibility that the administration might enact sweeping national restrictions or an outright ban.

But even without that, Trump could "do a lot of damage to abortion access" through federal actions and judicial appointments, American University law professor Lewis Grossman told AFP.

In his victory speech, Trump did not forget to remind the audience about the multiple conflicts in the Middle East in recent years and claimed he was against any war.

"For four years, we had no war except for the killing of ISIS. We won't start a war. We will stop the war," said Trump, who highlighted multiple wars in the last few years across the world at the fag end of his campaign.

In its first reaction after the US polls result, Russia said the victory of Donald Trump and his return to the White House after a four-year break obviously "reflect Americans’ disappointment in the performance of the Biden administration and the election programme of the Democratic Party formulated by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who was hastily chosen to replace the incumbent President in the race."

"Despite an overpowering propaganda campaign, which Democrats launched against Donald Trump based on the administrative resource and support from the liberal media, the Republican candidate, who relied on the experience of his previous presidency, highlighted issues that are of real interest to the electorate, namely, the economy and illegal migration, as a counterbalance to the White House’s globalist course," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"In these circumstances, the ruling group was unable to use the chronically ill American 'democracy,' a system, which is outdated, archaic and incompatible with the modern standards of direct, fair and transparent elections, to prevent Kamala Harris’s defeat," it added.

Americans voted in large numbers on Tuesday to decide who between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat nominee Kamala Harris would occupy the White House next four years, in one of the most hard-fought polls.

World leaders congratulate:

Indian PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated his "friend" Donald Trump on his historic victory.

India's Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi posted his congratulations too.

UK PM Kier Starmer wrote on X: "Congratulations President-elect @realDonaldTrump on your historic election victory."

Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Dear Donald and Melania Trump, Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!" "Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.This is a huge victory!" he said.

Australian PM Anthony Albanese said: "Congratulations to President Donald Trump on his election victory. Australians and Americans are great friends and true allies. Working together, we can ensure the partnership between our nations and peoples remains strong into the future."