Donald J. Trump rode a national fury against the political status quo all the way to the White House, winning the election Tuesday to become the 45th president of the United States.
In an implausible triumph after breaking seemingly every rule of presidential campaigning, the often-crude, often-demagogic ex-reality show star defeated nemesis Hillary Clinton to become commander-in-chief — and thwart the Democrat’s second shot at the White House.
In his acceptance speech, the next president promised a bright future that is at odds with the fear and division he rode to the White House.
"I pledge to every citizen in our land that I will be President for all Americans, and this is so important to me," Trump told a wild pack of supporters at Manhattan's Hilton Hotel.
Donald Trump shatters the political establishment
He insisted he would work with Americans of all backgrounds on "the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream."
Trump said Clinton called him to concede, and he commended his opponent on her service to America.
But Clinton never spoke to supporters. As Trump took the electoral lead, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta offered false hope to defeated supporters at the Jacob Javits Center.
“They’re still voting and every vote should count,” Podesta said as the polls burst in Trump's favor.
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Trump, the one-time long shot in a crowded Republican primary field, scored a trifecta of triumphs in three major swing states by sweeping Ohio, Florida and North Carolina. He pulled in 276 electoral votes by early Wednesday morning.
Both candidates devoted major time and effort in Florida and North Carolina in the final days of the campaign, with Trump capturing the two key Southern battleground states. He added the seemingly solid Democratic stronghold of Pennsylvania early Wednesday.
Hillary Clinton won 218 electoral votes, with a few states still uncounted as Tuesday night turned into Wednesday morning. Her effort to become the nation’s first woman President was dashed, in a cruel twist, by a man she reviled as a misogynist.
Trump, in contrast to former First Lady, senator and secretary of state Clinton, is the first U.S. President with no political or military experience. At 70, he is also the oldest person ever elected to the White House.
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He managed to avoid serving in Vietnam with five draft deferments, including one for a bone spur.
His victory had an immediate impact on Dow Jones futures and Asian markets, with both plunging as the counting of the vote for President Obama’s successor lingered into early Wednesday.
Republicans appear set to control both the White House and both houses of Congress, giving a President Trump consolidated power and a free hand to carry out his agenda. The GOP had a firm grip on the House and was expected to retain its Senate majority.
Trump boosters started to celebrate as the night wore on and their candidate hung on to a lead in electoral votes.
“U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” chanted Trump backers at a Midtown hotel as news of the Ohio triumph blared from two big screen televisions. The Republican candidate watched returns with his family at his home in nearby Trump Tower.
Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a major Trump backer, expressed her delight with the growing numbers.
“I think what we’re seeing tonight is fantastic, fantastic,” Brewer said at a ballroom at the New York Hilton Midtown. “We’re going to win this thing.”
Trump — who trailed in virtually every poll throughout the heated race — enjoyed an easy time through the night. He had no reason to believe the night would belong to him: Last-minute presidential polls even indicated Monday that Clinton was favored to hold off a late Trump charge.
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Revelers at the Trump party cheered as pictures of despondent Hillary fans appeared on the two big screen televisions.
“This is extraordinary,” said Ed Martin, one of the Trump supporters celebrating inside the Hilton. “Not just in American politics but in U.S. history. Until tonight, he had only transformed the Republican Party.
“Now he’s transformed an entire conversation the whole country has to have.”
The political neophyte’s stunning run was greeted by many with derision when he announced in June 2015, making him appear the longest of longshots among the 17 Republicans battling in the party primaries.
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Soon, though, the mercurial, tax-avoiding billionaire emerged as the tribune of voters who longed for a revolutionary leader who could defeat Clinton, the ultimate symbol of an enemy Washington establishment.
Proudly playing to his supporters, Trump repeatedly declared that American politics had been “rigged” against them by the former First Lady and her ilk.
His claim, early on in the race, that he could shoot someone on Fifth Ave. and still win election proved to be only an untested exageration.
With Clinton’s decades on the national stage making her the perfect foil, Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again” enabled him to overcome escalating offensive remarks and revelations about misdeeds.
Brushed aside were Trump’s history of business failures, record of fraudulent practices, documented falsehoods, open misogyny — and even boasts of sexaully assaulting women.
The passion of his supporters also empowered Trump to bend much, but not all, of the Republican power structure to his will — despite racially and ethnically offensive outbursts, as well as a disregard for many traditional GOP policy positions.
Clinton highlighted Trump’s sexual and gender offenses, along with his many flights into apparent instability, only to be denied the opportunity to serve as the first U.S. woman president.
To greater effect, Trump attacked his opponent as “Crooked Hillary,” relentlessly assailing Clinton over her email scandal and promising to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her if elected.
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Clinton’s first Election Night victory came in Vermont, the home of her Democratic primary challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders. She also carried Obama’s home state of Illinois.
Even with wins in California and New York, with a combined 84 electoral votes, Clinton’s fortunes kept looking worse in the hours after the polls closed.
Hours before the returns began to roll in, the real estate developer hinted that people waiting for a Trump concession speech could be left hanging if he lost.
“We’re going to see how things play out today and hopefully they will play out well and hopefully we won’t have to worry about it,” Trump told Fox News. “It’s largely a rigged system.”
The idea of a predetermined outcome became one of the Trump mantras as he tore into the Democratic nominee in the campaign’s final days.
He pounded away at the idea of a bogus election almost as hard as he blasted Clinton over her use of a private email server for classified messages while secretary of state.
The FBI twice cleared Clinton of any wrongdoing in the cyber-mess — the second time just two days before Election Day.
Trump boosters started to celebrate as the night wore on and their candidate took a significant lead. College-age Trumpkins in “Make America Great Again” hats sang “God Bless America” after Wisconsin went for Trump.
State after state fell for Trump, who was ahead in both the popular and electoral votes early Wednesday. The Donald, as his first of three wives dubbed Trump, received nearly 54 million votes.
Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats have been a fixture on the campaign trail.
The Trump playbook, like nothing ever seen on the national political stage, didn’t work for many high-profile Republicans. He divided the GOP much as he split the nation after jumping into the race.
While Clinton campaigned in the final days with mega-stars like Bruce Springsteen, LeBron James, Jay Z and Obama, Trump stumped alone through the swing states to deliver his message.
Many old-school GOPers, including both former presidents Bush, Colin Powell and Mitt Romney, declined to support Trump — not that he seemed to care.
In Texas, former President George W. Bush voted for neither Trump nor Clinton — leaving the presidential line untouched — before voting for other GOP candidates. Bush’s former spokesman Ari Fleischer did the same.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, one of the 16 Republicans who ran against Trump for the GOP nomination, wrote in 2008 party nominee John McCain on Tuesday.
A Clinton victory, in addition to putting a woman in the White House, would have made her the first spouse of a former President to win the job. Bill Clinton was President from 1993-2001.
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