As an extension of U.S. support of Israel, Trump had formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel during his first year in office 2017.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has declared victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris after securing 267 electoral votes, becoming the 47th president of the United States.
Trump, who served as the 45th U.S. president between 2017 and 2021, immediately began his victory speech on Wednesday morning in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he praised his voters.
“This was a movement like nobody’s ever seen before, and frankly, this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time,” he said. “We’re going to help our country heal.”
Harris has yet to officially concede.
During his time in office, Trump imposed controversial domestic policies, including restrictions on immigration from Muslim-majority countries and separating children from immigrant parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Data compiled by the Pew Research Center found that the level of migrant apprehensions at the border significantly rose between 2018 and 2019 – his first couple of years in office – to its highest level in 12 years.
Globally, Trump implemented contentious measures, particularly within the Middle East. This included unilaterally withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, technically known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018.
The move came under his attempts to exert “maximum pressure” on Iran by re-imposing sanctions on the country.
As an extension of U.S. support of Israel, Trump had also formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel during his first year in office 2017, breaking with international convention. Trump also decided to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Then in late 2020, Trump established the Abraham Accords, which saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain officially normalise ties with Israel. Morocco and Sudan later followed suit in the wave of regional normalisation. However, critics argued that these agreements were largely driven by geopolitical interests and came at the expense of the Palestinian cause.
The controversial Accords was also an attempt to gain pre-election wins as he planned to run for a consecutive second term against Joe Biden. Trump had challenged the results during the elections while claiming voter fraud.
Trump was impeached twice: first in 2019 over allegations related to his dealings with Ukraine, and again in 2021 following the January 6 Capitol riot, where a mob of his supporters violently stormed Congress after Biden declared victory. The Senate then acquitted Trump in February 2021.
