Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore | Flickr
Aside from Trump himself and the American people, several individuals emerged as particularly big winners on election night when the former president secured a return ticket to the White House. There were some big losers as well who had a serious stake in Harris winning but came up short. Here’s a look at each camp.
WINNER: JD Vance
Just a few short years ago, JD Vance was a prominent Trump critic. Now he’s Trump’s vice president-elect and the heir apparent of Trump’s America First movement.
Vance was undoubtedly taking a risk by signing on to be Trump’s vice presidential pick – just as Trump was taking a risk by choosing him. A first term senator from Ohio, Vance was a relatively untested political commodity. But Trump’s confidence in Vance paid off big, with “the kid from Middletown” becoming a major asset for the campaign.
Of course, Vance’s first priority as vice president will be helping enact Trump’s agenda. But it’s impossible to ignore that Vance is now perfectly positioned to be the frontrunner to secure the Republican nomination for president in 2028, if he so chooses.
LOSER: Corporate Media
Volumes can, should, and likely will be written on how the corporate media sabotaged its own credibility in pursuit of its ceaseless crusade to “get Trump.” While 2016 and 2020 dashed the public’s confidence in the establishment press, 2024 revealed just how complete the collapse has been.
The media went all-out in the final weeks of the campaign to build up Kamala Harris into an almost mythical political savior, while continuing to demonize Trump as “literally Hitler” and a “threat to democracy.” But voters simply did not buy it.
In fact, the longer the media has continued its smear campaign against Trump, the more popular he has become, increasing his raw vote total from 2016 in both 2020 and 2024.
Some in the corporate media are now finally beginning to take a look in the mirror to save what is left of their reputations – but it may well be too little, too late.
WINNER: Trump Defenders
It has never been easy for public figures, whether in politics, media, or entertainment, to defend Trump. Doing so means becoming an outcast in elite circles, inviting harassment on yourself and your family, and even becoming a target of a politicized legal system.
This was especially true during the media firestorm after January 6. But those who saw through the manufactured left-wing outrage and understood that Trump was still the best chance for Republicans to win back the White House and stop the far-left agenda have now been vindicated in an enormous way. Figures like South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Senators Josh Hawley, Bill Hagerty, and Rick Scott, and Representatives Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, Elise Stefanik, and Jim Jordan, among others, have gained significant trust and credibility with the president-elect and his voters through their steadfast support of Trump and his agenda.
LOSER: Establishment Republicans
The hope for establishment Republicans after 2016 and especially 2020 was that the Trump phenomenon was just a flash in the pan – an establishment candidate would surely defeat Trump in the 2024 primary and the old guard would seize back control of the party.
Both the 2024 GOP primary and the general election shattered that fantasy, with Trump winning the nomination in commanding fashion and then becoming the first Republican in two decades to win the popular vote.
Republicans also won the House and Senate on the backs of candidates who closely aligned themselves with Trump, signaling that the America First revolution inside the GOP is only gaining momentum. Establishment Republicans still hold some influence in the party, but they are now clearly a dying breed.
WINNER: Elon Musk
Elon Musk, a former self-described Democrat and the world’s richest man, spent tens of millions helping get Trump elected this year. Among Trump’s top surrogates, perhaps none was more impactful – or had more to lose – than Musk.
Musk was taking a serious risk in backing Trump, both personally and professionally. The Biden administration was already harassing Musk’s companies in apparent political retribution for releasing “The Twitter Files,” which showed the administration’s collusion with Big Tech to silence free speech. Had Kamala Harris won, Musk could’ve faced an incoming administration with an axe to grind against the eccentric billionaire – and Democrats have shown they have no compunction about using the federal government to target their enemies.
The politically smart play for Musk, even if he personally backed Trump, would have been to stay neutral in this election. But because Musk believed so strongly that a Kamala Harris presidency would be dangerous for America’s future while Trump would set the country back on the right path, he threw all his weight behind the former president, even holding rallies for him in Pennsylvania in the final days of the race.
Now Musk has been appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) along with fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – the new department tasked with addressing the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. Moreover, Musk has become a close advisor to Trump.
Elon Musk has proven himself as one of the great visionaries and business leaders of our time. Trump’s victory and the fact that Musk looks to remain a close confidante of the president-elect is a win for him and the American people.
LOSER: Barack Obama
Barack Obama’s political legacy was dashed with Trump’s victory in 2016. It was destroyed with Trump’s comeback in 2024.
Eight years ago, Obama hand-picked Hillary Clinton to succeed him, passing over his vice president, Joe Biden. This year, pundits constantly compared Harris to Obama, and Obama hit the campaign trail to lecture black men about why they must vote for Harris. Instead, Trump won a higher percentage of the black vote than any GOP presidential candidate in 48 years.
The greatest politicians build coalitions that maintain their electoral potency beyond one candidate or election cycle. After 2008 and especially 2012, liberals crooned about a “permanent Democrat majority” bolstered by blue-collar voters and people of color. Now, both of those groups are abandoning the Democrat Party in droves, and Republicans have won the White House eight out of the last 12 years.
WINNER: Joe Biden (sort of)
When Democrats unceremoniously forced Biden into an early retirement after propping him up for four years, the belief was that Kamala Harris would swoop in to save the day. She lost anyway.
To be sure, Biden appeared to be in a terminal political decline before his exit from the race, and it is likely that he would’ve lost to Trump by an even wider margin than Kamala Harris. But the speculation inside Washington is that Biden was forced out of the race by Democrat power brokers and wasn’t happy about it.
If that is indeed the case, Biden and his inner circle likely can’t help but feel a semblance of morbid vindication at Harris’s defeat. Whatever questions one has about discrepancies and suspect procedures in 2020, Joe Biden will go down in history as the only person to defeat Donald Trump in an election.
At the same time, it is Biden’s failures that ensured Trump’s return to the White House. Other than Trump himself, no single individual is more responsible for Trump’s comeback than Joe Biden. His legacy among Democrats will always be more defined by Trump’s comeback than Biden’s victory in 2020.
WINNER: Tulsi Gabbard & Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., were politically homeless when they made the leap to back Trump earlier this year. After being forced out of the Democrat Party for dissenting from left-wing orthodoxy, the path of least resistance would have been to continue as independents and not make an endorsement in this year’s race.
Instead, both backed Trump as fellow political outsiders, and have since been nominated to top posts in Trump’s second administration.
The developments over the next four years will undoubtedly reveal more winners and losers from Trump’s historic comeback. Ultimately, however, the most important winners are the voters themselves, who ignored the left-wing fearmongering and chose a leader committed to delivering for them.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
“…Joe Biden will go down in history as the only person to defeat Donald Trump in an election.”
That statement is dubious. Joe’s election is marred with huge claims, mostly proven, of voter fraud. If anything, his election is flagged by a very large asterisk.
I am thoroughly enjoying watching CNN and Comcast (owner of the NBC affiliates) implode! While establishment Republicans took one on the jaw, there are still enough of them to cause big problems with Trump’s cabinet appointments, just like they did with Gaetz. As long as Trump can push through his America-First agenda, the real winners are We The People!
WINNERS: All sane, science-believing, Constitution-following AMERICANS!
LOSERS [for now]: Mentally-ill woke science deniers and traitorous low-lifes,
The American people have FINALLY grown a back bone and gave the Demonrat party the middle finger!!! May it continue indefinitely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winner: me if Trump accomplishes what he campaigned on! First: restart Keystone XL, Second: Remain in Mexico. Assuming Biden doesn’t have us directly involved in a European War by then, these two things would take an hour leaving the rest of the day free for everything else!
Winners:
The American People, Our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Religious Freedom.
Losers” Left Wing Socialists, Communists, and haters of freedom, as we know it.
Be strong and courageous, go and live it out.
Vance must be given a VERY important role(s) that he can thrive at accomplishing!!! One the media has NO choice but to cover. Over and over again. Trump’s ego may have an issue with this, but if DJT REALLY loves America he’ll do this to guarantee 4 more years with Vance at the helm after he leaves.
Compare Musks bold move in the right direction with the eternally waffling Warren Buffet, a man who couldnt bring himself to acknowledge the capitalist system he used to become a billionaire. As the piece mentions, had Harris won Musk would have been hounded relentlessly. Rfk is also rich, but he incurred the wrath of his dem family in perpetuity.
Losers:
DC Swamp Estd.
NY CA Elites
Media Legacy
Status quo
Winners:
Podcasts
Talk Radio
New channels: NewsMax, OAN, RAV
Trump will not make the same mistakes that he did in 2016-2020.
He will hand pick his cabinet.
At least he has Vance watching his back.
Pence as far as I’m concerned.
Is a Traitor!
Fuel prices are already coming down.
The MAGA! Movement is on the move.
It’s not even The Thanksgiving Holiday yet!
President Elect Trump is HARD AT WORK!
MAGA!
GOD BLESS PRESIDENT ELECT TRUMP & VP VANCE!
We The People WON!!! We needed someone who can handle all the challenges that Biden created and there’s many to be rectified.
Praise God for protecting our Nation and realizing that Biden is a threat to democracy. Biden is also a traitor using OUR money and likely laundering it for his greedy, corrupt family.
The biggest winner is the country that no longer will be in the chokehold of lunatics who thank God lost.
The dems haven’t learned anything from the election. Especially O, P or S. The people saw it. They didn’t buy the lies and brainwashing coming from Biden and Harris and cabinet members. The border is secure while they were being raped and murdered or robbed by illegals in droves. That was the biggest lie. Inflation being transitory was a close second. Now that Trump has won and nominated his cabinet, mostly consisting of business people not politicians. And people that the Americans know or at least heard of. Of course the dems will stonewall the appointments at every turn. Especially RFKJr. A democrat in the cabinet of a Republican President. That is going over to the enemy. Biden and Harris with Obama have worked so hard to make Trump and his followers enemies. They are not accepting the mandate of the voters. They are still rebelling. They are just following Biden to obstruct Trump and his voters before he even is sworn in. They are still working on eliminating Trump before he is sworn in. All the dem governors and mayors are banding together to stop the deportation of illegals. It won’t work. We will protest their protest. The hatred by the dems toward those opposed to their policies has to stop. It is for the good of the country. Trump will be president for every American. Not just, like Biden, for those who think like them and contribute large amounts of money. 1 billion dollars was not enough to make the rich even richer. And they went 20 million in debt. And with Trump being voted in by the people their pipeline to all these rich donors has dried up. These people are the losers. Someone should educate them to that fact. They lost.
Two other big winers. The United States of America and me.
Big winner: The United States and its citizens
Vance may be the front runner but there are a host of names capable if not prepared to challenge him. Think RFK Jr. Vivek Ramaswamy, even Tulsi Gabbard could toss their hat into the ring not to mention Ron Desantis and a few others. Other than RFK Jr, any of these would be solid VP choices to which I would add Byron Donalds (a man I expect to become POTUS someday). The new GOP, aka MAGA, has a deep and dare I say diverse bench. It just hit me that this is what true DEI should look like!
The only big name we can rule out is Elon Musk who does not meet the Constitutional requirements and like would not care to take the job!
Love that the BIG losers are WOKism and the LameStream media!
Wonder why Matt Gaetz didn’t make the list of winners? Unless he shoots himself in the foot, as AG he will hold the reigns of the rule of law. How he perceives that will start with how he “cleans house” since there are some legal challenges in that respect.
Interesting article from Mr. Harris. Another category of “winners” from the 2nd Trump term are young women and children who are the targets of criminal, illegal aliens… who Biden & Harris wilfully enabled to cross our border and remain here, to commit rape and murder of innocent, young, women and children. What appalling filth the Biden & Harris “leadership” has been. It’s like a demented circus, where unworthy freaks can treat innocent lives like “garbage”. Perverts.
The wining of the election 2024 has placed the leaders of the GOP and of MAGA supporters in the offices they need to be. But the Trump Administration should surely watch out! The progressives will force all of Trump’s office nominees under the weapons of the press and of lawfare which they still control. This is what they did to J.D. Vance. They will do it to all others as well. That’s too bad. The expense of defense in court is astronomical and few can withstand it. I’m sure that is why J.D. stepped aside.
We need to say prayers to God for the Trump administration and all who serve it. I set aside Wednesdays to include the Christophers prayer for our Nation and Thursdays to be a day of prayer for our Nation including a Rosary.
God bless us all and Happy Thanksgiving.
Winners: We the People, the Constitution as a relevant document, the United States as a free country, small businesses, traditional capitalistic principles, common sense, our future.
Losers: well, we know who they are.
I have never been this excited to see how our country will straighten out, now with Trump and Vance in the White House. Part of that progress depends on cooperation from our senators and representatives, so let’s contact them often to let them know what their constituents are thinking. Congratulations to all.
Superb article! Spot on for the winners and losers. Now all we have to do is get Pigosi out to pasture, send Obama to Hawaii and get Schumer a real pair of glasses so he can see the light.
Go Trump and the rest of us patriots!
We won! Now let’s make good on this once-in-a-life-time opportunity! We can’t afford to fail!
Agreed
Clearly, the biggest winners are the American people.
Loser “Establishment Republicans”? How then do you explain the advancement of the disgusting toad, Mark Rubio? The little fellah I understand was payback to Trumps major Zionist lobbyist but to say “they” lost is complete BS.