A year full of special dramas has come to an end.
A former president running for re-election narrowly survived an assassination attempt.
The incumbent president’s disastrous controversy forced him to abandon his bid for re-election.
The newly elected Democratic candidate was initially enthusiastic but eventually backed off.
From Elon Musk to Taylor Swift, various figures from different fields have made a political impact.
The Capitol took this action toward the end of the year. The government moved closer to a shutdown following an episode that shook the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in the always-irritating Republican conference.
Here are the year’s biggest winners and losers.
winner
President-elect Trump
There is no doubt that Trump is the biggest political winner this year.
Even many who dislike him acknowledge the surprising nature of his comeback.
He lost in 2020, was impeached for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, was indicted in four criminal cases, and was convicted in only one of the four that went to trial. But none of that mattered, at least not in the minds of voters.
Trump performed better in this year’s primary against Vice President Harris than in his past presidential runs, winning both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote.
Trump is the first person to win non-consecutive victories since former President Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century.
In addition, Trump was almost killed in a shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.
His defiant, clenched fist gesture later became one of the most iconic images of 2024.
Elon Musk
The world’s richest man has had a year that has left many critics despairing.
Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump and made
Musk will be joined as deputy head of the ministry by 2024 Republican primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. What makes it unique is that its name is shortened to the abbreviation “DOGE,” which is the name of the cryptocurrency that Musk was trying to boost.
Some on the left call Musk an oligarch because of the way his wealth and influence intersect. His business has won billions of dollars worth of contracts with the federal government. Now he has a role in the federal government.
Of course, it’s possible that Musk is overestimating his hand. By the end of the year, some cynical online critics had branded him ‘President Musk’ and cast Trump as his vice president.
There seemed to be a tendency for Trump to notice and be offended.
Trump’s former Democratic candidates: Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard
Kennedy and Gabbard have taken unique paths.
Kennedy, the scion of a famous family, went from an environmental lawyer praised by progressives to a Trump supporter known primarily for his extreme skepticism about vaccines.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) in the 2016 presidential election, later came under fire from former colleagues and hard-line Republicans for her foreign policy views.
Gabbard’s meetings with ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 are often cited, as are her views on the war in Ukraine, which critics say are too pro-Russian.
Nonetheless, as 2024 draws to a close, Kennedy is poised to become Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Gabbard is set to be appointed Director of National Intelligence by Trump.
It’s a surprising political turn for two figures who until recently seemed relegated to the strange periphery of American politics.
Joe Rogan and other podcasters
Rogan and other podcasters have reached a new level of political attention this year.
Rogan doesn’t really consider himself a political expert, and the long, affably meandering conversations he has with guests are far removed from the format of traditional news media.
But it was his approach and his huge audience that helped Rogan secure a three-hour interview with Trump in October. Their conversation has garnered more than 53 million views on YouTube alone.
President Trump is known to have appeared on several other podcasts at the suggestion of his youngest son, Barron.
Harris has appeared on several podcasts, most notably Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy.” But the fact that she didn’t appear in front of Rogan’s massive audience may have been a mistake.
More broadly, some Democrats argue they now need their own Logan-type figure.
Although Logan has recently shown a rightward trend, he famously said he would vote for Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, in 2020.
Anyway, the bottom line is that it was a banner year for podcasting’s most prominent proponent.
mix
2028 Democratic Candidates: Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro
Had Harris won, she would have probably frozen the presidential hopes of several other members of her party for eight years.
Now the field has opened up, which could be good news for the governors of California, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Everyone campaigned so hard for Harris that they couldn’t be accused of disloyalty. And they all have political skills.
But there are complications. First, Harris could still run again. Second, Newsom and Whitmer must overcome resistance within their party to choosing a Californian or woman again so soon after the loss of a female candidate in the Golden State.
Shapiro, who was considered Harris’ running mate this year before losing to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, doesn’t have that problem.
But some political insiders wonder whether Pennsylvania will turn more reliably red than Ohio and Florida have in recent years. This could diminish Shapiro’s appeal as a candidate.
Mike Johnson Speaker
Johnson was able to hold on to the gavel. This in itself is no small task, considering the volatile nature of the Republican conference.
On the other hand, the limits of his power are also clear. The tough deal Johnson struck to open the government at the end of the year fell apart under the weight of vocal opposition from Trump and Musk.
He then tried to work out another compromise, which was passed in time.
Johnson will also try over the next few days.
His party has succeeded in maintaining its majority in the House of Representatives, but it is very narrow.
Mathematics gives additional leverage to hardliners and various mavericks that the Speaker may have difficulty rallying in the new parliament.
loser
President Biden
It was an ignominious end to the president’s 50-year political career.
Biden, who finally reached the peak with his election as president in 2020, a quest he first attempted in 1988, was pushed out by his own party and resigned after only one term.
The reason is simple. Biden’s woeful performance in the debate with Trump in June, in which his halting and meandering answers sharpened doubts about his age and cognitive abilities.
Biden had previously faced an uphill climb toward re-election, and not just because of his age.
Inflation reached its highest point since the early 1980s, early in his term, and he suffered a political wound from which he could never recover. The significant increase in unauthorized border crossings during his tenure also proved to be a major vulnerability.
Abroad, Biden’s support for Israel’s attack on Gaza has infuriated many progressives, but it is not at all clear whether his support for Ukraine will ultimately be decisive in the war with Russia.
Biden’s supporters argue that his legislative achievements and his presidency have not been fairly rewarded.
That may be so. But it is also true that Biden appears unlikely to avoid the stench of failure that sticks with one-term presidents.
Meanwhile, some in his party criticize him for holding on too long and wish he had instead announced much earlier that he would not seek re-election.
Such a scenario would have allowed Harris to run a longer campaign or paved the way for an open primary in which other candidates could emerge.
Vice President Harris
Harris stood on the precipice of history but failed to make it happen.
Her loss in the presidential election was devastating for her and her party.
Her performance was uneven, including a heated debate with Trump, but there were also a few other moments that disappointed even some supporters. For example, during an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” she declared that she would have done “nothing” with Biden while in office.
It is difficult to reverse a defeat in the presidential election. There are only two people in living memory who have done that. These are Trump this year and former President Nixon, who lost in 1960 but won in 1968 and 1972.
Still, Harris’ supporters argue she is a unique case. Her entire campaign lasted just 107 days, and she faced significant headwinds she did not create, particularly negative public perceptions of the economy and Biden’s low approval ratings.
At least within the Democratic Party, Harris herself has been spared some of the blame that typically falls on losing candidates.
Her future remains a big question mark, and some suggest she may consider running for California governor if Newsom’s term is limited to 2026.
old school republican
Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party is now complete.
This is also clearly evident in the nomination of the elected candidate. The MAGA faction won, and Trump feels no pressure to include representatives of the establishment Republican establishment, as he clearly did after his 2016 victory.
His election victory is a scathing rebuke to even the most anti-Trump Republicans. Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) also campaigned alongside Harris, but her appearance was more notable for the backlash it caused than for the effect it had in attracting conservative voters to Harris’ cause.
At the Capitol, Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is retiring and Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kinnary) is stepping down as Republican leader.
This decision has made Trump-skepticism even rarer in the Republican Party.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.)
Congressional Democrats had as disappointing an election as their presidential candidates.
Schumer will soon leave his post as majority leader after Republicans gained four seats in the Senate. Democrats in West Virginia and Montana were always likely to lose, but the defeats of Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) were a major blow.
Democrats found themselves in a strange position going into November. Many political insiders have argued that Democrats have a better chance of flipping the House than they do of taking control of the Senate.
In the end, they also fell short in the House of Representatives, winning only one seat overall.
This is a painful situation for Jeffries, who does not have much power to become chairman and consequently put a serious brake on Trump’s agenda.
squad
The left has not enjoyed a notable uptick this year, even after the electoral failures of Biden and Harris, who are generally seen as more centrist figures.
Rather, a group of progressive lawmakers known as “The Squad” saw its ranks thinned after Reps. Jamal Bowman (D-D-Y.) and Cory Bush (D-Mo.) lost their primaries.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who leads the squad, ended the year losing her bid to lead Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), an underpowered figure more than twice Ocasio-Cortez’s age, won that contest comfortably.
There is no hope for the left either. They gained broader traction with their argument that Democratic leadership has become too distant from working-class issues and working-class anger. In the coming years, there may actually be an appetite in the Democratic Party to take a more economically populist stance.
But it was still a difficult year for the left.
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