After nearly a decade at the forefront of US politics, former US President Donald Trump has defied political conventions, helping him unite support from traditional Republicans, evangelical conservatives and members of the working class — all beneath the brim of his trademark, red "Make American Great Again," or MAGA, baseball cap.

In doing so, the 78-year-old has overcome personal controversies and a criminal conviction to stamp his populist brand of conservatism on the entire Republican Party.

The question is whether an even more polarizing relaunch of brand Trump — one that has amplified American nativist rhetoric, seen him survive two assassination attemptsand had former high-ranking staffers label him a fascist — can beat Democratic Party nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris to return to the White House.

The key to Trump's staying power has been his ability to energize a dormant authoritarian base within the Republican party, Matthew MacWilliams, a political scientist and strategist at the pro-democracy Foundation International Communications Hub, told DW.

This base has executed a "hostile takeover" by purging dissenters in key congressional primaries and the party machinery, making it more of a Trump party, than the Republican party of old. "If you oppose him, he takes you out, he purges you," MacWilliams, an expert on authoritarianism, says of Trump's internal opponents. "So you start to learn. And then in Republican primaries in 2018 and 2020, if you oppose Trump, you lose. Because that minority of activated authoritarians vote in Republican primaries, and they are controlling in primaries."

"You cannot invite authoritarians in," MacWilliams warns. "When you do, your party will be taken over because they don't stop, they don't compromise."

From real estate mogul to pageant king to president

In the 1980s, Donald Trump was cutting deals to build a real estate empire. In the 1990s he battled bankruptcy and bought the Miss Universe beauty pageants. At the turn of the century, he swung into a full-throttle media career with his own radio show and as the host and co-producer of "The Apprentice," where he popularized his catchphrase "You're fired!"

Then he turned to politics and won the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2016. As a politician, his persona has been anti-establishment with a brazen, combative, win-at-all-costs approach. 

That approach helped him convince swing state voters to propel him to victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Although he lost the popular vote, he won the presidency thanks to the US electoral college process, with victories in states seen as former Democratic strongholds.

Conservative accomplishments, political controversies

From a conservative's perspective, Trump fulfilled a number of the goals set for him. He enacted corporate tax breaks, ended US involvement in the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Agreement, and achieved a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that eventually overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion in the US.

Trump's bitter 2020 campaign against Joe Biden led to what has been called one of the darkest days in American democracy.

After losing to Biden, Trump falsely alleged election interference. His claims have never been proven and court cases found no evidence of widespread fraud.

On January 6, 2021, Trump rallied supporters in Washington, D.C., leading to them violently storming the Capitol building in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden's victory.

It led to Trump being impeached and then acquitted a second time in early 2021. He had previously been impeached in December 2019 and acquitted seven weeks later on separate charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Out of office, Trump faced multiple legal cases. On May 30, 2024, he became the first criminally convicted US president after a jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniels "hush money" case. Sentencing for this trial has been delayed until after the 2024 election.

Trump is also facing federal charges relating to his role in the Capitol riot, though it's unclear whether he will go to trial. Other cases relating to conspiracy to overturn the Georgia election result in 2020 and of mishandling classified documents, are also up in the air.

While multiple charges and eventual convictions would have been enough to end many a political career, Trump has brushed aside his opponents and was resoundingly nominated as the Republicans' candidate for president in 2024.

A campaign of polarization

Trump has campaigned on a conservative platform, but with especially nationalist positions and rhetoric on migration.

He remains steadfastly anti-immigration, having repeatedly promised mass deportations if elected. His speeches on migration have evoked historically fascist language, including describing certain immigrants as having "bad genes." Trump also said immigrants were "poisoning the blood" of America at a rally in New Hampshire in December 2023, echoing an expression used by Germany's Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

"Trump appeals to an audience that's very uncomfortable with the pace of social change," says Robert Rowland, a specialist in political communication at the University of Kansas. "And then he magnifies their sense of grievance and their sense of fear, and then he resolves that."

Like MacWilliams, Rowland notes that Trump's rhetoric has been challenging for other Republicans.

"For the traditional Republican audience, they've either fallen in line, or they are like the Cheneys [Dick and Liz] – traditional 'Reagan Republicans.' They reject Trump, because Trump has already rejected everything Reagan stood for," Rowland said.

On November 5, voters will go to the polls to determine whether Trump or Harris will lead the country for the next four years in what both candidates have called the most important presidential election of US voters' lives. 

Edited by Sean Sinico