When President Grover Cleveland left the presidency in 1889, the 22nd president of the United States had no intention of running for a second term. Four years later, on March 4, 1893, Cleveland stood on the East Portico of the Capitol and took the same oath he had sworn eight years earlier.

cleveland Battered and bruised but unbroken, he became the 24th president: he captured Tammany Hall, survived scandal, and overcame an embarrassing defeat in the 1888 election. Cleveland, the only Democratic president of the Reconstruction era, believed his administration’s policies had been vindicated for four intermittent years. The American people appeared to feel the same, as Cleveland’s victory vote margin of nearly 400,000 votes was the largest since President Ulysses S. Grant’s re-election in 1872.

More than 130 years later, a similar story seems to be emerging: Former President Donald Trump is at the top Returning to the White House after four years of impotence, to do what only Cleveland had ever accomplished before.

Trump and his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris closing arguments To the American people ahead of Election Day, November 5th. As the Trump campaign did in 2016, it reduced the former president’s speech to a two-minute commercial.

Trump’s closing ad of the 2016 cycle: “Donald Trump’s Argument for America” He referred to Trump’s Make America Great Again movement as a rebellion.

“Our movement is about replacing a failed and corrupt political order with a new government controlled by you, the American people,” Trump said in the ad. “On behalf of those who control the machinery of power in Washington and global special interests, they are partnering with these people who do not have your best interest in mind.”

Trump attacked the same sacred cows of the Washington establishment that propelled him to political prominence: immigration, trade and foreign policy. “The political establishment trying to stop us is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, mass illegal immigration, and economic and foreign policies that are bleeding our country dry,” he said. “It is a global power structure responsible for economic decisions that rob our working class, strip our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities.”

The message carried Trump to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Even though Trump is a billionaire, he epitomized the rebellion through his candidacy. He remains the only person elected president of the United States without political or military experience. His experience, or lack thereof, has led Trump to lean on a part of his identity he shares with the average American: someone outside Washington.

“The only thing that can stop this broken machine is you. We are the only power that can save our country. “The only people brave enough to vote for this corrupt establishment are you, the American people,” the ad concludes. “I’m doing this for the people and the movement, and we will take back this country for you. And we will make America great again.”

In 2024, the situation is more complex and the Trump campaign’s identity is more nuanced.

The core issues in this election remain the same as in 2016: immigration, foreign policy, economy and trade. The fundamentals appear to be going in the former president’s favor. Millions of immigrants have poured into the United States across the southern border during President Joe Biden’s tenure. The chaos spread to American cities, where immigrants occupied schools and social services and gangs took over apartments and hotels.

The United States finds itself embroiled in two wars, one in the Middle East and the other in Eastern Europe, on the verge of expanding beyond their region, with the threat of nuclear weapons always lurking in the background. Economic and job growth remain inadequate while prices and interest rates rise too quickly for the average American family to keep up.

Trump is not like that anymore michael moore He said he predicted Trump’s victory in 2016 was a “human Molotov cocktail” that the forgotten man could throw at the establishment. Now it has become a precision drone strike; A former president with background and experience dealing with the establishment that opposes him. In 2024, Trump will be equal parts politician and outsider, equal parts incumbent and challenger. He is the demolition crew and the construction crew.

Trump’s closing ad for this election cycle: “Never Give Up” He makes a similar argument by trying to unravel Trump’s enigmatic 2024 campaign.

The two-minute ad begins with a rapid-fire retelling of Trump’s history as president — tax cuts, rising wages and an economy that’s outperforming growth expectations — before abruptly shifting to what’s going on under the Biden-Harris administration. “Inflation has destroyed the lives of many people. Interest rates increased from 2 percent to 10 percent. “Millions of illegal immigrants, smugglers and drugs are coming to our country,” Trump says. “Our country has turned into hell”

Trump continues: “So I decided to run.” “I will fight for you with every breath and I will never let you down.” The ad then features members of the president’s family and prominent figures uniting behind the former president’s message throughout the 2024 campaign. They include former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, now a Republican. “We cannot allow our country to be destroyed by politicians who put their power ahead of the interests of the American people, our freedom, and our future,” Gabbard says in the ad.

While Cleveland figuratively bruised and bled before returning to the presidency, Trump did it literally: run away two assassination attempts throughout his campaign. “President Trump is literally risking his life and is willing to risk everything because he loves this country,” a clip from UFC President Dana White’s speech at the Republican National Convention shows during video playback on July 13. Assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

While Trump’s closing argument in 2016 implored the American people to ignite a revolt against the status quo in Washington, the former president’s closing argument in 2024 tells the story of survival and success during a nearly decade-long war against the political establishment.