WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In one of his final rallies at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden, former President Donald Trump delivered a sped-up version of his signature speech, promising “the strongest economy, the most secure borders. and the safest cities.”

He also criticized opponents he sees as the “enemy within” and described his opponent, Vice President Harris, as a bad person with a “low IQ”.

“We’re up against something much bigger than Joe (Biden) or Kamala (Harris) and much more powerful than them, which is a massive and vicious machine of the radical left that runs the Democratic Party today,” Trump told the crowd.

In his return to power, Trump has defied so many expectations, surviving repeated scandals and multiple accusations. He is the first convicted felon to win the White House.

Trump’s general focus on the economy and immigration ultimately resonated with enough Americans — more so than the message delivered by Harris, who called for unity and warned that Trump was a “petty tyrant” who was obsessed with revenge.

Trump has doubled down on his tough stance on the border, using increasingly dehumanizing language to describe immigrants, accusing them of poisoning the country’s blood and falsely claiming that a Venezuelan street gang has taken over the country.

The election results show that Americans were less worried about Trump’s rhetoric and instead yearned for a change. The polls just before Election Day showed that Harris could not grab the mantle of change as part of the Biden administration.

Many experts point to runaway inflation in the mid-terms of the Biden administration as the key to Harris’ downfall. While inflation has fallen, prices have remained higher than when Trump was in office.

Voters like Georgia’s Dale Roberts saw Harris as an extension of President Biden.

“Harris has the same policies as Biden. There’s no two ways about it,” said the 67-year-old former state trooper. “No matter how much he lies or how he tries to talk his way out of it, he can’t get out of it. He should have changed policies or tried to change policies while he was vice president.”

As he did in 2016, Trump seemed to galvanize an army of white working-class voters this election cycle, especially men. Exit polls also indicated that it eroded support among key groups for Democrats, including Latinos and black men.

In the end, Trump’s victory may have simply come down to an old political cliché: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

“Ultimately, what President Trump’s victory says is that people are more willing to vote for their pocketbook,” said Republican pollster Jon McHenry. “They say, ‘I think the criticism against democracy is exaggerated and I’m going to vote for my pocketbook because I know it’s not exaggerated.’

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Trump was helped by the increase in border crossings early in the Biden administration, which sparked protests not just from Republican governors and mayors, but also from Democrats, who criticized the Biden administration for its immigration policies along the border.

Some believed that divisions within the GOP, including the high-profile defection of major party leaders such as former Rep. Liz Cheney, would prove fatal to Trump.

But Harris has also struggled to articulate a clear vision for the country’s future beyond pushing people to vote against Trump.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. This is who he is,” Harris said during a high-profile speech outside the White House. “But America, I’m here tonight to say: That’s not who we are.”

But Biden did himself no favors in promoting unity when, in the final days of the race, he appeared to call Trump supporters “trash.” The White House tried to clear up the confusing remark, arguing that the president was referring specifically to a comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, who, when he spoke at Trump’s rally in New York, called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.”

But the damage was done. Trump sparked outrage from his supporters by donning an orange reflective vest and answering questions from the media while sitting in a Trump-branded garbage truck before his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, which he then wore to his rally.

Instead of running from his scandals, Trump has embraced his legal problems and used them to reinforce one of his main messages: that the system is rigged, and especially against conservatives.

He stepped up his threats to go after political opponents, even suggesting he might use the military to address the “enemy within.”

He enjoyed giving the kind of red meat speech his adoring fans would wait hours in the hot sun to see.

“I like to be nice and considerate,” Trump said at a rally in Duluth, Georgia. “And then I decide, would it be better to pay attention or really entertain people? And I usually decide on the entertainment side. And then, I have fun.”

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