In Pictures: Trump’s Road to the White House
Magnum photographers capture the campaign that led to Donald Trump becoming President-elect of the United States
Magnum Photographers
Wednesday November 9, 2016, at almost 2.45am in New York city, following a phone call from Hillary Clinton conceding the election, Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence took to the stage at the Hilton Hotel in New York City. “The American people have spoken and the American people have elected their new Champion,” he said.
Trump arrived shortly after, met by a red-hatted crowd chanting “USA, USA”. After commending Hillary Clinton for a hard-fought and often divisive campaign, Trump said, “Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division…It is time for us to come together as one united people.” Rather than talking about locking Clinton up – a key motif in his campaign rhetoric – Trump said that the nation owed her a debt of gratitude for her hard work.
“This politics stuff is nasty and it’s tough,” Trump conceded. Following a campaign – or rather, “movement” in Trump’s words – that divided America along all kinds of fault lines including race, gender and class, Trump spoke of unification: “For those who have chosen not to support us in the past – of which there were a few people – I am reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so we can work together to unify our great country.”
Touching on his ambitions to ‘Make America Great Again,’ Trump described his plans to create jobs and “rebuild infrastructure,” which were met by the crowd with shouts of “Build a wall.”
After thanking his close colleagues and family, Trump left the stage to the The Rolling Stones song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – the original track and a version featuring a choir – despite being asked repeatedly by the band to stop using their music.
This slideshow takes a look back at the campaign that led to this point.
