For four years Donald Trump prided himself on being an atypical leader, but Democrat Joe Biden's victory announced on Saturday brought him into the very closed, and unenviable, circle of single-term US presidents.
Since World War II, only two White House hosts have not been re-elected by American voters: Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush.
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Donald Trump however led a frenzied campaign, crisscrossing the country for meetings in front of the presidential plane.
He put his signature on the 150 million checks sent to Americans as part of the economic aid plan in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
“
There's a reason it's unusual for outgoing presidents to be beaten.
They can use their privileged position to their advantage;
they can change the narrative,
”says Matt Dallek, professor of political history at George Washington University.
“
They have all the benefits of the White House: the executive branch, the Oval Office, the presidential plane Air Force One.
They are powerful symbols
, ”he adds.
For Donald Trump, the first president elected without having held political or military office, the White House has helped normalize his attitude as a versatile man, best known for his celebrity in reality TV.
The billionaire is also the first president whose popularity rating has never passed the 50% mark in the Gallup Institute polls.
With his much-criticized handling of the coronavirus pandemic, his provocative speech and the many scandals that have arisen, he has become in four years a president with an instantly recognizable style.
A party yet united
American presidents enjoy a great deal of autonomy in matters of diplomacy and Donald Trump, like his predecessors, has increased the number of meetings with foreign leaders in front of the cameras.
According to Matt Dallek, all unreelected presidents had the same problem: their party was not united behind them.
Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican George HW Bush suffered attacks from their party's left and right, which weakened them ahead of the election.
Lyndon Johnson, who technically did not lose his re-election by choosing not to run for a second term in 1968, was facing a revolt by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party against the Vietnam War.
And Gerald Ford, named after Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974, faced competition from the hugely popular Ronald Reagan two years later.
Donald Trump, on the contrary, seized the Republican Party, whose program entirely mirrored that of the president.
"
To challenge Trump, you had to be outside the Republican Party
," said Matt Dallek.
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While the counting of thousands of ballots was still underway in several key states, and the American president was launching unfounded accusations of fraud, most of the elected Republicans kept their distance, playing it safe not to alienate themselves. man who will be president until January 20, and could retain considerable influence on the conservative movement.
Donald Trump could even try his luck again in 2024. If he won, he would then enter the other even more closed club of presidents with two non-consecutive terms.
He would join Democrat Grover Cleveland, elected in 1884 and then in 1892.