Anthony Zurcher: Result hands Trump free rein

Donald Trump has done it again. Eight years after his stunning upset of Hillary Clinton and four years after Joe Biden evicted him from the White House, the former president is about to return to power.

On the back of a victory that swept across the key early voting battleground states – and improved on his electoral margins in much of America – he claimed an “unprecedented and powerful mandate” to govern.

“This will truly be the golden age of America,” he promised the cheering crowd at his election night rally in West Palm Beach, Florida.