Allentown, Pennsylvania | Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered one of the greatest comebacks in American politics to become the country’s 47th president, a feat that makes him only the second candidate to win two non-consecutive elections and the first convicted criminal to sit in the Oval Office.

Despite a tight race and a bruising campaign against incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump, 78, cruised to an early victory with what looked like a near-clean sweep of the all-important battleground states that decide the world’s most powerful job.