Trump is only the second president to win a non-consecutive second term
Only Grover Cleveland had done it before, and Trump stayed dominant in between.
Uncommon Knowledge · Niall Ferguson, Victor Davis Hanson, and Stephen Kotkin: Three Historians Debate the Era of TrumpDonald Trump lost the White House and then won it back. No one had done that since the 1800s, when Grover Cleveland returned to office.
The point came up in a discussion among historians Niall Ferguson, Victor Davis Hanson, and Stephen Kotkin. As historian Hanson put it, "This is only the second time that a president's won a non-consecutive second term. Only Grover Cleveland previously did that."
Hanson added, "we've had Trump for more than five years because he never went away. Despite every effort to cancel him in 2021, he did not go away." In that sense, he said, "I think he's been the dominant" figure in American life.
Questions people ask
Who was Grover Cleveland and when did he serve?
Grover Cleveland was president in the late 1800s. He served as the 22nd president from 1885 to 1889, lost reelection in 1888, and then won again as the 24th president from 1893 to 1897. He is the only earlier president with two separate stints in the White House.
Has anyone else tried to win back the presidency after losing it?
Yes, but none succeeded. Theodore Roosevelt ran again in 1912 on a third-party ticket and lost the general election. Ulysses S. Grant sought another nomination for a non-consecutive term in 1880 but did not get it, and Herbert Hoover also sought the nomination again in 1940 without success.