Despite a series of ups and downs, the past year may best be summed up with a single word: Trump.

January saw President-elect Donald Trump demonstrate his political staying power after he blew away one Republican challenger after another, nearly as fast as the door flew off Alaska Airlines flight 1282. The former president dominated in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

The start of 2024 also saw Trump ordered to pay author E. Jean Carroll a further $83.3 million in damages after a jury found that the soon-to-be Commander-in-Chief defamed Carroll. Trump has appealed.

In February, Biden, unburdened by the party primary process, learned that Special Counsel Robert Hur would decline to prosecute him over the apparent mishandling of classified documents. Hur suggested Biden’s appearance as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” would prevent prosecution. Trump would continue to face prosecution for the mishandling of documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago until the end of November, when Special Prosecutor Jack Smith announced he would drop the case following the election.

March was punctuated by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, and Trump’s sudden foray into the world of Bible sales. Both came as the U.S. Supreme Court declared that a state — in this case Colorado — lacked the authority to remove a presidential candidate from the ballot.

Trump and Biden effectively nailed down their respective nominations in March.

April’s total solar eclipse was itself partially eclipsed by Iran’s sudden attack against Israel, which Tehran said came in response to an embassy bombing that claimed the lives of two Iranian generals. Israel’s response to the attack of Oct. 7, 2023 caused a series of campus protests in the U.S.. Subsequently, what were described as heavy-handed crackdowns by colleges and law enforcement were condemned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Other critics blasted the rise of anti-semitism on campus and disruptions caused by pro-Hamas protestors.

In May, Trump made history by becoming the first U.S. President to ever be convicted of a crime, when he was found guilty in New York on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump has not been sentenced for those convictions.

The following month, Biden’s son Hunter Biden was found guilty on felony gun charges. Trump and Biden went toe-to-toe for their first and only debate and the president’s performance was disastrous enough to eventually tank his candidacy.

In July,  an assassin’s bullet missed the President-elect by inches during a rally held in Butler, Pennsylvania. A firefighter was killed in the shooting.  Trump would attend the Republican National Convention with his ear still bandaged from the attempt on his life. Vice President-elect JD Vance was announced as Trump’s running mate, and the U.S. Supreme Court determined a president could not face charges for “official acts.”

Meanwhile on the Democrats’ side, Biden finally gave up the effort to reset the narrative established by his stumbling debate performance and declared it would be “in the best interest of my party and the country” for him to step aside from the campaign.

He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement atop the ticket.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joined the Harris campaign in August, the same month that Trump’s staff was called out by the U.S. Army for their apparent disrespect of standing rules at Arlington National Cemetery. Harris accepted the Democratic Party nomination, which she secured without a primary election.

Trump and Harris met for a debate in September, their only such meeting. Trump also faced a second apparent attempt on his life, this time at one of his golf properties in Florida. Hurricane Helene slammed into the eastern U.S. coast, killing over 200 people.

Iran launched a second missile attack against Israel in October while residents of Florida braced for the impact of Hurricane Milton. Trump “worked” a shift at a closed McDonald’s garnering a wave of positive press much to the consternation of Democrats. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter turned 100, and Vance and Walz met for debate.

Trump made history — again — in November, when he became the second U.S. president to secure a nonconsecutive term, and the first to do so while awaiting sentencing for felony crimes. Harris conceded the race.

Biden pardoned his son’s crimes in December, calling the charges “a miscarriage of justice.” Biden also commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 “non-violent” federal prisoners and the death sentences of 37 inmates. Syria’s dictator-President Bashar Al-Assad was forced to flee Damascus as his family’s decades of autocratic rule came to an end.

The year ended with the death of the 39th U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, and a court denied one of Trump’s defamation appeals.

A disastrous debate performance by President Joe Biden in June would eventually lead to him dropping out of the race. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, file)
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her concession speech after the 2024 presidential election on the campus of Howard University in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)