Lobbing rhetorical stink bombs at a large group of voters is not the normal way to get ahead in U.S. politics. Nor is alienating prominent figures of your own party.

But Donald Trump has turned the do’s and don’ts of campaigns on their head, prospering with tactics that could sink anyone else.

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Plums of smoke rise from the area of a UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (Jon Cherry/AP)

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Public Service Commission candidate Peter Hubbard gets a hug from Brionté McCorkle, executive director of Georgia Conservation Voters, during an election-night party in Southwest Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.  (Ben Gray for the AJC)

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