(FILES) US Supreme Court police officers maintain a clear walkway as demonstrators wave signs on December 11, 2000 in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, where the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on whether the hand recount of ballots in Florida should continue in the US Presidential race. When political outsider Donald Trump defied polls and expectations to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election, he described the victory as "beautiful." In November 2016, Trump won 306 electoral votes, well more than the 270 needed. The extraordinary situation of losing the popular vote but winning the White House was not unprecedented. Five presidents have risen to the office this way, the first being John Quincy Adams in 1824. More recently, the 2000 election resulted in an epic Florida entanglement between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore. Gore won nearly 500,000 more votes nationwide, but when Florida -- ultimately following a US Supreme Court intervention -- was awarded to Bush, it pushed his Electoral College total to 271 and a hair's-breadth victory. (Photo by Manny CENETA / AFP) (Photo by MANNY CENETA/AFP via Getty Images)