Ever since he first stepped into the political spotlight in 2015, President-elect Donald Trump has been attacked and besieged by Democrats and Republicans alike but has stood strong and defiantly outlasted the many attempts to oust him from politics altogether.

While Trump may seem unique in that regard -- and to an extent he is -- others previously provided a steel-spined example of how Republicans can withstand concerted opposition against them, such as former Nevada Assembly Speaker John Hambrick, who just died at the age of 79, according to KTNV.

In 2015, Hambrick faced allegations of criminality and a recall effort from fellow GOP members but refused to bow to his critics and ultimately survived the attempt to remove him from office.

Dead from cancer

KTNV reported on Thursday that according to former Speaker Hambrick's campaign manager, Nathan Emens, the "well-regarded" politician had passed away after losing a battle against cancer.

"There's no better person I've known in the Legislature. We're all heartbroken," Emens said, and added, "It's honestly a tremendous loss."

The Las Vegas Republican was preceded in death by his wife Nancy, whom he married in 1966 but died in 2019, and is survived by their two children, John Jr. and Laura.

Accusations of criminality and a recall effort

Prior to becoming a politician, Hambrick was a former U.S. Secret Service -- he also proudly played the role of White House Santa Claus -- and a federal investigator.

He was first elected to the Nevada Assembly in 2008 and, in 2012, was punished by Democrats with the smallest office available in response to his "brutal" campaign tactics, but he withstood that denigration and managed to become Nevada's Assembly Speaker just a few years later in 2015.

However, according to a Las Vegas Sun report at that time, the relatively centrist Hambrick faced a concerted attack from his right flank as fellow Republicans accused him of extortion to gain that powerful position as well as flip-flopping on a pledge to oppose new taxes after he signaled his support for a proposed tax increase by then-GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval, which prompted a recall effort against him.

Hambrick refused to be cowed or distracted by the recall push, however, and said of the developing fray at one point, "My constituents deserve better. Nevadans deserve better."

Ultimately, both the proposed tax increase and the recall effort failed due to a lack of support, as the Associated Press reported just a couple of months later in 2015 that recall organizers had only collected 270 of the 4,100 required signatures for a petition to launch a recall election against Hambrick.

Trump has withstood even worse concerted opposition from Democrats and Republicans

Shortly after Hambrick faced down the recall effort in 2015, then-businessman Trump entered the race and faced withering attacks and slander from Democrats, Republicans, and the media, but withstood the assaults, overcame his GOP competitors, and defeated failed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for the presidency in 2016.

As president, Trump endured four years of blatant and repeated lies from critics and the media, was plagued by selective support and sabotage from his own party in Congress, outlasted multiple biased investigations, and survived two impeachments, only to be voted out of office in the disputed 2020 election.

After leaving office, the former president continued to face coordinated efforts against him from Democrats and some Republicans, was further investigated and even criminally indicted multiple times, but pressed forward with his goal of being re-elected and now stands poised to begin a second term in office in January.