Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (1946-?) was the 45th[1] President of the United States of America, serving from January 20, 2017, to the same date in 2021 after defeating Hillary Clinton of the Democrats in the 2016 general election.
Trump's presidency was notable, not just for ending in an attempted insurrection, but for reneging on prior international commitments, upending longstanding diplomatic relationships, and engaging in brinkmanship with adversaries. Trump used social media such as Twitter to attack and embarrass critics, and adopted a harsh policy against immigration which separated parents from children at the border. There was also a concerted attempt by the president's administration to demonize and damage domestic federal agencies such as the EPA and the U.S. Geological Survey and those responsible for education, financial oversight, census-taking, and weather monitoring. Many of these measures were highly popular with his base of support, who regarded the U.S. government as bloated and as having failed them economically, in part by allowing rampant illegal immigration, and who liked the image Trump portrayed, via his "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) slogan, of a strong America as compared to the rest of the world.
Trump unsuccessfully ran for a second term in 2020, losing to the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, in the Nov. 2020 general election. Trump may have lost (at least in part) because of his failure to acknowledge and manage the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, during which he failed to take any substantive actions himself and then withheld expected federal funds to punish states for taking public safety measures of their own.
Trump vigorously contested the 2020 election results in a social media campaign called "Stop the Steal", though with no actual evidence (as determined by numerous lost lawsuits). Trump had to leave office when his term expired on January 20, 2021 after ending on a sour note with the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot, a violent assault by Trump supporters which Trump himself arguably incited and planned. The attack is widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d'etat because it was intended to prevent the historically peaceful transfer of power between presidents. Per the "January 6th Report" later issued by Congress, the riot was the last of multiple futile attempts by Trump to get the 2020 election results overturned, as he also tried to intimidate various state and federal officials (including his own vice-president, Mike Pence) to take illegal actions designed to overthrow valid election results.
After the riot, as its thousands of participants began to be prosecuted, Trump's popularity waned drastically, although as of early 2023, he still commands a loud and potentially violent following.
Trump is the only president in U.S. history to have been impeached twice.
References
- ↑ Trump was the 45th president the normal American way of counting, which reckons Grover Cleveland twice as he served two non-consecutive terms.