Donald Trump
Donald J. Trump served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Becoming a President
In June 2015, Donald Trump stood on the floor of the world-famous Trump Tower in New York City and generated massive media attention. It was at this time when Trump, with his family by his side, announced his plan to run to become the next President of the United States. In the months that followed, Trump surprised many by gaining in the polls despite his controversial campaign style. By the summer of 2016, Trump was named the GOP nominee at the Republican National Convention. Only a few short months later on Election Day, the former host of "The Apprentice" pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in recent history by defying the odds against the favorite candidate, Hillary Clinton, his Democratic Party opponent, to become the new commander in chief.
When Donald Trump was sworn into office on Inauguration Day, controversy continued to follow him into the White House. While the new president had his core supporters celebrating the big day, millions took to the streets in Washington and in other cities around the country to protest.
Controversial administration
The Trump administration was certainly one of the most controversial and turbulent in recent American history. In one of his first acts of him as President, Trump signed an executive order banning people from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from visiting the US for 90 days. Acccused of a "Muslim ban", Trump said it was about keeping America safe. Another controversial act of the Trump administration was its decision to separate children from their parents at the US-Mexico border.
On the international stage, the Trump administration was marked by a schizophrenic relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, constant threats to China, the withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, signed by his predecessor in 2018, and the withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.
In 2018, an international scandal occurred following the leak of a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. During the call, Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate the ties between the former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and the eastern European country. Trump alleged attempt to coerce Mr Zelenskiy to act, withholding millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, sparked impeachment proceedings against him. Trump thus became the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.
The Trump administration was also marked by promoting a series of fake news and conspiracy theories. According to Washington Post's Fact Checker, on 9 July, 2020, Trump hit the milestone of 20,000 “false or misleading” claims since he took office in January 2017. Trump has had several of his posts flagged as misinformation by social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
End of term
Donald Trump ran for a second term as President of the United States in the 2020 elections. His opponent in the election was Joe Biden, a member of the Democratic Party who represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009 and served as vice president from 2009 to 2017, during the Barack Obama administration.
The dispute was marked by two major events: the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement following the assassination of George Floyd by a white police officer. Trump has been accused on several occasions during his tenure of not clearly condemning white supremacist movements. Regarding the pandemic, Trump is accused of underestimating how serious was the coronavirus threat, constantly opposing the adoption of social distance measures and the use of face masks.
As in his entire term, the electoral period was also marked by a series of fake news, especially about the reliability of the mail-in voting and the American electoral process as a whole. A few hours after the November 3 election, with the votes still being counted, Trump declared his victory and called for the counting to be stopped.
With Trump’s request denied and all votes counted, Joe Biden confirmed his victory on December 14, garnering 306 Electoral College votes versus President Donald Trump's 232. Trump did not accept the defeat and started a legal battle to reverse the result. Without presenting any evidence that the election was rigged, Trump ended up having his defeat confirmed by the U.S. Congress on January 6, but not without first instigating his supporters to storm the Capitol, leaving 5 dead. On January 13, Trump became the first president in U.S. history to be impeachment twice, after being charged with "incitement of insurrection" over the deadly storming of Congress. Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20, 2021, in a ceremony that was not attended by Trump.
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