Most of the world was surprised and some even shocked when well-known businessman and TV celebrity Donald Trump was elected president in the 2016 elections. Trump rose to fame following the publishing of ‘The Art of the Deal’, a tell-all book giving a glimpse into the daily life and work of a real estate mogul.
While the book was a #1 national best-seller in the United States, the warning signs were there, even in 1987. The paper-back is full of Trump’s tax reduction techniques, insider trading information, and his impeccable skill reading the markets.
However, during his tenure as president, Donald Trump has acted in a very un-presidential manner:
- Impeached for the first time
- Grossly mismanaged a national crisis
- Impeached for a second time
The past four years have been plagued with gross errors on the part of the president and by the people around him.
Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress
Apart from being a well-known titan of industry, Donald Trump was made a household name by presenting the popular and controversial TV show ‘The Apprentice’, where would-be executives compete for the chance to work at Donald Trump’s company at Trump Tower.
The organization based in Manhattan, New York City reportedly employs around 22,000 people with a revenue of approximately $655 million, although figures for both Trump Tower and the president’s personal wealth have been called into question on occasion.
The fact that the president is a prolific “Tweeter”, acting more akin to high profile celebrity or sports star Twitter users like Kim Kardashian or Christiano Ronaldo than the leader of the free world, should have been a cause for concern. Trump often takes to the popular social media platform either to defend himself, defame somebody else or spread wild conspiracy theories.
His Twitter use was never in more use than when he was impeached by Congress in September 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The impeachment hearing claimed that the 45th president of the United States withheld aid and support for Ukraine with the goal of pressuring the recently elected Volodymyr Zelensky into using his own power to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, his main political rivals.
Both articles of impeachment were ultimately voted against and the president did not face any punishment, but it is widely believed that the president acted illegally by withholding support in return for “quid pro quo” favors. This was further supported by the fact that President Zelensky pulled out of a special investigation report into the Bidens following Trump’s release of previously withheld aid.
Rampant Disease, Racism, and Rallys
2020 was one of the worst years in living memory. Not only was the world terrorized by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the United States and then the rest of the world held mass anti-racism movements while the president showed a blatant disregard for public health by holding mass rallies during the nation’s worst-ever pandemic.
During the Coronavirus outbreak and then the Black Lives Matter protests in response to the unlawful police killing of another unarmed African-American, George Floyd, President Trump simply failed to act. His hesitation to enforce measures in order to combat the spread of the virus has been said to have directly contributed to the mass fatalities that were to follow.
Even the most basic advice delivered by the CDC and Dr. Anthony Fauci, which was to “wear a mask and wash your hands regularly” was ridiculed by the president. This is a man who serves to lead and is expected to lead by example.
Instead, Trump erroneously claimed that wearing a mask doesn’t work when all data clearly proved that it does. For months into the worldwide pandemic, as it got worse, the president falsely claimed that there was no medical evidence of the benefits of a mask and blatantly refused to wear one, all the while hard-working Americans were dying all over the nation.
Only after contracting the illness himself did Donald Trump begin to take it a little more seriously, almost a year after the virus broke from (allegedly) China. The current death toll for the United States alone sits at approximately 385,000 and counting.
High Crimes and Misdemeanours
Following the 2020 elections in which President Trump lost to Joe Biden, he blatantly refused to accept the results. The president invoked a recount anywhere he could which ended up with a long drawn out process, which ultimately proved that he did in fact lose.
Trump eventually conceded defeat but in one final act of defiance, he took to his favorite social media platform to encourage some of his radical supporters to storm the US Capitol in Washington DC, which they did.
On January 06, 2021, a large group of rioters laid siege to the home of the United States Congress by forcing their way in and beating police officers, security guards, and lawmakers. This resulted in the deaths of five people and many more, on both sides injured.
Since then, Trump has been accused of inciting violence and insurrection and as a result. Many social media platforms and public information services have suspended his accounts, including Twitter. Additionally, President Trump’s business (Deutsche Bank) and personal (Signature) bank accounts have been frozen while many commercial entities have halted donations to the Trump campaign and anyone associated with it.
In an unprecedented move, Congress has voted to impeach the president for a second time on charges of “high crimes and misdemeanors”. President Trump will be the first president in history to be impeached twice. Given the amount of direct evidence and the effect of Trump’s words and actions, the upcoming impeachment hearing is likely to turn out very differently than the first. America might be able to put recent events behind them when President-Elect Biden takes office next week but even the FBI has warned of violent intel on inauguration day. Whatever happens remains to be seen but the mistakes of the past might take a while to rectify going forward.