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Presidency of Donald Trump

Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory over Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, in which he lost the popular vote to Clinton by nearly three million votes. Upon his inauguration, he became the first president in American history without prior public office or military background. Trump made an unprecedented number of false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. His presidency ended following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election to former Democratic vice president Joe Biden, after one term in office.

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the Donald Trump presidency.

Cabinet

Trump was unsuccessful in his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act but rescinded the individual mandate. Trump sought substantial spending cuts to major welfare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. He signed the Great American Outdoors Act, reversed numerous environmental regulations, and withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change. He signed the First Step Act on job training and early release of some federal prisoners and appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. In economic policy, he partially repealed the Dodd–Frank Act and signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He enacted tariffs, triggering retaliatory tariffs from China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. He withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and signed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, a successor agreement to NAFTA. The federal deficit increased under Trump due to spending increases and tax cuts.


He implemented a controversial family separation policy for migrants apprehended at the United States–Mexico border, starting in 2018. Trump's demand for the federal funding of a border wall resulted in the longest US government shutdown in history. He deployed federal law enforcement forces in response to the racial unrest in 2020. Trump's "America First" foreign policy was characterized by unilateral actions, disregarding traditional allies. The administration implemented a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia; denied citizens from several Muslim-majority countries entry into the United States; recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; and brokered the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and various Arab states. His administration withdrew United States troops from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to occupy the area. His administration also made a conditional deal with the Taliban to withdraw United States troops from Afghanistan in 2021. Trump met North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un three times. Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement and later escalated tensions in the Persian Gulf by ordering the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani.


Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation (2017–2019) concluded that Russia interfered to favor Trump's candidacy and that while the prevailing evidence "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government", possible obstructions of justice occurred during the course of that investigation.


Trump attempted to pressure Ukraine to announce investigations into his political rival Joe Biden, triggering his first impeachment by the House of Representatives on December 18, 2019, but he was acquitted by the Senate on February 5, 2020.


Trump reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials in his messaging, and promoted misinformation about unproven treatments and the availability of testing.


Following his loss in the 2020 presidential election to Biden, Trump refused to concede and initiated an extensive campaign to overturn the results, making false claims of widespread electoral fraud. On January 6, 2021, during a rally at the Ellipse, Trump urged his supporters to "fight like hell" and march to the Capitol, where the electoral votes were being counted by Congress in order to formalize Biden's victory. A mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, suspending the count and causing Vice President Mike Pence and other members of Congress to be evacuated. On January 13, the House voted to impeach Trump an unprecedented second time for "incitement of insurrection", but he was later acquitted by the Senate again on February 13, after he had already left office. Trump had historically low approval ratings, and scholars and historians rank his presidency as one of the worst in American history.

in January 2017 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, which had not been filled by Obama because the Republican-majority Senate did not consider the nomination of Merrick Garland. The Senate confirmed Gorsuch in a mostly party-line vote of 54–45 in April 2017.[41] Gorsuch's confirmation was one of Trump's major first year accomplishments, made as part of a "100‑day pledge".[42]

Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch

in July 2018 to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was considered a key swing vote on the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh in a mostly party-line vote of 50–48 in October 2018 after allegations that Kavanaugh had attempted to rape another student when they were both in high school; Kavanaugh denied the allegation.[43][44]

Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh

in September 2020 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg was considered part of the Court's liberal wing and her replacement with a conservative jurist substantially changed the ideological composition of the Supreme Court.[45] Democrats opposed the nomination, arguing that the court vacancy should not be filled until after the 2020 presidential election. On October 26, 2020, the Senate confirmed Barrett by a mostly party-line vote of 52–48, with all Democrats opposing her confirmation.[46]

Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett

Albrecht, Don E. "Donald Trump and changing rural/urban voting patterns." Journal of Rural Studies 91 (2022): 148–156.

Zelizer, Julian E. ed. The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment (2022)

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Locatelli, Andrea, and Andrea Carati. "Trump's Legacy and the Liberal International Order: Why Trump Failed to Institutionalise an Anti-global Agenda." International Spectator (2022): 1–17.

Löfflmann, Georg. "'Enemies of the people': Donald Trump and the security imaginary of America First." British Journal of Politics and International Relations 24.3 (2022): 543–560.

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Alexandre, Ilo, Joseph Jai-sung Yoo, and Dhiraj Murthy. "Make Tweets Great Again: Who Are Opinion Leaders, and What Did They Tweet About Donald Trump?." Social Science Computer Review 40.6 (2022): 1456–1477.

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Baker, Joseph O., and Christopher D. Bader. "Xenophobia, Partisanship, and Support for Donald Trump and the Republican Party." Race and Social Problems 14.1 (2022): 69–83.

Pfiffner, James P. "President Trump and the Shallow State: Disloyalty at the Highest Levels." Presidential Studies Quarterly 52.3 (2022): 573–595.

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Baker, Peter, and Susan Glasser. The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017–2021 (2022)

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Jarvis, Sharon E., and Dakota Park-Ozee. "The Qualitative Power of a Crowd: Trump's Rallies, Public Opinion, Attention Economy." American Behavioral Scientist (2022): 00027642221091203.

Kazin, Michael. What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party (2022).

Phipps, E. Brooke, and Fielding Montgomery. "'Only YOU Can Prevent This Nightmare, America': Nancy Pelosi As the Monstrous-Feminine in Donald Trump's YouTube Attacks." Women's Studies in Communication 45.3 (2022): 316–337.

Ruisch, Benjamin C., and Melissa J. Ferguson. "Changes in Americans' prejudices during the presidency of Donald Trump." Nature Human Behaviour 6.5 (2022): 656–665.

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Rutledge, Paul, and Chapman Rackaway, eds. The Unorthodox Presidency of Donald J. Trump (UP of Kansas, 2021)

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Dubinsky, Yoav. "Sports, Brand America and US public diplomacy during the presidency of Donald Trump." in Place Branding and Public Diplomacy (2021) pp: 1–14.

Kennedy, Rodney Wallace. The Immaculate Mistake: How Evangelicals Gave Birth to Donald Trump (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2021).

Pfiffner, James P. "Donald Trump and the Norms of the Presidency." Presidential Studies Quarterly 51.1 (2021): 96–124.

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Holzer, Harold. The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media – from the Founding Fathers to Fake News (Dutton, 2020) pp. 402–443.

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Mercieca, Jennifer. Demagogue for president: The rhetorical genius of Donald Trump (Texas A&M University Press, 2020).

Barrett-Fox, Rebecca. "A King Cyrus president: How Donald Trump's presidency reasserts conservative Christians' right to hegemony." Humanity & Society 42.4 (2018): 502–522.

Trump White House Archives – Briefings and Statements

Trump White House Archives – Remarks

(2017). Congressional Quarterly reports on Trump's cabinet activity

"The Trump Cabinet"