US President Donald Trump

In December of 2016, after Donald Trump lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by 2.9 million votes, the U.S. Electoral College awarded him the US presidency by a 304 to 277 majority, with seven electors dissenting.

By early 2017, many had expressed concerns about potential upcoming changes in national policy on issues ranging from social progress to climate change and international relations, as President Trump had clearly expressed his intent to govern in a non-traditional manner.

Once in office, President Trump issued a number of highly controversial executive orders, memos and "tweets." His popularity dropped to the lowest of any sitting president.

In response to a lawsuit brought by the state of Washington, U.S. District Judge James Robar granted a restraining order blocking one of President Trump's executive orders within a week of its issuance. The executive order was intended to alter established immigration and visa status processes in such a way as to invalidate visas that had already been issued, as well as arbitrarily barring immigration from seven countries. The Trump administration appealed the ruling. In its decision on the matter, the Ninth Circuit Court unanimously ruled that the restraining order would stand.

Supreme Court Appointments

President Trump and the Republican-controlled U.S. senate appointed three notably regressive supreme court justices: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. The supreme court then transformed the federal judiciary and led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the end of many gun laws, and a sweeping transfer of power away from the elected branches of government and toward a Republican-controlled judiciary.

Notably, in Texas, pregnancy deaths rose by 56% after the Texas legislature imposed their 2021 abortion ban which would not have been possible without the supreme court's overturning of Roe v. Wade. In the months following the decision, infant mortality also increased by 7% nationally as the U.S. medical system was prevented from providing adequate care.

Impeachment

On December 18th, 2019, the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Trump; two articles of impeachment were submitted, and both succeeded in the vote, which proceeded along party lines, with zero Republicans voting for either article.

Article one addressed President Trump's withholding of military funding for Ukraine in return for a political investigation of his probable Democratic opponent in the 2020 election.

Article two addressed President Trump's refusal to co-operate with the House of Representatives with regard to subpoenaed documents and co-operative witnesses during the lower house's investigation of the allegations of bribery described in article one.

The article of impeachment addressed Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results (including his claims of election fraud and his efforts to pressure election officials in Georgia) and stated that Trump incited the attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., while Congress was convened to count the electoral votes and certify the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The Senate Fails to Convict

The U.S. senate, in the hands of President Trump's party, the Republicans, ignored the evidence against the president. They did not convict him on either of the charges laid in his impeachment.

The Disastrous U.S. COVID Response

From Wikipedia as the referenced page stood on December 7th, 2024:

In the United States, there have been 103,436,829 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,208,013 confirmed deaths, the most of any country, and the 17th highest per capita worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic ranks as the deadliest disaster in the country's history. It was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer. From 2019 to 2020, U.S. life expectancy dropped by three years for Hispanic and Latino Americans, 2.9 years for African Americans, and 1.2 years for white Americans. In 2021, U.S. deaths due to COVID-19 rose, and life expectancy fell.

From The National Institute of Health (NIH) as the referenced page stood on December 7th, 2024:

The U.S., although it represents just 4% of the world's population, accounted for over 20% of all confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths worldwide that took place on President Trump's watch. With a timelier, focused, scientifically informed, and sustained whole-government response, it has been estimated that hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 deaths could have been avoided.

In addition, some additional number of deaths occurred because hospital bed capacities, medical personnel, equipment reserves, and pathology departments were overloaded. These deaths are not included in the above-referenced death count.

Initially, A One-Term President

While most incumbents get re-elected for a 2nd consecutive term, President Trump lost his re-election bid in 2020 on both the popular and electoral college fronts to former Democratic Vice-President Joseph Biden, who received 81,283,501 votes (51.3%) and 306 electoral votes. President Trump received 74,223,975 votes (46.8%) and 232 electoral votes. President Trump's presidency was marked by considerable controversy over his leadership style, which was radically different from any previous US president.

The Capital Riot

Denying he had lost the election, President Trump sent a violent mob to the U.S. capital, resulting in 4 directly-attributable deaths, several police officer suicides, and many injuries, including 174 of the police officers who tried to deal with the mob.

Civil Conviction of Sexual Abuse

A jury verdict in May 2023 found President Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Ms. E. Jean Carroll. The court ordered him to pay U.S. $5 million in damages. The January 2024 trial on this matter awarded U.S. $83.3 million in additional damages. President Trump appealed, securing a bond for this amount plus 10%.

Convicted of 34 Felonies

On May 30th, 2024, A New York jury returned a verdict of guilty on 34 (of 34) state level felony counts in his trial for a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hiding a hush money payment to an erotic film actress, Ms. Stormy Daniels.

President Trump Re-elected in 2024 After Previous Loss in 2020

On November 5th, 2024, President Trump was re-elected to the U.S. presidency with a plurality of the popular vote, 77,237,942 votes (49.9%), and 312 electoral votes. His opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, received 74,946,837 votes (48.4%) and 226 electoral votes.

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