Donald J. Trump is inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. This is his second term in the White House. He was previously the President from 2017 to 2021.
Although what awaits the United States and the rest of the world during Trump’s second term is unpredictable, a look at his first term and the one that followed may provide some insight into what is to come.
Trump’s supporters remain in favor of the President. When Trump refused to admit that he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden and claimed it was “stolen” from him, a large number of conservatives believed him. Multiple reviews proved that claim false. Nevertheless, Trump stuck to the narrative that Democrats had committed election fraud, despite all courts where such claims have been presented.
On January 6, 2021, a group of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, in an effort to stop the formal certification of Biden’s election victory. Earlier that day, Trump had given a speech in front of thousands of supporters in which he repeated his false claims and said, “If you don’t fight like hell, you won’t have a country anymore.” This and his continued lies about election fraud were seen by observers as encouraging violent mobs to take action.
On January 13, 2021, a week before the end of his first term, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection. Ten Republican delegates voted in favor, the highest pro-impeachment vote ever from a president’s party and the first time a president has been impeached more than once. The Senate acquitted him the following month, but in 2023, Trump was convicted on four charges related to his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.
His legal team appealed the decision, and the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, with the Court ruling that presidents are immune from prosecution for their official conduct. Prosecutors re-charged Trump with slightly adjusted charges. Following Trump’s 2024 election victory, the case was dropped, as a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.
Trump was charged and convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. He maintained his innocence even after being convicted by a jury. Ten days before his inauguration, Trump received an unconditional discharge, meaning he would face no punishment. That call was made at the discretion of the court. Anyone convicted of the same crimes Trump committed here could face hefty fines or up to four years in prison.
Trump was forced to pay millions of dollars in damages to former journalist E. Jean Carroll after a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting her in the late 1990s, then later after she made malicious statements claiming that She was lying about the incident, so she had to be defamed. Trump appealed the decision but lost in December 2024.
Trump’s focus on ‘America First’
It appears that most Trump voters care about his promise to put “America first.” In the same vein, Trump has been critical of NATO and has pulled himself out of international organizations like the World Health Organization and left the Paris Climate Agreement during his first term in office. Under President Biden, the US rejoined, but Trump planned to withdraw again. His unilateral approach the last time he was in the White House angered his European allies, yet pleased many American conservatives.
Trump supporters also welcomed tax cuts for the rich.
The 47th US President was born on June 14, 1946 in the Queens borough of New York City. Trump’s grandfather immigrated to the United States from the German city of Kallstadt, present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, in the late 19th century. Donald Trump attended the prestigious Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics in 1968.
During the 1970s and 1980s, he continued to grow his family’s real estate businesses, developing high-profile projects such as the Midtown Manhattan Trump Tower, where he also lived before moving to Florida. Over the years, his organization operated numerous hotels, casinos, and golf courses, many of which eventually went bankrupt.
Trump also made a name for himself as the host of the American reality television show “The Apprentice.” Launched in 2004, the format featured a group of contestants competing against each other to win a one-year contract with one of Trump’s businesses. After each round, Trump would dismiss one of the contestants with his catchphrase: “You’re fired.”
In 2005, Trump married former Slovenian model Melania Knevs. The couple have a son, Barron Trump. Before marrying Melania, Trump was married to actress Marla Maples. They raised their daughter Tiffany alone in California.
Trump’s first marriage, to Ivana Zelnikova between 1977 and 1990, resulted in three children: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.
‘Fake news’ and harsh immigration policies
Throughout Trump’s presidency, his administration maintained a prickly relationship with the press and a track record of false and misleading claims. Trump has often dismissed facts he does not like as “fake news”, leading many of his supporters to believe that critical media outlets were spreading lies to tarnish his reputation.
During his first term, Trump adopted harsh immigration policies and repeatedly made racist comments. Before the 2016 presidential election, Trump called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and “criminals”. He later promised to build a wall on the US-Mexico border and force Mexico to bear the burden, which it never did. By the end of Trump’s first term, in 2021, 732 kilometers (455 mi) of the 3,145-km-long border had been constructed, costing US taxpayers about $16 billion.
In his second term, Trump is expected to focus on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. While his campaign claim to deport 1 million per year is unrealistic based on cost and logistics, the number of deportations is likely to increase rapidly under Trump. Legal immigration will also likely become more difficult.
First impeachment and coronavirus pandemic
On December 18, 2019, impeachment proceedings were first initiated against Trump, making him the third president in American history to face such a trial. The impeachment trial focused on claims that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure Kiev into offering help in re-electing Trump in 2020 as part of the investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden.
Meanwhile, the President rejected all the allegations. The House of Representatives adopted two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. But the Republican-led Senate acquitted him and did not remove him from office.
The Corona virus epidemic also left its mark on Trump’s presidency. The United States had a significantly higher death rate from COVID-19 than other wealthy countries. Trump downplayed the seriousness of the situation and prioritized a quick return to his country’s pre-pandemic normalcy and economic productivity rather than heeding the advice of medical experts and researchers. Critics say his conduct contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. In an August 2020 interview, Trump acknowledged that people were dying – saying “it is what it is.”
Edited by: Rob Mudge
This article was originally published on November 6, 2024 and was republished on January 20, 2025, to reflect the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President.