PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FIRST YEAR
Signs that Donald Trump’s presidency was going to be unique appeared less than 24 hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration when the White House defied photographic evidence and maintained that the Republican candidate’s swearing-in audience was the largest ever. Amid that baffling squabble Trump, 71, began the business of running America and quickly discovered that, what with the checks and balances of the US Constitution, it was not at all like running a business.
A week after taking office, Trump—whose unfiltered Twitter offerings have been a signature part of his presidency—signed an executive order to prevent citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from travelling to the US. To Trump’s chagrin, Federal courts in California and Hawaii put a hold on the “Muslim ban,” citing it as unconstitutional.
Within that climate, Trump took a call from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Jan. 28 over a refugee deal previously reached with the Obama administration. “This is the most unpleasant call all day,” the President told the PM in a leaked transcript of the conversation. Trump’s racial tolerance was further questioned in August when he was asked to comment on clashes sparked by a group of white nationalists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump said there were bad people “on both sides.”
In a year in which his administration was shadowed by an FBI investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, and in which he exchanged threats of war with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump found the political going tough. Some of his key election pledges have yet to be met, such as building a wall along the Mexico border, and the repealing and replacing of the Affordable Health Care Act.
In mid December, around the same time as a group of women detailed at a Washington news conference their historical accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by the former reality-tv star, dictionary publisher Collins announced its “word of the year”—a phrase popularised by Trump for negative stories on him or his presidency: “fake news.”