Trump, Syria and Facebook: the volatile cocktail of the 2010s

THE ARAB Spring gave way to bloodletting in Syria, a refugee exodus and surging jihadist violence. Obama gave way to Trump. The United

Kingdom chose to Brexit. And for many around the world, while the 2010s began with hope for a more equitable world, they end with a slide towards nationalistic populism.

The following is a look at some of the people and events that shaped the past decade:

- America divided The United States will begin the 2020s with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, as a president of a country riven by political, societal and economic discord -- and a leader facing impeachment.

Trump -- who is accused of abusing his power to ask a foreign nation, Ukraine, to investigate a domestic political rival -- has every chance of being acquitted by the Senate, where his Republican Party faithful hold the majority.

But Trump still stands to become the third ever US president to be impeached, after Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson -- Richard Nixon having resigned before he could face judgment by lawmakers.

The stranger-than-fiction unfurling of his presidency mirrors his rise to power -- in 2016, it seemed unfathomable to some that a real estate mogul-turned-reality show star would lead the world’s biggest economy.

But he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in what was for many an upset for the ages, and the tall New Yorker with the wispy blond mane succeeded Barack Obama, America’s first black president.

Obama was a Nobel peace laureate; Trump once hosted “The Apprentice.” POTUS 44 and 45 could not be more different.

Trump -- who is a climate change skeptic, a protectionist and tough on immigration -- has eschewed tradition and run the White House his way, taking no prisoners.

“From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it’s going to be America First,” he said on the Capitol steps in his inauguration speech on January 20, 2017.

As the 2010s draw to a close, the booming success of the American economy will help his chances at reelection next year.

Abroad, Trump is rough with his allies, flouts international agreements and does not hesitate to boost his ties with authoritarian governments like that of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Agence France-Presse