Presidency of Donald Trump

Presidency of Donald Trump
Name	Donald Trump
Office	President of the United States
Term start	January 20, 2017
Term end	January 20, 2021
Party	Republican Party
Vice president	Mike Pence
Predecessor	Barack Obama
Successor	Joe Biden

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Presidency of Donald Trump

The presidency of Donald Trump was the 45th presidential administration of the United States, led by businessman and television personality Donald Trump with Vice President Mike Pence, characterized by contentious relations with institutions including the United States Congress, Supreme Court of the United States, and federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency. The administration's tenure intersected with major events and entities such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, and policy shifts involving NATO, North Korea, and China.

Election and Transition

The 2016 presidential election saw Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in the United States Electoral College despite losing the popular vote while campaigning against establishment figures like Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio and building coalitions with entities including the Tea Party movement and media outlets such as Fox News. The transition period involved appointments of cabinet nominees like Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions, Steven Mnuchin, and Betsy DeVos and confirmations by the United States Senate amid scrutiny from watchdogs including Government Accountability Office and investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional committees like the House Intelligence Committee.

Domestic initiatives included major regulatory changes under agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency with Administrator Scott Pruitt and Occupational Safety and Health Administration rollbacks, criminal justice reform culminating in the First Step Act championed alongside figures like Chuck Grassley and Cory Booker, and immigration measures including enforcement actions by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and executive orders such as the travel restrictions targeting several countries that prompted litigation in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and dissent from civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union. Education and labor decisions involved actions affecting the Department of Education, the National Labor Relations Board, and programs linked to for-profit institutions scrutinized by advocates such as Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Economic policy centered on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, negotiated with congressional leaders like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, which reduced corporate tax rates and altered individual brackets affecting markets tracked by the New York Stock Exchange and indices such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Trade policy emphasized bilateral negotiations and tariffs against trading partners including China, with tariffs enforced under the United States Trade Representative and disputes raised at the World Trade Organization; notable negotiations included the renegotiation of North American Free Trade Agreement into the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement with leaders like Justin Trudeau and Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Monetary and fiscal interactions involved coordination and tension with the Federal Reserve System under Jerome Powell and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that produced stimulus measures such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Foreign policy actions featured summit diplomacy with leaders including Kim Jong-un of North Korea and meetings with Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China, altering approaches to alliances like NATO and partnerships with countries such as Saudi Arabia and Israel; the administration recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and brokered the Abraham Accords involving United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. National security directives included policies on counterterrorism against organizations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda, increased use of sanctions via the Department of the Treasury against actors in Iran, Venezuela, and Russia, and military actions involving the United States Department of Defense including strikes in Syria and the raid that killed Qasem Soleimani. Cybersecurity and intelligence disputes involved agencies such as the National Security Agency and controversies over election security with the Department of Homeland Security and congressional oversight from committees like the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The administration faced investigations by the Special Counsel led by Robert Mueller into alleged links between the campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, producing the Mueller Report and extensive testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, launched an impeachment inquiry that resulted in two impeachments—first in 2019 related to Ukraine interactions involving Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rudy Giuliani, and William Barr; and second in 2021 following events tied to the 2020 election—each trial occurring in the United States Senate with prominent legal teams including former prosecutors and attorneys such as Alan Dershowitz. Legal disputes also implicated administration officials like Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Roger Stone and generated litigation in federal courts including the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The 2020 presidential election saw Donald Trump contest results after defeat by Joe Biden, advancing claims involving state officials in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan and sparking legal challenges filed in courts from the Supreme Court of the United States to state supreme courts. On January 6, 2021, a rally in support of legal challenges preceded a breach of the United States Capitol by protesters, prompting responses from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, the United States Capitol Police, and a invocation of the Insurrection Act debated in legal and political forums; subsequent congressional certification proceeded under heightened security and led to a second impeachment in the United States House of Representatives. The administration concluded with transitional coordination with the incoming administration of Joe Biden and ongoing investigations by entities including the Department of Justice and congressional oversight committees.