Donald Trump 45 and 47, Controversy Rising

In his 10 years in politics Trump has incited an insurrection, been found guilty by a jury of sexually assaulting a woman, overseen the overturning of the federal right to abortion, been impeached twice, praised a group of white supremacist protesters, been accused of sleeping with a pornstar shortly after his wife gave birth, made millions from business deals with foreign countries, been convicted of 34 felonies, pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate a political opponent, and more.

— Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian; July 16, 2025

Criminal Indictments 2017-2025

Donald Trump accumulated many criminal charges and substantial financial settlements and penalties against him. A running total of his monetary penalties and his schedule and history of court trials for a total of 91 indictments is found at:

Donald Trump's Debt Live Tracker

PBS outlines all of the Trump trials here:

A Guide to the Criminal Cases Against Donald Trump

Trump Inc.

We hear about political slippery slopes, but the longer slope between presidents became noticeably slicker during the 1960 campaign.

Much of America feared John F. Kennedy because he was Irish Catholic and Democrat. Many hated him as much as they did blacks, women, LGBTIQA+, Russians, Jews, Native Americans, Asians, the whole Eastern Hemisphere, and everything south of Texas.

Hate was overwhelming in the 1960s, manifested in violence like lynchings, child shootings in churches, race riots (I experienced one first-hand), and the presidential assassination in November 1963. Hatred continued throughout the coming years.

Hatred met President Barrack Obama and his family. However, Obama began his first term in 2009 with a comment on the White House front page that denigrated his predecessor. It was unnecessary and helped set a precedent for Donald Trump's thousands of similar comments and tirades against his opponents and others whom he did not like in speeches, TV interviews, and across social media--It is extraordinary.

Donald Trump is the most unusual president in American history and among the most provocative and controversial. We can't keep our eyes off him. His presence dominates the public discourse. His tweets become breaking news filling the 24/7 news cycle. He bluffs, blusters and baffles his opponents.

— Alan Dershowitz, 2017

Change America, Change the World

Donald Trump changed the world. During his administration, the U.S. suffered increasing numbers of school shootings, race riots, anti-police riots, border violence events, vulgarity in government-run social media, and protests before, during, and long after Inauguration 2017.

From 2020-2023, Covid-19 was proclaimed a hoax by some as millions of people died globally, including in America, and I lost several acquaintances to it. Groups fought each other over wearing medical masks and accepting vaccinations. while people kept dying.

Allegations of many crimes hit the administration and the Trump Foundation, all ending in 2023 with 91 felony indictments against Donald Trump, with multiple trials in 2023 and 2024. Additional indictments were levied against many of his associates.

Donald Trump moved to eradicate every act, law, and executive order that Obama enacted and created a furor like a nuclear mushroom cloud. "America First" was his goal and he was changing the country. In 2025, he did the same to Biden Administration works

Campaign 2016, Election and Interim to January 20, 2018

Summer 2016: In the run-up to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan (R) refused to endorse or accept a nomination for Donald Trump. Governor Kasich went elsewhere and avoided the convention, but Speaker Ryan relented and put in an appearance.

January 20, 2018: Protestors gathered around the streets near the site of the Presidential Inauguration. Some protestors became less than civil and were arrested.

First Year: 2017 Overview

The first year of Donald Trump's administration was largely spent issuing Executive Orders to undo all the legislation achieved during the Obama Administration, Banning immigrants and visitors from majority-Muslim nations, and tweeting insults.

Stock markets rose and fell, but ended with an upsurge that lasted well into 2018 per CNN Money. Jobs increased, at least according to Mr. Trump's Tweets and the White House website.

The president planned to re-institute tariffs to bolster American steel, aluminum, automobile, and agricultural revenues. He also demanded a full-length border wall along the US-Mexico border to solve immigration problems.

Trump's America First and Made in America/Make America Great Again movements meant pulling out of several international partnerships:

Since Jan. 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the U.N. educational and cultural organization and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.

— Mathew Lee and Josh Lederman; Associated Press, 6/19/2018

Second Year: 2018 Highlights

Political and legal upheaval snowballed around the president as cabinet and other White House staff were quickly fired in rotation of constant staff replacements, the #MeToo movement gathered allegations of sexual misconduct against the president, legislators in both houses and congress, and others.

Allegations of financial malfeasance and treason were amassed against the presidential family and other federal staff members. Insulting tweets increased in number and intensity.

April 9. Trump's attorney Michael Cohen was placed under federal criminal investigation by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, with allegations of bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance law infractions.

May 14. The American Embassy to Israel opened in Jerusalem, having moved from Tel Aviv.

June 1. The Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on imports of steel, and a 10% tariff on aluminum, on the European Union, Canada, and Mexico.

June 8 - 9. President Donald Trump stunned world leaders at the G7 meeting when he said he would ship 25 million Mexicans to Japan to ensure that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would lose his next election. The President called Canada's Justin Trudeau dishonest and weak on Twitter, because Trudeau planned to fight new US tariffs against Canadian goods.

June 12. The Trump-Kim Summit Meeting. Trump eliminated annual US-South Korean military exercises without notifying anyone in his administration, including the US military. All learned about it in his TV broadcast. North Korea's Kim agreed to denuclearize, but the timeline was unclear

June 14. The World FIFA Cup Tournament began in Russia amid rumors of fixed games and collusion.

June 15. Trump planned new large tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods and on more Canadian products.

June 15. Legislation was introduced in the Michigan government to change the voting age to 16, suggested by State Senator David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights. Teenagers across the nation had decried the increasing number of American school shootings and the recent incarceration of Mexican children of all ages. They wanted to vote to change these problems.

June 18. The president announced that America would form a US Space Force, equal but separate from the USAF. As members of the Active Air Force's Civil Air Patrol, many of my colleagues and I across the USA were nonplussed. In addition, the president seemed not to know that a space force coalition between America and Japan for purposes of cleaning up space junk and likely patrolling space is already in existence.

I am instructing my administration to embrace the budding commercial space industry. We are modernizing out-of-date space regulations. They’re way out of date. They haven’t been changed in many, many years. And today we’re taking one more step to unleash the power of American ingenuity.

— President Trump, June 18, 2018; on creating outer space businesses

June 18. In the American South, the Richmond, Virginia School District named a school after former President Barack Obama. In fact, the J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School, named after a Confederate general, was renamed Barack Obama Elementary School. A recent movement to remove Confederate monuments and namesakes became stronger beginning in 2016.

At least during my (WWII) internment, when I was just 5 years old, I was not taken from my parents.

— George Takei

June 19. The president's representative Nikki Haley announced that the USA would leave the United Nations Human Rights Council. The announcement came after many days of complains by citizens, news reporters, and first Ladies Rosalyn Carter, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama about new American human rights violations (against children) that match the worst of Trump partner North Korea's and new opponent China's; and the president's demand that the U.N. expunge alleged human rights abuses made against Israel toward Palestinians:

• The 2018 separation and incarceration of Mexican breastfeeding babies, toddlers, children, and teens from parents at the Texas border caused much criticism of Donald Trump, whose policy such separation was. It was not a law, only his policy.
• Representative Will Hurd (Republican from Texas), whose constituency is located on the border, blasted the separation of Mexican children and parents, as did 75 former State Attorneys General, per CNN.

Haley threatened the [U.N.] pull-out last year, citing longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. But the announcement will also come just a day after the U.N. human rights chief denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents.

— Mathew Lee and Josh Lederman; Associated Press, 6/19/2018

Suffering Changes

In his first 1.5 years in office, President Donald Trump already changed America and thereby, the world.

He took control of the country and made his own decisions for it, announcing most of them in Tweets on Twitter (now X) throughout his second term, he continued to announce plans for radically changing America in his controversial and explosive Plan 2025, posting on Truth Social and X.

The most salient question for Americans was, "Will Donald Trump destroy the country if he becomes president in 2025 in spite of his felony convictions?" By July 2025, many historians were shouting YES! -- Thousands of people joined protests every weekend thereafter. Hundreds of lawsuits were pressed against him. America was in constant turmoil.

Sources

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• President Donald Trump. Psychology Today, March 2, 2024.
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• The January 6th Report: Findings From the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. United States Congress House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Random House, 2023.
• Trump, M.L. PhD. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. Simon and Schuster; July 14, 2020

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2018 Patty Inglish MS