Donald Trump

Donald Trump entered politics as an outsider and remade the Republican Party in his image. Elected in 2016 without prior government experience, he defeated Hillary Clinton in an electoral college victory that signaled a realignment of the American electorate along lines of education, geography, and cultural identity. His presidency broke with decades of bipartisan consensus on trade, immigration, NATO, and the role of international institutions — and his political grip on the Republican base outlasted two impeachments, a criminal conviction, and an assassination attempt.

Trump's first term produced two impeachments — the first for pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival, the second for incitement of insurrection following the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol — neither resulting in Senate conviction. He was the first president impeached twice. After losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, he refused to concede and became the first president in American history to face federal criminal indictments tied to his conduct in office, and the first major-party presidential candidate convicted of felony crimes (34 counts of falsifying business records in New York).

In 2024, Trump became the first former president to win a non-consecutive second term — a feat last achieved by Grover Cleveland in 1892. His return to office was built on a coalition of working-class voters who had shifted away from the Democratic Party across multiple election cycles, and a Republican base that remained loyal through every legal and political crisis. He survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally in July 2024, when a rifle round grazed his ear.

Trump's second term, beginning January 20, 2025, moved rapidly to restructure federal agencies, reimpose sweeping tariffs on major trading partners, withdraw from international climate agreements, and reshape immigration enforcement at the southern border. His administration directed military strikes against Iran's nuclear infrastructure in 2025 and 2026. Whether his presidency represents a durable transformation of American political life or a turbulent interval remains the defining question of the contemporary era.