Donald Trump, without a doubt, has been one of the more iconic US President, whose policies and actions have changed the course of history.
As the curtain falls on Donald Trump’s presidency, here are five highlights from his legacy that we may remember him for.
Trump is no stranger to social media, what with the millions of followers on his personal Twitter account @realDonaldTrump , and the former president’s constant tweets on issues that matter.
From tweeting about mysterious words such as “covfefe” and calling out the media, amongst others, for fake news, there could be no Trump’s presidency without Twitter.
Throughout the 2020 presidential election period, Trump had put his social media skills to good use, tweeting about how the election was rigged and that his votes were stolen, prompting Twitter to eventually censor his tweets as they were untrue.
Trump wasn’t the only one who believed in the power of social media, so too did his supporters who had unmasked a conspiracy theory, known as QAnon, which circulated across social media. They believed that Trump one day will lead the people on the day of reckoning to fight against Satan-worshipping paedophiles in the government.
It was the last straw for Trump when he tweeted in support of the alt-right movement who marched on the Capitol on Jan 6, as Twitter, along with Facebook, banned Trump off social media.
IMMIGRATION
Who could forget the iconic “BUILD THE WALL” chant that may have won Trump his presidency back in 2016?
Trump claimed to have delivered his promise after his visit to Alamo, Texas in his last week of presidency to oversee a section of the 729km wall.
Trump was also responsible for the highly contentious “Muslim Ban” which imposed a travel ban that prohibited issuing visas to citizens of seven largely-Muslim countries that has expanded to thirteen in 2020.
Trump also made it almost impossible for refugees and immigrants to enter or stay in the country as he laid down hardcore immigration policies.
A 2018 “zero-tolerance” policy intended to ramp-up criminal prosecution of people caught entering the United States illegally caused many unauthorized immigrant parents travelling with their children to not only be criminally prosecuted but separated from their children.
The year 2019 also saw increasing raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest being the arrest of 680 people at seven agricultural processing plants in Mississippi.
The Trump administration has also slashed refugee admissions to the US for 2021 to only 15,000 refugees, down from a cap of 18,000 for 2020.
Biden in his early days of presidency will lay out plans to reverse some of Trump’s immigration policies starting with an eight-year citizenship path for immigrants.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Trump has made many friends and foes throughout his term, but one of the more defining bilateral relations is the one he has with China.
The Trump administration has taken notable actions that angered its Chinese counterpart, from the former president repeatedly referencing the “Chinese Virus” and blaming China for its failure in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, to engaging in a trade war with sanctions, tariffs and backlists to target Chinese companies.
In fact, on his last full day in office, the US announced that China had committed “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” towards the Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region.
In mending relations, The US also managed to broker a deal for several Arab countries to normalize their ties with Israel.
In just four months, Israel had formed diplomatic relations with four Arab countries, United Arab Emirates(UAE), Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, in what Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the “deal of the century”.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
With the US reaching 400,000 deaths, the nation’s COVID-19 response, or the lack of it, had angered many and may have just been the reason behind Trump’s loss in the recent election.
Trump was accused by many to have downplayed the virus from the very beginning and suggesting suspicious measures in dealing with the pandemic.
Using antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine and disinfectant as treatments to COVID-19, pulling out of World Health Organization (WHO), threatening to fire the nation's top infectious-disease expert, Anthony S. Fauci, these are some notable examples of the actions taken by the Trump administration in the handling of the pandemic.
In fact, just three days before he leaves the office, Trump ordered an end to the ban on travellers from Europe and Brazil that had been aimed at stopping the spread of the virus in the nation, a move Biden will likely reverse in the early days of his presidency as he signed several executive orders to undo some of Trump's policies.
IMPEACHMENT
Trump made history as the first president in the US to be impeached twice.
The House of Representatives first impeached him in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over his dealings with Ukraine on Biden. The Republican-led Senate, however, managed to acquit him.
This time the House voted to impeach him for his role in inciting violence at the US Capitol on January 6.
At the president’s encouragement, thousands of Trump supporters breached the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, leaving six people dead.
As rioters occupied, vandalized, and looted the US Capitol while Congress was in session, many criticized the lack of armed authorities or the National Guard, as compared to their overwhelming presence in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
His removal from office the second time around could potentially ban him running for president in 2024, or even holding the presidency again
