The Rise and Fall of Donald Trump as the President of the United States of America

The 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, has been a hot topic since the day that he announced his running campaign in 2015. During his campaign, Trump showed that he was not an underestimate candidate. He was a fighter, not a quitter. With the support of Fox News and other right-wing media, Trump was portrayed as a hero saving America with all the praisings, the good news, the achievements, non-stop ads targeting his opponent, Hillary Clinton. His supporters, from normal people to Republicans, put a high hope and great expectation in Trump with a belief that he could "drain the swamp" and "Make America Great Again." They definitely saw him as a key to unlock the door of opportunity to the greatness for America and soon, their dream had come true when Trump was elected in 2016. But those were his supporters.

With people hated him so much, when Trump was running for President, they would never think he would be elected. They looked at him as an idiot, a tyrant, a moron, and many other nasty words to describe him. Almost everyone in Hollywood despaired him and they turned their supports to Hillary Clinton. But to be honest, in my point of view, Hollywood is so hypocritical. They don't know anything about politics. The reason they supported Hillary Clinton at that time was because they wanted to see the first female President of the United States of America. That was all they wanted. Did they believe in what Hillary Clinton would do good things for America? Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn, said Rhett Butler.

Within 4 years in the Oval Office, Trump had done many things. Both good and bad to America. If saying he was the most controversial president of all time, it would be too harsh. But unfortunately, there is no other word that can describe him before and after he lost in the 2020 Presidential Election. His legacies as the President would be forgotten and his supporters began to leave him. The realest evidence for that claim is the 2022 Midterm Election. The voters had seen everything and be decisive in the voting choice. It was clear that they didn't want to have one more extremist, election denier, and Trump believer to serve them. It has marked the end of Trump and whoever he endorsed, well, would not stand a chance of win.

Trump actually could have been better if he did better in the last year of his administration. And maybe, Trump should have listened to his cabinets more, who had shown nothing but loyalty for him. The rise and fall of Donald Trump will be discussed in this blog post.

Source: Leah Millis | Reuters

Trump's War with Media

One thing that Trump hated the most was the media. Especially, the left-wing media. He usually accused them of delivering falsehood information, untruthful evidence, fabricated sources, and lies. They could be narrowed down to two words. FAKE NEWS. During his campaign rallies, Trump continuously attack the media outlets who were there to do the coverage. Then, people, at that rally, turned to the media teams and shouted at them with unacceptable words or booed at them meanwhile they were just doing their jobs. Trump had to understand one thing that without the media, his words would not be spread out and his appearance would not be publicized. The most memorable moment was Trump mocking a disabled journalist in one of his campaign rallies. He mimicked that journalist by shaking his hands, and talked like he had a disability. It was not cool at all. It was a humiliation. The journalist he mocked was Serge Kovaleski of The New York Times, who suffered from a congenital joint condition. No one had the right to do it with a disabled person. They deserve better. Nobody knew why he did it but definitely, he hated them.

Fox News had been his "best" friend for so long from the days of Roger Ailes, the late disgraced director of Fox News. It was easy to understand because Fox News is a conservative media company. They support the Republican 100% on everything and criticize every action of the Democrats. Many people saw Fox News keeping spreading news without a proper source or evidence and the hosts say things that are so hateful. Technically, they are right one side. Fox News sometimes make mistakes. But if looking in a larger picture, every media company can make mistakes in delivering news and providing untruthful or confusing information. That's quite normal. And the hosts of Fox News say things that are so hateful is not quite right. Remember that they are conservative and they can say conservative things, which always sound hateful. They need to tell their sides of the story too even if it is very difficult to hear. Tough but true. So in conclusion, whether they are liberal or conservative media, they will only tell on side of the story and the viewers or the readers will be the judge to decide which one they lean on. Always listen with both ears.

The term "fake news" took throne when Trump was in the office. There were many press conference when liberal journalists asked Trump sensitive questions that were not benefit him or he was not interested in, Trump confronted them directly without considering. Perhaps, with his supporters, what he did was right. But with opponents, it was an act of hate as usual. Trump always condemned "fake news" anytime he had a chance. And because of the influence of "fake news", media company and news publishers would need to fact check everything carefully before they ran a story or said something on the national television. It was a right thing to do. In a world with full of biased news, finding a reliable sources and news is more essential than ever. People still need to read and watch news to find information, to discuss a topic with everyone else, to have a knowledge on a current issue, or to gossip. News is an important part of life and people cannot live without news. They don't need to read newspapers to know what is happening. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and many more social media platforms are full of news. No one can escape.

As a journalist, they must understand the SPJ Codes of Ethics, which "seek truth and report it" is the number one priority. There is only one truth in every story and the job of journalists is to find out and execute it. Even though Trump declared war on media, his war somehow was effective. Never in the history of journalism and news, the term "fake news" took an important part of these industries where they must take seriously on what they report. Trump did a really great job when he brought the negative side of news and strongly criticized it. It was not a bad thing. It was a good thing though because as the President of the United States of America, Trump must speak up what he didn't see as a good thing and from that, they can begin to change in order to be better. Remember, there is only one true in every story.

This was a good thing that Trump did in his administration.

Trump and the Border Wall

In every Trump's campaign rally, he kept saying one thing besides "Make America Great Again" is "making Mexico pay for the border wall." A iron iron wall at the U.S border with the purpose to stop illegal immigrants would never be done because Trump was no longer the President of the United States of America. Trump was drawn as a big fat racist when he strongly opposed illegal immigrants.

But was he? The answer is NO.

Trump was not a racist with illegal immigrants. He did the right thing. For a long time, the immigrant crisis at the U.S-Mexico border has been a problem that no proper solution can help to solve. Democrats keep welcome them in. Republicans keep preventing them. But here is the thing. Everyone want to have a proper solution for the border crisis. As the leader of the U.S., Trump must also cared about this crisis too and his solution was building the wall at the border. There are more than 427,000 undocumented people in the U.S., according to Higher Immigration Portal. Let that number sink in! It is not a huge number comparing to population of the U.S. But that number reflected one thing that the number could be higher if the illegal immigrants keep coming in by one way or another, not to mention, there is violence at the border too when extreme immigrants fought with the border patrols as they stopped them from coming in. That is terrible. Trump wanted to build the wall to as a solution to stop illegal immigrants from coming in the U.S. This country is full and there are problems in this country too. The government must take care of the problems within the country before every other problems. People who are legally here are struggling with so many things in life such as healthcare, credit bills, tuition, utility bills, taxes, and many more. They are working hard to pay those high bills. Suddenly, there is an appearance of undocumented person. They didn't have any papers to be the U.S. and the states have to take care of them, provide them things, and make sure that they don't do anything stupid.

Eventually, in Mathews v. Diaz, 426 U.S 67 (1976), the Supreme Court ruled non-citizens are entitled to Due Process in the 5th Amendment and 14th Amendment regardless of immigration status, which included undocumented persons. However, in this case, the Court emphasized that even though undocumented persons are protected by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, they cannot be treated the same as U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and there are laws and rights only for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. So they are protected no matter what. Trump probably saw illegal immigrants as a burden of this country and would do anything to prevent this crisis. The border wall would never be finished and his plan to stop illegal immigrants would never be executed. Under the Biden administration, the border crisis has taken into a higher level when more and more illegal immigrants entered the country because the Democrats are so hospitality to welcome them in.

But when Trump said to make Mexico pay for the wall, it sounded very unreasonable. Why on earth that a country is building something and making other country to pay for it at the same time? And Trump, himself, didn't have a specifically plan for what he promised. That was a minus point for Trump.

Border Wall: Good

Making Mexico to pay for the wall: Bad

The 2020 Election and the January 6th Insurrection

2020 was the year of crisis when the COVID-19 pandemic swept around the world. Millions of people died tragically. The healthcare worker forces worked tiredly to save lives of patients. According to CDC, there were approximately 375,000 deaths in the United States from COVID-19 during 2020. Why? It was because of irresponsible of people who did not want to wear a mask or deny the pandemic, and the poor management from the Trump administration when the nation was facing with the pandemic. They did not have a proper plan to deal with the pandemic as well as raise the awareness of COVID-19 to everyone. The influence of Trump at that time was too big. His supporters...No, his cult followers only listened to him. There was one time Trump said Clorox could help to cure COVID-19 and many people did it, for the love of God. He did not set the rule for mask mandate. He did not pay attention to the health of American citizens. It wasn't until the death tolls began to rise and people criticized him, Trump finally cared about the pandemic.

It was the worst time in America. The economy was bad. People lost their jobs. Businesses had to shut down. The hospitals were overcrowded. There was no hope at all. It was a big black color in front of everyone. But things also needed to be done. 2020 was the election year. Unlike other elections, there was no campaign rally at that time. Instead of gathering around, both parties decided to record video of themselves (from Congressmen to Senators) to say good things about their parties and their candidates. During the national debate, Joe Biden and Donald Trump kept attacking and talking over each other. Three debates didn't go anywhere. But the voters had made their voice on the election day.

Unfortunately, things had gone badly in the 2020 election when people thought it could be worse. After one week of the election, the final result had come. Joe Biden was projected as the President-elected. Donald Trump lost. But oh boy, did he accept it?

Trump continued to claim that the votes for him had been stolen. The whole election was a big fraud. Everyone went crazy about the election. The media talked nothing other than the election. Many people believed the votes for Trump had been stolen. Of course, they did because they were his cult followers. It was like a circle. It went around and around with baseless informations on the election. It was exactly like the 2016 election with the accusation of the Russia's involvement, which turned out there was no evidence for that. It was just the beginning of something horrible that yet to come.

January 6th, 2021 would be remembered as the day the Democracy was deeply hurt. Donald Trump shouted out to his cult followers to walk to the Capitol Hill to stop the approval of Joe Biden's presidency. Once upon a time, the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution. And many centuries later, people stormed inside the Capitol Hill like a bunch of brainless people. They acted like criminals. They screamed. They smashed things inside. They stole. They wanted to hang Mike Pence and probably, wanted to kill everyone inside the Capitol Hill. Watching them on TV made everyone's blood boil. That was not America. That was an apocalypse of the Democracy. Groups like Proud Boy and QAnon destroyed everything that this country was built on. They spread out conspiracy theories that equaled hate.

Meanwhile, Trump was watching the insurrection from the White House with his cabinets. He must be shaking too because it had gone beyond his expectation. He used to say to his cult followers that he would walk with them to the Capitol Hill. But he broke that promise. In the end, he told them to go home and he loved them. Even though the storm had not cooled down, the Congress still had to do what they had to do. Finally, Joe Biden officially became the 46th President of the United States of America.

The damage of January 6th was unbearable. This is America. When bad things happened, America can always stand up and claim the number one position again. After the January 6th, the karma had come to every criminal storming in the Capitol Hill. They were charged with the crime they committed. And soon, Trump will need to be held accountable for his action. The Republicans still protected him no matter what. They didn't vote to impeach him. WTF? Where was the justice? But it wasn't the scariest part. Trump had created a new cult for himself. The Election Deniers. With whom didn't believe in the 2020 election, they would use that as a good point for attracting Trump supporters to vote for them. Unfortunately, it was counterproductive. No one really cared about the 2020 election or Trump anymore. They had seen everything.

Trump destroyed his legacies from that moment.

Post-Trump Era

Unlike other previous presidents, Trump didn't retire in peace. He faced with troubles after trouble. The nearest event was the Mar-A-Largo papers when the FBI found out the secret documents of Trump which related to something important to the nation. They are still keeping on investigating. And it doesn't look good for Trump. But it is not always about the bad things for Trump. Actually, people kinda miss him when there was a time inflation and the gas price went over the rooftop. During his administration, Trump handled the economy really well because he was a businessman so he understood how it worked. Besides, his foreign policy worked out too. China and other countries had to be afraid of the U.S. He somehow brought the position of America to a new level. Only if Biden could learn something from Trump on foreign policy. Biden is not loved by many world leaders because he is too weak perhaps.

After leaving the White House, Trump did not lay low. He continued to find a way to get involved in the politics and his party. The result of the 2022 midterm election had shown everything. Trump was not an interesting point for the voters anymore, especially the Republicans and people who used to support him. He was the reason for the Republican losing the seat in the Senate. The members of the Republican party didn't trust him anymore and blamed him on everything. It would be better if Trump just kept quiet and lay low. But hell no, he just did something embarrassed recently. He shared there would be a major announcement. People thought he would announce for the 2024 Presidential campaign. Instead, he introduced his Trump cards collection for NFT. The collection included a bunch of cards featuring him in as Superman, Astronaut, Golf player, and many more ridiculous images. He sells it for $99. What in the world? It is so embarrassing. Didn't he feel that?

Conclusion

Donald Trump was great and bad at the same time. It happens to every leader eventually. They have vision for their countries but sometimes their plans don't work out in the way they used to expect. Trump is not an exception. His vision for "Make America Great Again" was not clear enough everyone to see. He created his own MAGA cult with his followers wearing MAGA red hat and MAGA red shirt, which turned out to be super successful. In another angle, he also did great things to this country. There are always two sides of an issue. But either way, Trump had left a forgettable legacy after all, thanks to the January 6th. He could have been elected for the second term if he knew how to handle the pandemic well. It is the time to move on. America needs to get over with Trump and his family. The reign of Trump is over. And if he runs for the President in 2024, let hope the Republican will not approve his nomination.