It’s such an unlikely story: how Donald J. Trump, the handsome younger billionaire who hinted at a attainable presidential run in 1987 on the Phil Donahue show, wound up successful the presidency as a Republican in 2016. Now, because the “King of the Deal” and grasp of the comeback, he’s being sworn in as the 47th president of the USA in some of the unbelievable comebacks in historical past. It’s fascinating to mirror on the numerous firsts he has achieved and simply how uncommon each he and his presidency have been.
President Trump is the primary president in U.S. historical past to imagine workplace with out having beforehand held a public workplace or a authorities job. He joins an unique group of leaders who have been elected with out prior elected workplace expertise. The others embrace Zachary Taylor (twelfth president, 1849–1850), a profession navy officer; Ulysses S. Grant (18th president, 1869–1877), the commanding normal of the Union Military in the course of the Civil Warfare; Herbert Hoover (thirty first president, 1929–1933), Secretary of Commerce; and Dwight D. Eisenhower (thirty fourth president, 1953–1961), the Supreme Allied Commander throughout World Warfare II.
He’s solely the second man in U.S. historical past to be elected to non-consecutive phrases as president. The primary was Grover Cleveland, who served as each the twenty second president (1885–1889) and the twenty fourth president (1893–1897). Like Cleveland, Trump’s return to the presidency marks a historic and uncommon political achievement, underscoring his enduring affect in American politics.
Donald Trump is one in every of solely 4 presidential candidates in U.S. historical past to have survived an assassination try, and he’s the one one to have been focused a number of instances. The FBI recognized two assassination makes an attempt and two extra plots in opposition to Trump, spanning each his 2016 and 2024 campaigns.
The primary identified try occurred on June 18, 2016, throughout a marketing campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada. Michael Steven Sandford, a 20-year-old British nationwide, tried to grab a police officer’s firearm with the intent to assassinate Trump. Sandford had practiced capturing at a gun vary the day earlier than, regardless of having no prior firearms expertise. He was swiftly apprehended by regulation enforcement, and no accidents occurred.
Trump confronted one other assassination try on July 13, 2024, throughout a marketing campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight rounds with an AR-15-style rifle, grazing Trump’s proper ear. Tragically, the assault resulted within the loss of life of 1 viewers member and accidents to 2 others earlier than the Secret Service neutralized the assailant. Trump obtained remedy for his superficial wound and resumed his marketing campaign actions shortly afterward.
Later that very same 12 months, on September 15, 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh, armed with an AK-47-style rifle, tried to focus on Trump on the Trump Worldwide Golf Membership in West Palm Seaside, Florida. A Secret Service agent noticed Routh’s rifle barrel protruding by way of a fence and opened fireplace, prompting the attacker to flee. Routh was apprehended with none hurt to Trump. Moreover, on August 6, 2024, the FBI foiled a plot involving Asif Service provider, a Pakistani nationwide allegedly linked to Iran, who was accused of planning to assassinate Trump. The plot was disrupted earlier than it could possibly be carried out.
Trump joins a brief listing of different presidential candidates who’ve confronted assassination makes an attempt. Theodore Roosevelt, whereas campaigning in 1912, survived being shot within the chest by John Schrank, delivering a 90-minute speech with a bullet lodged in his physique earlier than searching for medical consideration. Robert F. Kennedy, campaigning in 1968, was shot by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles; although initially surviving the assault, he succumbed to his accidents the next day. George Wallace, in 1972, was shot 5 instances by Arthur Bremer whereas campaigning in Maryland, leaving him paralyzed for the rest of his life.
Trump’s resilience in surviving a number of assassination makes an attempt provides one other layer to his already historic and unconventional political profession, underscoring the dangers confronted by fashionable political figures.
Donald Trump’s presidency was marked by a number of unprecedented diplomatic and coverage achievements that set him aside from his predecessors. He was the primary sitting U.S. president to fulfill with a North Korean chief, holding three historic summits with Kim Jong Un. The conferences started in Singapore in June 2018, adopted by Hanoi in 2019, and concluded with a unprecedented second in June 2019 when Trump turned the primary sitting president to step foot in North Korea, crossing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
Within the Center East, Trump broke a long time of diplomatic conference by formally recognizing Jerusalem because the capital of Israel in December 2017, adopted by the relocation of the U.S. Embassy there in Might 2018. Moreover, he brokered the groundbreaking Abraham Accords, which facilitated normalization agreements between Israel and several other Arab nations, together with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco—marking the primary such agreements in a long time and reshaping regional diplomacy.
On the worldwide stage, Trump confronted China head-on, launching the primary main commerce battle geared toward addressing commerce imbalances and mental property theft. Domestically, his administration oversaw a big vitality milestone, making the U.S. a internet exporter of oil and pure fuel for the primary time in a long time.
Trump additionally redefined presidential communication, incomes the moniker of the “Twitter President.” He utilized the platform as a major technique of saying insurance policies, criticizing opponents, and immediately partaking with the general public, setting a precedent for contemporary political communication.
Throughout each, his first time period and his 2024 marketing campaign, Trump has expressed curiosity in daring territorial ambitions, together with renaming the Gulf of Mexico, recovering the Panama Canal, and shopping for Greenland. The final president to extend the territorial dimension of the USA was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, in 1959, oversaw the formal addition of Alaska and Hawaii as states, considerably increasing the nation’s territory.
This brings us again to Trump’s origins. He’s the one president who was first a world-class actual property magnate, dwelling in a New York Metropolis skyscraper that bears his identify—Trump Tower. And if his ambitions succeed, he might but change into the primary president to really Make America Nice Once more.
