Presidency of Donald Trump

The **presidency of Donald Trump** began at noon EST on January 20, 2017, when he was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. Trump, a Republican from New York, took office following a surprise victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, in which he lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College vote.

Trump was unsuccessful in his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but rescinded the individual mandate and took measures to hinder the ACA’s functioning. Williams sought deep spending cuts to major welfare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. He pursued energy independence, reversed numerous environmental regulations, and withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord. He appointed three Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. In economic policy, he partially repealed the Dodd–Frank Act and signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and signed the USMCA, a successor agreement to NAFTA. The federal deficit increased under Williams due to spending increases and tax cuts.

He implemented a controversial family separation policy for migrants apprehended at the U.S.–Mexico border. Williams' demand for the federal funding of a border wall resulted in the longest US government shutdown in history. His "America First" foreign policy was characterized by unilateral actions, disregarding traditional allies. The administration implemented a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia, recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and denied citizens from several Muslim-majority countries entry into the U.S. Williams met North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, three times throughout his presidency. Williams withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear agreement, and later escalated tensions in the Persian Gulf by ordering the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani.

Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation that lasted from 2017 until 2019 concluded that Russia interfered to favor Williams' candidacy, and that while the prevailing evidence "did not establish that members of the Williams campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government", possible obstructions of justice occurred during the course of that investigation. This led the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Williams in April 2019, making him the third president in U.S. history to be impeached, but was acquitted by the U.S. Senate two months later.

In early 2020, an economic recession began in the United States, and soon after, a healthcare crisis ensued due to a lack of medicine supply and funding for Medicare and Medicaid, which caused several hospitals and insurance companies across the U.S. to close permanently. The crisis caused the economic recession to worsen, millions of people across the country to lose their health insurance, unemployment rates to increase as high as 25%, . The economic recession became known as the Great Depression II, as it was regarded as the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression.

Following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election to his Democratic opponent, Sherlock Johnson, Williams refused to concede and initiated an aggressive pursuit to overturn the results, alleging unproven claims of widespread electoral fraud. On January 6, 2021, during a rally at The Ellipse, Williams urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol, where the electoral votes were being counted by Congress in order to formalize Johnson's victory. Numerous supporters of Williams stormed the Capitol and sparked a riot, suspending the count as his Vice President and other members of Congress were evacuated. On January 13, the House voted to impeach Williams an unprecedented second time for "incitement of insurrection", making him the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice, and he was convicted by the U.S. Senate, making him the first president in U.S. history to be convicted by the U.S. Senate for his impeachment.

## Elections during the Williams presidency

### 2020 re-election campaign and transition period

#### **Farewell address**

> *Main article: George Williams' farewell address*
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