Days of Trump: The Definitive Chronology of the 45th President of the United States

By Tim Devine

Recent #1 best-selling book debut in both U.S. President and Leadership new release charts!

Contains over 500 photographs, docs, links, Tweets and more!

"Devine's Days of Trump is the only book of its kind - a complete and comprehensive ref

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Devine Company, LLC
• Release date: Jan 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781088009369

Tim Devine

Tim Devine is an award-winning news and editorial writer, as well as a former music, entertainment and technology executive and a Political Science and Media graduate from the University of California, Berkeley. In his music career he has signed such gold and platimum artists as Katy Perry, Bonnie Raitt, Brandi Carlile, Blind Melon, Mazzy Star, Switchfoot and Train and worked with Paul McCartney, the Beastie Boys and produced or co-produced over a dozen major motion picture soundtracks from Rainman to Clueless. As a journalist he has written for Rolling Stone, Billboard, the LA Free Press and the Los Angeles Times. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Lynn.

Book preview

DAYS OF TRUMP

The definitive chronology of the

45th President of the united states

Tim Devine

with Amanda Decker

The Devine Company, LLC.

Los Angeles, California

DAYS of TRUMP

The Definitive Chronology of the 45th President of the United States

Copyright © 2021 by Tim Devine

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, contact the publisher using the information below.

Books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Tim Devine

[e-mail]

or

Battle Press

[e-mail]

www.battlepress.media

ISBN: 978-1-7378-2387-2 (SC)

ISBN: 978-1-7378-2388-9 (HC)

ISBN: 978-1-5136-8281-5 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021923630

First Edition

CONTENTS

ABOUT THE COVER

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

PROS & CONS

CONCLUSION

TRUMP BOOK LIST

INDEX

PHOTO CREDITS

DEDICATION

To Lynn, my guiding light

every step of the way.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

W

riting a book on the Presidency is hard stuff. There are so many angles and events that it’s nearly impossible not to leave something out. Multiply those times ten for Donald J. Trump.

Helping us keep it all together were America’s political journalists and we have relied on them amply in this volume. From the wire services like AP and Reuters, to the country’s topline broadsheets like the New York Times and Washington Post, to a slew of specialty publications who cover such wide-ranging categories as the military and medical news, to the financial papers and of course the electronic and television journalists from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, MSNBC and others, and finally from the blogs and podcasters who form the basis of the new grassroots journalism. They are all represented here, and we couldn’t have done it without them.

Finally, to those who helped me put it all into a form that makes it logical and organized for your reading pleasure, Amanda Decker, Steve Gillem, Virginia O’Brien and Joe Regis as well as our supporters Jennifer Creelman, Byron Hontas and Dave Lumian who helped turn four years of chaos and mayhem into a consistent and readable history that will not soon be forgotten.

I remain eternally grateful to them all.

ABOUT THE COVER

Front Cover:

"In the middle of all the chaos of late May and early June, 2020, no more chaotic image (in my view) circulated than one of Donald Trump holding a Bible in front of historic St. John’s church in Washington. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

I’ve given up hoping that main news journalism will finally get the religion story right, but this is a case where it is critical that they do so. Here’s why. This picture holds within it so many contradictions that are critical to public understanding of this political moment and the role of religion in it. But it is too complex for a journalism that still chooses to see religion–if at all, in uni- or bi-dimensional terms. Let’s try to see a few of the contradictions here. For starters, the picture was made possible by the President and his entourage intentionally breaking into a moment of national anguish and activism, using police force to disperse peaceful demonstrators to clear the field for this publicity shot. Second, Trump’s own relationship to the Bible is tenuous at best (remember two Corinthians?) Third, the most incoherent and contradictory part of this is that it is a superficial and trivial attempt to curry favor with the religious liberty crowd among his base. This is a contradiction because St. John’s is an Episcopal church with an active social ministry, not an Evangelical mega-church riven with feelings of grievance. Fourth, the invocation of the Bible in such a place is a direct assault on the kind of religion that church represents, which is *not* one that celebrates the moral-culture virtue religious revanchism represented by Attorney General Barr, Secretary Mike Pompeo, and Trump-whisperer Steve Bannon. Fifth, this image is an attempt to elide the real contradiction between the moral culture of a nation reeling from its racial reckoning and forces in the world of religion (Barr, etc., as well as Trump’s religious cabinet of Evangelical leaders) who want the nation to remain comfortable with its history of religion-sanctioned racial tension. - Stewart Hoover

Stewart Hoover is a Professor of media and religion at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He studies the co-dependency of religions and media. His blog can be found at

stewarthoover.wordpress.com.

Back Cover:

While hospitalized after contracting Covid-19, President Donald J. Trump greets supporters during a joyride outside of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/50423102728/

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Tim Devine is an award-winning news and editorial writer, as well as a former music, entertainment and technology executive and a Political Science and Media graduate from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Lynn. This is his first book.

=======

Amanda Decker is an award-winning journalist with 20 years of experience working as an anchor, reporter, producer, web writer, executive producer and news director.  Decker has received several major broadcast awards for coverage of veteran's issues, natural disasters, and auto racing, and has also been honored by several organizations for her volunteer work. 

Six-time Associated Press award winner.

Four-time Society of Professional Journalists award winner.

Indiana Broadcasters Association award winner.

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PREFACE

W

hen we decided to do a book on the presidency of Donald J. Trump, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. Unlike any of his predecessors, Trump was determined to run a mile a minute. His stated goal was to vanquish his enemies, to own the headlines; own the news cycle... or as one-time Trump advisor Steve Bannon put it, flood the zone, each and every day.

Keeping up with Trump was a Herculean task for many journalists. The Washington Post, a paper that hired 100 extra journalists to cover the 2016 presidential campaign, kept many of those writers on long after the race was overdue simply to the activity level of the Trump presidency and the actions of those surrounding it.

Perhaps the New York Times, Michael Schmidt put it best when he said, The problem about the Trump era is that there was so much going on that it was hard to keep track of and to document everything as it was going. Hence the reason for this book.

What you will read about in these pages are not just the activities of Trump himself, but the actions and issues surrounding many of his key aides and others who stepped into the frame at one point along the way. A wide-ranging list of players from Michael Flynn to Paul Manafort, to Rudy Giuliani and Bill Barr, as well as other colorful characters ranging from Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti to Michael Cohen, to Roger Stone, Sydney Powell, E. Jean Carroll and a laundry list of names almost too long to remember.

This obviously doesn’t include the two most obvious group of players which were Trump’s cabinet and, of course, the first family.

In the cabinet department, more players came and went in the first year of the Trump administration than any other presidential administration in American history. Perhaps it was Trump’s inexperience or the character of many of his hiring’s but in just over the first year alone, we saw the departure of a massive number of top associates ranging from EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, to HHS head Tom Price, to Dept. of the Interior Sec’y, Ryan Zinke to even bigger names like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sec’y of State, Rex Tillerson and many more. Eventually, these lists would include nearly everyone in Trump’s orbit including such close staffers as Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, ubiquitous spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway, Attorney General Bill Barr, Anthony Scaramucci and his eleven-day (don’t call it ten!) stint as White House Communications Director and more Chiefs of Staff than any other one-term president in U. S. History.

At times, it seemed that nothing really changed from Trump’s days on the reality show The Apprentice to his leadership in the White House as they both featured a lot of you’re fired.

The Trump family also place front and center throughout the book, whether it’s Trump’s Swiss army knife son-in-law, Jared Kushner, or his wife and Trump first daughter, Ivanka Trump, to the Be Best role of First Lady, Melania Trump, to the surprise appearance of Trump niece and pop-up author, Mary Trump, who suddenly emerged when the need for history met the lack of truth telling and she felt the record had to be set straight.

All in all, this presidency, more than most, was a wild ride that commanded some kind of chronological documentation to assure that the hectic, (some say insane) nature of it would not be lost to history. Did we catch everything that happened in those four years? Of course, not; given the unusual amount of activity, it’s doubtful any single volume could actually do all that.

But what we attempted to do is to cover a wide berth of activity and give the reader links and other resources to go deeper into anything that strikes their additional curiosity.

Some presidencies are about a grand vision. Others are about a singular purpose. If there’s a word to describe the Trump presidency, that word is probably chaos. Chronicling chaos is no easy task but after going through reams of notes, articles, interviews, tweets, photographs, court documents, even medical recommendations and alternative facts, we tried to do our best to give you the brightest and most vivid picture of what the most chaotic four years in the US presidency to date actually looked like.

And yes, he really did talk about buying Greenland.

It’s all here.

Enjoy.

Tim Devine

December 2021

"I could stand in

the middle of

Fifth Avenue and

shoot somebody

and I wouldn’t

lose any voters."

Donald J. Trump

Sioux Center, Iowa

January 23, 2016

INTRODUCTION

Our current laxness toward illegal immigration shows a recklessness and disregard for those who live here legally. It was perhaps one of Donald Trump’s largest campaign platforms. He promised to take a hard line on illegal immigration, building a wall, and tackling, as he called it, the ‘wave of criminals’ entering the U.S. illegally. Or so said Trump the politician. Not the Donald Trump running for president in 2016, but Trump 1.0 and his now long-forgotten presidential campaign sixteen years prior, in 2000.

Donald Trump pitching his candidacy as far back as 2000 including this appearance on the roof at L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo courtesy: Chris Pizzello)

2000 was the first time Trump really tried to run for President, but it wasn’t the first time he talked about it, and it obviously wasn’t the last. In 1987, Trump expressed interest in running for president, but it never went further than chatter. Over the years, he would set up several presidential campaign exploratory committees, make a few speeches, give a few media interviews then decide to step aside. Based on observations by his wife Pat, Richard Nixon even wrote Trump a letter back in 1987 that read in part, ...whenever you decide to run for office you will be a winner!

In 2000, Trump was seeking the Reform Party nomination, a movement which that year was spearheaded by retired professional wrestler Jesse Ventura. The Reform Party originated in the mid-90s as a vehicle for then-candidate Ross Perot to run for President in 1996 and it seemed the perfect vehicle for the politically ambitious, but independently minded, Donald J. Trump just four years later.

Back then, Trump had big plans. During interviews, Trump told people that should he grab the Reform Party nomination, Oprah Winfrey would be his ideal running mate. In fact, while talking to Oprah on her show, he discussed something that he would eventually tackle head on, as President of the United States. I would make our allies pay their fair share. We are a debtor nation. Something is going to happen over the next number of years... you can’t keep going on losing $200 billion, he told Oprah. Years later, Trump did, in fact, change trade agreements with many allies during his time in office. 

After making his bones by extending his father‘s Queens real estate empire to Manhattan (and renaming it from Elizabeth Trump & Son to the more streamlined Trump Organization, while also attracting attention from the FBI for racial housing discrimination (see next page). Donald Trump wanted a different way to push his name into the spotlight. He had already built a high-profile real estate portfolio, then went on to expand his brand: selling steaks, wine, ties, an ill-fated East Coast air shuttle, a university, and more than a dozen other miscellaneous Trump branded endeavors. But there was still something about politics that attracted Trump like a moth to a flame.

On calling fake news: "You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you." – Trump to Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes, November 2016

The FBI had been tracking Trump Management on charges of racial discrimination in apartment rental practices in New York from 1972 to 1974. (Courtesy: FBI)

It was no secret that Trump had developed both an engaging level of charisma and an increasing awareness from the American public. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s, Trump was a frequent subject of the New York tabloids gossip columns, (much of it drummed up by his alter-ego PR man John Barron who positioned his boss Trump as a ladies’ man and a real estate juggernaut). His heightened profile led to a series of ad campaigns for everything from Visa to Pizza Hut. For nearly two decades, Trump was literally everywhere.

Back then, Trump was also available to discuss political issues on TV and in the newspapers including at one point, very dramatically inserting himself in the story of the murder of Trisha Meili on April 19, 1989 - running ads condemning the so-called Central Park Five - teen suspects whose lives were upended in the more than a decade that passed between the event and their eventual exoneration. Trump was by all counts, ready to weigh in on everything and sometimes even putting his money where his mouth was.

During these years, Trump kept up a high media profile as a frequent guest on shows like CNN’s Larry King Live and Howard Stern’s top-rated radio show. One night in 1999, King asked Trump, What kind of president would Donald Trump be? Without hesitating, his response was, the president has to be a great leader, and you have to lead by example. At the same time, he frequented the Howard Stern show talking about his beauty pageants saying things like: I’ll tell you the funniest thing is that I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s getting dressed. No men are anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in, because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it. … ‘Is everyone OK?' You know, they’re standing there with no clothes. ‘Is everybody OK?’ And you see these incredible-looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that.

During this time, Trump shifted his political affiliation from Republican to an Independent and back to Republican. He suggested he might run against President George W. Bush in 2004. He would later become a self-proclaimed Democrat while at the same time supporting Republican Sen. John McCain’s run for the White House in 2008 against President Barack Obama (although he would later famously tell GOP pollster Frank Luntz that McCain was not a war hero. He’s only a hero because he got caught.)

That 2004 run ended with many wondering if he had only used the free publicity of politics to promote his new NBC show The Apprentice, as many pundits argued that the Apprentice shooting to number one and staying there for so long created the final foundation for Trump to make his now-successful run for the White House in 2016.

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Donald Trump has been complaining about election results long before he ever got to the White House. (Twitter)

2004 also saw a major push from New York state Republican leaders who wanted Trump to run for Governor and face off against Democrat and future governor, Andrew Cuomo. In fact, Trump said he learned about the party’s interest in his run for governor by reading an article in the New York Post. He responded, It would be very interesting. I mean, New York has some very serious problems. We have taxes that are through the roof; we have energy sitting in our ground that we are not getting. We have a lot of problems, but it’s not something that is of great interest to me.

Trump remained deadpan while being the brunt of numerous jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011. (C-SPAN)

In 2011, Trump attended the White House Correspondents dinner in Washington D.C. and found himself to be a prominent target of President Obama’s humorous speech that night. Obama roasted Trump for a full five minutes while, as the Washington Post noted, Seeming to delight in directing zingers at the man who had questioned whether he was a legitimate president. (As the world would later learn, Obama had also just authorized the raid that would kill Osama bin Laden but at that moment, wanted everything to look normal.)

Making fun of Trump, now in high gear with his birther campaign against America’s first black president, Obama ribbed, No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. The president continued, That’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like: Did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?

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Trump began tweeting about Barack Obama’s birtherism as far back as 2012. (Twitter)

Obama’s comments were followed up by host Seth Meyers who shot off one insult after another with lines like, Donald Trump has been saying that he will run for president as a Republican - which is surprising, since I just assumed that he was running as a joke.

While a stone-faced Trump appeared to be fuming as the brunt of the jokes, the New York Times later reported that That evening of public abasement, rather than sending Mr. Trump away, accelerated his ferocious efforts to gain stature within the political world… and it captured the degree to which Mr. Trump’s campaign is driven by a deep yearning sometimes obscured by his bluster and bragging: a desire to be taken seriously.

It is that thought that he became enraged and motivated, and many people still believe that this was the moment when Trump finally decided that 2016 was going to be his year. (He has since denied this.) It was also the time that Trump stepped up his now trademark attacks on others to his growing Twitter following.

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Not long thereafter, Trump began discreetly feeling out the possibility of a run of his own. He met with pollsters, including Kellyanne Conway, who reportedly saw an opening for Trump. He also spent a lot of time trying to attach himself to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign including a high-profile endorsement arranged for the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas prior to the Nevada primary.

But Trump seemed to make the Romney people nervous. According to the New York Times, the campaign allowed him to record robocalls; calls on Romney’s behalf, but ultimately blocked him from campaigning with the candidate and rejected his request for a prominent speaking position at that year’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.

But in November of 2012, Romney lost to Barack Obama. It didn’t take long after that for Trump’s plans to kick into gear. He quietly began meeting with prominent GOP politicians and organizers ranging from the RNC’s Reince Priebus to David Bossie of Citizens United. He travelled to early states like New Hampshire and Iowa where he dined with Newt Gingrich to find out how the mechanics of running for president actually worked. He started spreading donations around to GOP committees and SuperPACs including the Republican Governors Association then run by Chris Christie. And of course, he had Roger Stone.

Things finally rose to the surface when Trump made the move to develop the branded slogan that would eventually catapult him to the White House four years later… Make America Great Again.

Despite it being a major slogan in the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign, as well as being used by Bill Clinton and others before Trump, by September 11, 2013, Donald J. Trump’s lawyers signed U.S. Patent and Trademark office (USTPO) application #85783371 to use Make America Great Again for political action committee services, namely, promoting public awareness of political issues and fundraising in the field of politics.

No longer was Trump just toying with the idea of making a run for the White House, but between his real estate and television obligations, he was doing it this time, building a plan and an organization that would quietly begin gaining awareness and traction among disenfranchised voters at conservative forums and political events from coast to coast.

Donald Trump was courting conservative voters long before announcing his candidacy for president by meeting with GOP officials and speaking at CPAC conventions. (Photo by Gage Skidmore/WikiCommons)

As a way of making connections, Trump began attending (and speaking) at the CPAC National Convention as early as 2011. As he got closer to realizing his presidential ambitions, he began going to the conference multiple times. He appeared at CPAC in 2013 and again in 2014, and by February 2015 he came in 6th on CPAC’s presidential straw poll months before officially launching his campaign bid. During this time, he is reported to have spent over a million dollars researching a possible run for the presidency as well.

By the middle of 2015, it was time to commit. Trump organized an announcement event at his own Trump Tower. In typical Trump fashion, he hired a room full of extras to pose as supporters from a New York modeling agency (Extra Mile) who were paid $50 to attend the event.

This is an event in support of Donald Trump and an upcoming exciting announcement he will be making at this event. This event is called People for a Stronger America. The entire group is a pro-small business group that is dedicated to encouraging Donald Trump and his latest ventures. This event will be televised.

We are looking to cast people for the event to wear t-shirts and carry signs and help cheer him in support of his announcement. We understand this is not a traditional background job, but we believe acting comes in all forms and this is inclusive of that school of thought.

This event is happening LIVE and will be from 8:45AM-11:30AM. LESS THAN 3 HOURS. The rate for this is: $50 CASH at the end of the event.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/donald-trump-campaign-offered-actors-803161

So now the stage was set. Donald Trump was going to make his second run at becoming President of the United States, but this time as part of a major party. So on June 16, 2015, to the urgent sounds of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World, Donald J. Trump began his famous descent down the escalator at Trump Tower, to deliver his speech about his vision for America, getting ripped off on trade deals, his incredible net worth (complete with holding up accounting statements!) supporting the military, and the only thing people remembered, Mexican rapists, designed to shake up the assembled media and the political world writ large.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apjNfkysjbM

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Trump announces his campaign bragging about his riches and blaming many of America’s problems on border crossings of Mexican Rapists. (C-SPAN)

Of course, Trump, ever the hype artist was reported to have told the assembled press, Wow. Whoa. That is some group of people. Thousands! when the truth was it was only a few hundred people in attendance, and many were either press or paid actors.

(Later investigations revealed that in typical fashion, Trump didn’t actually pay the casting agency until they filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), a habit that was repeated throughout Trump’s business life.)

Suddenly it was game on. The crowds were getting bigger and the media, still not sure about taking it seriously, was nonetheless eating it up. Almost overnight, the media began covering every inch of his unorthodox campaign, with some mainstream outlets eventually embedding reporters with the Trump campaign even before he began polling well against the other GOP hopefuls.

Many members of the Republican Party, including those Trump was running against to become the GOP nominee, still didn’t take him seriously, expecting him to drop out and chalk it up to a branding exercise that paid off in other ways. After all, Trump had done this before; a few people had supported him, but most believed he would slowly fade away as he had in the past.

Donald, you know, is great at the one-liners. But he's a chaos candidate. And he'd be a chaos president. He would not be the commander-in-chief we need to keep our country safe. - Jeb Bush at the CNN/GOP Debate, December 15, 2015

That may have been how Trump himself felt, as well. According to inside sources, Trump not only did not plan on winning the presidency in 2016, he was shocked and horrified when it happened. The original plan for Trump, according to some, was to come in a "close second" and fulfill his real goal of keeping his name in the spotlight. Or as Michael Cohen told Rachel Maddow in September of 2020, Trump really just saw his 2016 campaign as a branding opportunity; the greatest political infomercial in the history of politics, as he called it.

"I love the poorly educated." - Trump at Nevada Primary, Feb 23, 2016

As Trump picked up steam throughout 2016, many still didn’t quite take him seriously. At one point, there were 17 major GOP candidates in contention, and while many of them flamed out quickly, Trump revealed a glimpse of what was to come during the primary debates. Following a debate hosted by Fox News, Trump went on CNN to complain that moderator and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had blood coming out of her eyes… or blood coming out of her whatever. He was reacting to the overly tough and unfair questions he claimed he was asked during the televised event, but the words stuck to this day.

Yet as the campaign developed, Trump quickly became the heat seeking missile that everyone from the press to the GOP had to maneuver around. He started bragging that he knew more about ISIS than the generals do, (November 2015), that nobody knows more about trade than I do, (March, 2016) or that I am the king of debt… Nobody knows debt better than me, (June, 2016). Then as the insults began, the Trump Show became not just a political campaign, but an entertainment spectacle, as more and more people began tuning in to hear what he may throw out next. Low-energy Jeb, Lyin’ Ted, Lil’ Marco … Trump was able to destroy his competition with a tweet as no one had ever done in politics before.

"Here's what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat." – Mitt Romney, March 2016

As the primary season progressed, Trump kept annihilating his competition. Early front-runner, Chris Christie dropped out (despite being on the cover of Time magazine as the great GOP hope just a few years earlier). Trump then decimated Rand Paul and Marco Rubio (who despite a well-funded campaign, came in third, only winning small primaries in D.C., Minnesota, and Puerto Rico). By the time of the late-in-the-game, Indiana primary, Trump’s competition was down to former Ohio governor John Kasich and Texas Senator Ted Cruz (who ironically was endorsed by soon to be Trump VP, Indiana governor Mike Pence).

The night of May 3, 2016 became the turning point. Trump won Indiana decisively (53% to 36% to 7.5%), causing Kasich and Cruz to drop out effectively clinching the GOP nomination. Trump woke up the next day as both the presumed GOP nominee and the recipient of two campaign staffers transferred by Cruz mega-funder Robert Mercer to the Trump campaign, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon.

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The nomination also brought him the services of the Mercer-affiliated, Cambridge Analytica including their well-researched three-word campaign slogans (the winners being, Drain the Swamp, Build the Wall and Lock her up!) Details of the full extent of Cambridge Analytica’s operations are outlined in founder, data scientist and eventual whistleblower Christopher Wylie’s excellent book, Mindf*ck: inside Cambridge Analytica’s plot to break the world, wherein Wylie, who describes himself as the gay Canadian vegan who somehow ended up creating "Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare mindfuck tool."

The win brought together Steve Bannon – then head of the alt-right news outlet Breitbart, Robert Mercer, the secretive US hedge-fund billionaire, Breitbart funder, and major conservative donor and Wylie, the 24-year old Canadian data scientist to form Cambridge Analytica. The idea they promoted was to combine big data and social media into an established military methodology – information operations – then turn it on the US electorate as Wylie later described it to the Guardian. By most accounts, it ended up being a major new and somewhat stealth factor in the 2016 campaign.

Also around this time, there began to be evidence of Team Trump’s contact with the Russians when music PR agent, Rob Goldstone, reached out to set up a meeting to offer Team Trump dirt on Hillary Clinton. In a June 3rd email to Donald Trump, Jr., Goldstone, PR rep for Russian singer Emin Agalarov, son of Putin ally and Russian real estate developer, Aras Agalarov, wrote: Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting. The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father. This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.

Seemingly unaware of the illegality such a transfer of information would trigger, Don Jr. quickly responded, Thanks Rob, I appreciate that. I am on the road at the moment but perhaps I can just speak to Emin first. Seems we have some time and if it’s what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer. Could we do a call first thing next week when I am back?

This exchange led to the fated June 9th meeting at Trump Tower with Natalia Veselnitskaya and others that began to form the centerpiece of the eventual Mueller investigation opened nearly one year later.

With no more primaries to compete in, Trump was in a glide path to the Republican nomination. Longtime Republican strategist, Paul Manafort (originally of Black, Manafort, Stone, and Kelly; Charlie Black’s firm that also included Roger Stone) who had been brought in by the RNC back in March, was elevated to campaign chairman and chief strategist on May 19th. The Trump team also finalized a fundraising agreement with the RNC to attract bigger checks to fund the Trump campaign and the RNC as a whole. As part of the Manafort promotion, former Trump campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski was let go.

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Long time GOP dirty trickster, Roger Stone became an on-again, off-again consultant to the Trump campaign. Stone had been pushing the notion of Trump as president for a long time. (Twitter)

With no further obstacles to the nomination, on July 19, 2016, Donald Trump, Jr. cast the final vote that put Trump over the edge of 1,237 needed delegates to become the Republican presidential nominee. Two days later in his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Trump declared, Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.

"Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it." – Donald Trump at RNC 2016

After the Democratic National Convention where she held off challenges, mostly from Bernie Sanders on the left, Hillary Clinton would become Trump’s next challenger. In three debates starting in September 2016 at Hofstra University in nearby Nassau County New York, 62% of Americans believed Clinton defeated the Republican nominee. After debate two, which shifted to a town hall-style format, support for Clinton had dropped and only 42% of Americans said she was the winner. Debate three saw Clinton jump back up, gaining about 69% support from American voters.

Trump and Clinton would face off for a total of four-and-a-half hours over the course of the campaign season. The two would battle back and forth over Syria, Trump’s taxes, the Trump Organization and the Clinton Foundation, as well as Trump’s behavior and treatment of women. And, of course, Trump did bring up the issue of Clinton’s emails. He did not hold back, and later had no qualms about soliciting foreign assistance praising WikiLeaks and saying, Russia, if you’re listening…

"Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." – Donald Trump, July 27, 2016

There were many highlights (and low-lights) during the rough and tumble campaign, where Trump insulted Gold Star families, got sued and settled a $25 million case against Trump University, submitted what later was alleged to be a bogus letter that his doctor said Trump himself wrote, rarely ran ahead in the polls sometimes polling as low as 1% among African- American voters (NBC/WSJ poll Aug 3rd, 2016), got caught paying off Playmates and porn stars, and perhaps most famously surrounding the Access Hollywood tape, the WikiLeaks document dump and the on again/off again FBI investigation run by James Comey… all of which have been endlessly covered in great detail by the press already.

"The press takes him literally, but not seriously, his supporters take him seriously, but not literally." – Selena Zito in the Atlantic, September 2016

Leading up to the election in 2016, most polls consistently showed Clinton had a healthy lead over Trump. But, despite his behavior and poll ratings following those debates and what the majority of polls were showing, Trump was about to shock the world… and allegedly himself as well. On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, Americans went to the polls and did something Trump had only dreamt of for 29 years… they chose Donald J. Trump to be the 25th president of the United States of America.

Macintosh HD:Users:timdevine:Desktop:FINAL BOOK ELEMENTS:Final Photos:Tweets:11-27-16 Electoral Landslide.jpg

Trump began lying about his election results well before becoming president. (Twitter)

This is the problem with the media. You guys took everything Donald Trump said so literally... and the American people didn't. - Corey Lewandowski, December, 2016

A collective wondering from Trump supporters and opposers alike was sweeping the country: What was going to happen next?

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2017

1/20/2017: DAY ONE: Inauguration Day

President Donald Trump being sworn in on January 20, 2017 at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Melania Trump wears a sky-blue cashmere Ralph Lauren ensemble. He holds his left hand on two versions of the Bible, one childhood Bible given to him by his mother, along with Abraham Lincoln’s Bible. (White House Photo)

Inauguration Invitation:

Inauguration Speech:

Trump gives his inauguration speech from the U.S. Capitol on day one of his term. (WikiCommons)

In Inaugural Address Trump Decries 'American Carnage' and Promises 'America First'.

Trump paints a less-than-ideal picture of the United States in his inauguration speech. On the steps of the Capitol, Trump addressed his supporters saying, This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. Speaking of abandoned factories and rampant crime, Trump promised to repair the broken country saying, We've defended other nation's borders while refusing to defend our own. And spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas, while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We've made other countries rich while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. One by one, the factories shuddered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.

But that is the past, and now we are looking only to the future, he continued. We, assembled here today, are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power, from this day forward: a new vision will govern our land, from this day forward, it's going to be only America first. America first.

We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. I will fight for you with every breath in my body, and I will never, ever let you down. America will start winning again, winning like never before.

It’s difficult to know how many people have been in attendance at any Presidential inauguration, so perhaps the best way to assess the number of people is by checking public transit records for that day. The Washington Post compiled data from the DC Metro system to compare how many people travelled into the city for the inauguration of both President Barack Obama, and President Trump. Looking at total trips taken from 4 a.m. until midnight, in 2009, there were 1.1. Million Metro riders, the busiest day in Metro’s history. (Second busiest goes to the Women’s March on Washington when just over one million riders used the transit system.) In 2009, for Obama’s second inauguration, there were 782,000 trips taken between 4 a.m. and midnight. In 2017, Metro figures show 570,557 trips were taken between 4 a.m. and midnight. Trump would repeatedly say it was a record-breaking crowd, and Press Secretary Sean Spicer repeated those claims in the days following the inauguration, saying a million-and-a-half people were on hand. When White House counselor Kellyanne Conway was asked about Spicer’s comments on NBC’ Meet the Press, she stated Spicer was using alternative facts to reach his conclusion.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/full-text-donald-trump-inauguration-speech-transcript-233907

While sitting at Trump's Inauguration, National Security Advisor Mike Flynn texts his ex-business partner regarding releasing Russian sanctions on building nuclear power plants in the Middle East

During Trump's inauguration, incoming security advisor Michael Flynn sends text messages to a former business partner about lifting sanctions on Russia so they can move forward with a nuclear power project. A confidential informant later sent a letter to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top-ranking democrat on the panel, released a letter detailing the conversation as overheard by the whistleblower. Flynn is quoted as saying the plan was good to go about 10 minutes into the President's inauguration speech.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/06/michael-flynn-russia-sanctions-trump-inauguration

President Trump Proclaims a National Day of Patriotic Devotion

In what is seen as a redundant and largely symbolic measure, President Trump's first order of business is to declare a National Day of Patriotic Devotion.

A Proclamation:

A new national pride stirs the American soul and inspires the American heart. We are one people, united by a common destiny and a shared purpose.

Freedom is the birthright of all Americans, and to preserve that freedom we must maintain faith in our sacred values and heritage.

Our Constitution is written on parchment, but it lives in the hearts of the American people. There is no freedom where the people do not believe in it; no law where the people do not follow it; and no peace where the people do not pray for it.

There are no greater people than the American citizenry, and as long as we believe in ourselves, and our country, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2017, as National Day of Patriotic Devotion, in order to strengthen our bonds to each other and to our country—and to renew the duties of Government to the people.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/24/2017-01798/national-day-of-patriotic-devotion

Inauguration Balls

On the night of his inauguration, the newly sworn-in President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made the rounds at three inaugural balls in Washington, D.C. The first two events, the Freedom Ball and the Liberty Ball, were held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Most of the attendees were supporters and donors or those who purchased tickets to the events. The third and final inaugural ball, A Salute to Our Armed Services, took place at the National Building Museum and only military members and their families were invited to attend.

First 100 Days: Signs Executive Orders

On his first official day in office, Trump signed an executive order to lift mandates on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and another executive order to remove FHA (Federal Housing Administration) mortgage discounts for low-income homebuyers.

1/21/2017: Women's March on DC and Around the Nation

One day after Trump's inauguration, half a million people descended on Washington, D.C. for the Women's March on Washington. The event in the nation’s capital became the largest one-day protest in U.S. history. It was organized after Trump won the 2016 election in protest to what many consider Trump's anti-female and offensive statements. The largest march took place in D.C., but there were many other marches in cities around the U.S. and around the world that same day. 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/womens-march

Sean Spicer Meets with Press on First Day

In a moment that set the tone for the Trump presidency, White House press spokesman, Sean Spicer, puffed that Trump had the "biggest crowd for any inauguration, PERIOD."

After acknowledging that he hadn't planned to have an official press briefing until the following week, newly appointed White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had good reason to rush out and try to correct some of what was being reported about the Trump Inauguration, particular as it related to the sensitive issue of crowd size. To that end, he said, We do know a few things, so let's go through the facts. We know that from the platform where the President was sworn in, to 4th Street, it holds about 250,000 people. From 4th Street to the media tent is about another 220,000. And from the media tent to the Washington Monument, another 250,000 people. All of this space was full when the President took the Oath of Office. We know that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama's last inaugural. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- PERIOD! -- Both in person and around the globe.

Even the New York Times printed a photograph showing a misrepresentation of the crowd in the original Tweet in their paper, which showed the full extent of the support, depth in crowd, and intensity that existed. The issue lingered for months with everyone from news reporters to late night comics to SNL, mimicking Spicer's stance. In fact, it is probably the single event he will be most remembered for the rest of his political life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKzHXelQi_A

First Day of Trump Administration

On Trump’s first day in office, he got right to work. Key among his tasks that day, issuing a proclamation for a National Day of Patriotism as well as formally nominating the picks for his Cabinet. Among the Cabinet picks, retired marine Gen. James Maddog Mattis, was tapped to become the new Defense Secretary. Trump had to sign a waiver to allow Mattis to take the position, because he had not been retired from military service for seven years as required by law.

That same day, Trump suspended a housing order that reduced the amount mortgage holders had to pay to the Housing Authority’s insurance program. At the end of his first day, Trump took to Twitter, posting that the day would be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of the country again and that he would bring America back to its glory.

Trump Makes First Visit to CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA

Still obsessed about his Inauguration crowd size, President Trump spoke in front of a wall of 117 fallen agents at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia in a speech that largely centered around himself, his winning campaign and his view of the dishonest media. It was seen by many observers as situationally bizarre.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-cia-langley-233971

1/22/2017: Awkward Exchange between Trump and FBI Director James Comey

FBI director James Comey is invited to the White House for a reception honoring first responders. When President Trump reaches out to shake hands with Comey, he pulls him in and whispers into Comey’s ear. Comey would later testify to a House panel that Trump told him that day he was looking forward to working with him. Comey also later explained that he was uncomfortable attending the event and had hoped to go unnoticed.

https://www.businessinsider.com/comey-what-did-trump-whisper-during-handshake-2017-6

"He (Sean Spicer) was citing "Alternative Facts." (Kellyanne Conway to Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, January 22, 2017)

Kellyanne Conway Coins The Phrase Alternative Facts:

1-22-17 Alternative Facts Wiki

Just two days after President Trump’s inauguration, his press advisor, Kellyanne Conway, appeared on NBC's Meet the Press. When asked about why press secretary Sean Spicer inflated the number of attendees at Trump's inauguration ceremony, Conway replied that he was using alternative facts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_facts

https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/conway-press-secretary-gave-alternative-facts-860142147643

1/23 & 24/2017: First 100 Days: Executive Orders for Lobbyist Bans, a Hiring Freeze, Blocking Federal Abortion Funding for NGO's, and withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Beginning his first full week in the new job, Trump signed a number of executive orders including one to withdraw the U.S. from negotiating further on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and one to reopen construction on the famous Keystone Pipeline. Using the same mechanism, Trump addressed a handful of additional campaign promises including reducing regulations around priority infrastructure construction, placing a hiring freeze on non-military federal workers, ordering a halt to federal funding for any NGO's that provide for abortions overseas, signing a ban that prevents administration officials from becoming lobbyists for at least five years, while pledging to work with Congress to lower corporate taxes to 15 to 20% from the current 35% level they stood at as he took office.

https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-regarding-withdrawal-united-states-trans-pacific-partnership-negotiations-agreement/

1/24/2017: Mike Flynn Questioned by the FBI Regarding Sergey Kislyak

Four days after Trump was sworn in, Michael Flynn was questioned by the FBI about his communication with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. During questioning, Flynn denies discussing certain issues such as sanctions with Kislyak, which he later admitted was not true. Flynn resigned from his position as National Security Advisor after spending just 24 days in the role.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/timeline-sally-yates-warnings-white-house-mike-flynn/story?id=47272979

1/25/2017: First 100 Days: The 2,000 Mile Wall

Holding strong to one of his key campaign promises, Trump signs an executive order to build a 2,000-mile wall along the Southern U.S. border. The estimated cost was between $10 billion and $20 billion, but Congress did not approve the money in the 2017 fiscal year budget. Trump would later revisit the demand several times before getting some funding.

1/26/2017: Trump’s First Trip on Air Force One

President Trump visited Philadelphia to address Congressional Republican leaders, regarding his agenda. Trump spoke at the Philadelphia Loews Hotel. British Prime Minister, Theresa May also spoke at the event. Trump returned to Washington the same day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidential_trips_made_by_Donald_Trump_(2017)

Sally Yates to White House to Warn About Mike Flynn's Contact with