Donald Trump.

Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran. What do these three nations have in common? Besides recently being—or still being—at the center of media attention due to violent and bloody wars, there is another thing they share. It involves an old man with a questionable but effective communicative language and a haircut that should be declared a crime against humanity. Yes, I’m talking about the one and only (thankfully) Donald J. Trump.

Good old Donald knows how to get noticed. It’s just a pity that the reasons people talk about him aren't exactly great. His is a life truly full of events, both inside and outside the political arena. Today, I really feel like talking about one of those personalities that is hard to ignore... also because, if you ignore him, he drops missiles on your face and you end up playing chess with Saint Peter.

Who the hell is Donald Trump?

I know everyone knows who he is, but only by name and through what we read today. But do we really know everything about him? No, I really don't think you do. He is a genius and a madman at the same time.

Trump was born in the 1940s into a wealthy family. His father, Fred Trump, was already a successful builder specializing in residential complexes for the middle class in Brooklyn and Queens. This allowed the family to insert and stabilize themselves in the part of society that decides and spends. After finishing school, Donald did nothing but follow in his father's footsteps, becoming a builder himself. Thanks to the money his father gave him to start his career, he began his climb which, a few decades later, would lead him to the top of the world.

Before Politics.

The 80s.

The 80s were the great decade for Trump. Perhaps the best of his entire life. A small historical detail: between the late 70s and the early 80s, New York was at risk of default. For everyone, it was a period of waiting, but not for Trump. What he did during the years of the Walkman was exploit the crisis that had just ended in New York to ride the relaunch of the economy, giving back to the "Big Apple" that idea of wealth and worldliness that has always distinguished it. The idea was only one: luxury. Trump took advantage of enormous tax breaks (like the ten-year exemption for the Grand Hyatt) to build at a time when others were afraid to do so.

The construction and opening of the Trump Tower (the definition of luxury "Trump style") right in New York was meant to be the manifesto of his intentions. That pink marble and that 25-meter waterfall at the entrance were intended to communicate not only that New York was the city to be in if you aspired to success, but served to project an image of absolute power, becoming the symbol of "aspirational luxury."

New York was not the only goal: Atlantic City was the second target. The idea was only one: to make that part of New Jersey the second Las Vegas. In a few years, he opened the Trump Plaza, the Trump Castle (my god, the inventiveness of the names), and the colossal Taj Mahal. Great works, ambitious projects, but they would have dark sides.

The 80s were also a "literary" moment for Trump. First, in 1987, he had "The Art of the Deal" published, a book in which Trump theorized "truthful hyperbole," or the idea that a bit of innocent exaggeration is an effective form of promotion. Something we have been seeing from 2016 to the present in his every public appearance. That book was so successful that it transformed him into the favorite business consultant of Reagan-era America, a man who embodied the American dream of the "self-made man." And that image was justified in the eyes of the public by that tower in New York, made of marble, waterfalls, and his name written huge on the facade. As I said at the beginning, a good part of the money used (initial capital and bank guarantees) came from the empire of his father, Fred. That does not change the fact that those dollars were multiplied over the course of his life.

The literary parenthesis certainly did not end there. It went even further. In September 1987, he spent nearly 100,000 to buy entire pages of national newspapers (like the New York Times) to publish "open letters" in which he criticized American foreign policy, accusing allies like Japan and Saudi Arabia of taking advantage of the United States by not paying enough for American military protection. It was the first time, and certainly not the last, that the public heard about themes that would become central decades later. The comical thing is that at the time he used newspapers for political self-promotion without saying "ah, the newspapers propagate Fake News!" It is a classic of men of power: if they speak well of you, they are luminaries of journalism; if they speak ill, they are the worst scum of society.

Between construction and literature, in the 80s, Trump was a damn well-known and powerful man. But there was also another person who helped him become the man he was and still is: his first wife, Ivana Trump. Donald and Ivana were the royal couple of New York. They were practically everywhere. They attended every gala event, from the Met Gala to Broadway premieres, constantly occupying the columns of tabloids like the New York Post. They were like Charles and Diana in England in terms of popularity. Not only did Ivana play a key role in the gossip, but she was fundamental in managing Donald's business affairs. It was she who selected and managed the interiors of the hotels (like the Plaza, purchased in 1988), helping to create that glitzy aesthetic that we associate today with the Trump name. Without that woman, Donald would not have reached the stellar heights of popularity he had and would not have obtained that image of opulence surrounding his name.

In the 80s, Donald Trump did something that very few, perhaps no one, managed to do: elevate his name from a simple name to a luxury brand.

The 90s and the Drama of Black Jack.

1990-1995: the cards are your enemy.

Then the 90s arrive. Like all great ascents, the first shadows appear. And those shadows come from the East, from that city that was supposed to overshadow the city of lights in the desert. As much as Atlantic City was an opportunity in the beginning, for Trump it would turn out to be a bomb ready to explode in his hand.

It all started with the Taj Mahal. Sure, it was built in the 80s, but the problem was how it was financed. Let's go in order.

The Taj Mahal opened its doors on April 2, 1990, with a ceremony in full pomp. It was an immediate public success, but a strategic disaster.

First problem: To pay for all that glitz, 1,250 rooms, gold domes, and a casino of colossal dimensions, Trump issued the infamous junk bonds with interest rates at 14%. If you consider that it cost 1.1 billion dollars, you do the math on how much interest was to be paid. Not to mention all the management costs. To defuse that bomb, the building had to take in 1 million dollars a day just to break even.

Second point: instead of attracting new customers to Atlantic City, the Taj Mahal "stole" players from Trump's other two casinos (the Trump Plaza and the Trump Castle). Trump was practically competing with himself. The finishing blow, and one of bad luck, was that the opening coincided with the beginning of a recession in the United States, which drastically reduced tourist spending.

Just 15 months after opening, in 1991, the Taj Mahal declared pre-packaged bankruptcy. To avoid total seizure by the banks, Trump had to hand over 50% of the ownership to the bondholders and sell personal assets, including his yacht (the Trump Princess) and his airline (the Trump Shuttle). Trump managed to keep his name on the building and remain CEO by convincing the banks that "the Trump brand" was the only way to still attract people and recover the money. Just for the record, the Taj Mahal lived on as a casino until 2016. It is now a "Hard Rock Hotel & Casino."

The thing didn't end there. The Taj Mahal was a black hole that sucked everything in. The following year, in 1992, the Trump Plaza Hotel, the Trump Castle, and even the iconic Plaza Hotel in New York also declared bankruptcy. A single misstep of 1.1 billion dollars of that time and finances became very tight. The image of an infallible Trump vanished, making people believe that Trump's great star was no longer as bright as it was before. In the early 90s, Trump was submerged by about 3.4 billion dollars in corporate debt and nearly 900 million in personal debt. The banks (Citibank in the lead) imposed a personal spending limit on him: he could not spend more than 450,000 dollars a month (which for him was almost an humiliation).

At this point, it was thought that Donald Trump was finished, a mediocre entrepreneur with an oversized ego. Poor fools! In 1992, we hadn't seen anything yet.

When everyone gave him up for dead, Trump made a brilliant move. He took his casino company (Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts) public with the ticker "DJT." This allowed him to raise capital from the public and dump part of his personal debt onto the new public company. Like "the world pays my debts while I cash in." Practically what he did with tariffs in 2025. In the same year, he bought the building at 40 Wall Street for a ridiculous figure (less than 8 million). We will get to this building later.

First half of the 90s: a disaster across the board.

1996-2004: I am back, baby!

Once the problems were not resolved, but forgotten by public opinion, the reconstruction of the public image could begin. Now, from a sharp and successful man like him, one expects something grand, brilliant, or incredible. He sold himself as an incredible man; one expects a rebirth with the same tone. Trump does something as absolutely brilliant as it is unsettling: first he buys beauty, then he insults everyone. It sounds crazy, but that was literally what happened.

In 1996, he purchased the rights to the Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants. The move had two goals: to expand his influence in the world of entertainment and to clean up the "chronic failure" image to project an idea of success, beauty, and global power. And what better than a beautiful woman to spread such a message? Because we all know that a beautiful woman is the ultimate "trophy" for any successful man.

Not only that, do you remember the building at 40 Wall Street? Well, that was a stroke of genius. It was a ruined white elephant, a 71-story building that no one used. As we know, he bought it for eight million—practically nothing—and renovated it over the following months for 35. Thanks to the Wall Street recovery of the late 90s, those offices that no one wanted became highly coveted. In a few years, the value of the building went from 8 million to over 500 million dollars. That deal turned into one of his most successful real estate investments. As if to say: "See? I'm still number One! A couple of messes won't stop me!"

Meanwhile, he worked "in the shadows" to rebuild his empire. In 1999, he opened his first golf course, the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. He understands that golf is the perfect vehicle for his target: wealthy people who want to feel part of an exclusive club. In 2001, he inaugurated the Trump World Tower, a very tall residential skyscraper across from the UN, and in 2002, he began the conversion of the Delmonico Hotel into Trump Park Avenue.

In the meantime, he does not disdain television appearances. Trump "warms up the engines" with continuous cameos in movies and TV series (Home Alone 2, Sex and the City, Zoolander). Every appearance serves to remind the public: "I am the richest and most powerful man in New York," even when his accounts screamed otherwise.

Trump re-elevated his social image thanks to female beauty and mental violence. Trump is the representation of the American people. Not to mention the fact that the public thinks "damn, despite everything, Trump always lands on his feet! He never loses!"

2004 - 2015 - Training and Mass Education.

Between 2004 and 2015 are "quiet" years compared to the drama of the 90s. Sure, in 2004 and 2009 there were two other bankruptcy declarations and there were also debt restructurings to face. But nothing out of his mind like the previous decade. Here the keyword is only one: being everywhere. Trump tries in every way to get into the brain of everyone and into the homes of every single American.

It begins with "The Apprentice." The reality show is the classic self-celebration of his greatness as an entrepreneur before the cameras (the same entrepreneur who saw the Atlantic City project fail spectacularly). We remember this reality show, right? Hard to forget. Trump had only one task: to insult everyone and fire those who weren't up to it. The exclamation "You're fired" still echoes in my temporal lobe from 2004.

The reality show is the perfect means to write the rhetoric around Donald Trump. In those years, he learns to be in front of the cameras, which is fundamental if you want power. That show became the symbol of what Trump would be over the years. There he learned to dominate conversations, to interrupt opponents, and to create disparaging nicknames (a technique he would use ferociously in politics) as a means to lower the competition and elevate himself.

Furthermore, that show earned him millions in fees and, above all, made his name a gold license. The global success of "The Apprentice" means that Trump starts selling the "Trump" brand to builders all over the world (Istanbul, Panama, Manila) without putting in a dollar of his own: he just put the name and collected royalties. At this time, he put into practice what he learned with Atlantic City, finding a way to cash in without spending a cent.

That media attention was absolutely to be exploited not only in construction. There were also other economic areas where the Trump name was not present. When Donald discovered this, he did the only thing he knows how to do: take a slice of those markets.

Trump invests in education with "Trump University" in 2005. It wasn't a real university, but a program of real estate courses. Unfortunately, the Trump curse hit here too, as the project ended up at the center of a very heavy lawsuit for fraud, concluding with a settlement of 25 million dollars after his first election.

Then he took Americans by the throat. With Trump Steaks and Trump Vodka, he attempts to dominate the food market as well. Incredible that he even had to give a name to meat. Many of these businesses fail within a few years, but they serve to keep his face in the newspapers.

And then we have entertainment par excellence. He actively participates in WrestleMania. The feud with Mr. McMahon over "who had it bigger" (I mean the bank account) was incredible and grotesque. Here he learns to manage 'arena' crowds, to play a part, and to understand what the audience in the American suburbs wants: spectacle, villains to hate, and a braggart hero who always wins. Here he understands that he must be good at home and a jerk outside, a fundamental detail for presidential politics in both of his mandates: the protective embrace toward the average voter and the iron fist (or Twitter fist) against the rest of the world.

Speaking of Twitter, during this period he discovers that digital communication is something truly powerful. So he starts using Twitter as if there were no tomorrow. He says his piece on everything, whatever it is. It was almost scary how active he was. While other politicians used social media to make boring press releases, he used them to brawl. He turned Twitter into his 24/7 personal version of The Apprentice. The high point of his social career was embracing a theory ("Birtherism"), coming from a fringe of white supremacists, which claimed that Obama was African, not American, therefore not worthy of being president. Even I, living in Italy at the time, followed that story with interest. Not to find out if Obama was American or not, but how stupid an American fringe could be that was too large to be true. This battle was not a simple search for truth (which wasn't there), but a test of loyalty. Trump was telling his future voters: "I am the only one who has the courage to say what you think at the bar." And it worked... twice.

2016 and the first time as "ultimate boss."

Him vs. all Republicans.

From that moment, the image of the successful businessman entered everyone's brain. The construction failures are far away, the debts well hidden, and now Trump is the image of the American dream that embodies everything America should be: power, freedom, wealth, and strength. Now everyone sees Trump as almost a prophet who speaks with the voice of the people. He was indeed a rich man, but he was also a man of the people. Or at least that's how he was perceived. We know it's not exactly like that, but the people don't care about seeing the shadows if the light is blinding.

Trump spent 15 years (from 2000 to 2015) creating this image. Between TV and social media, he becomes a media phenomenon of enormous proportions. This rise is almost comparable to that of the 80s, made of successive successes. At that point, the only place where all that popularity could be useful was only one: Washington. By now the times were ripe for the entry into politics of the most discussed man in America.

In 2015, the Republicans were looking for a candidate for the 2016 elections. After 8 years of Obama, where the Democrats governed the United States uninterruptedly, the Republicans were in search (or rather, in desperate need) of a strong, charismatic candidate who could finally defeat the Democratic competition. Thus, in a stroke of genius (or madness), Trump saw that opportunity he had been chasing for at least 30 years and threw himself in headlong.

This is the incredible part of the story: the Republicans did not want Trump at first. That message with which Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican primaries (the infamous video inside Trump Tower, where on an escalator he shouted racist slogans such as "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists"), was Trump's idea. No one among the Republicans knocked on Donald's door. On the contrary, the Republicans not only already had their candidates like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, but they saw Trump as a sideshow. Not to mention the fact that a "Never Trump" anti-Trump movement was born within the party to try to favor other candidates like Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio.

The illusion that someone had chosen him arises from the fact that Trump spoke to a base of voters who felt abandoned by the usual politicians. It wasn't the party that called him, but the crowd. He felt the "void" left by traditional politicians and dove in.

Trump financed his entire primary campaign as an outsider from the start. From that moment, he pulled out the entire repertoire learned with "The Apprentice" to tear the competition to pieces. During all the debates, he never went into the merits of his electoral program (a program that in fact did not exist), but went against the candidates, destroying their public image. Between "Low Energy" Jeb, "Little" Marco & "Lyin'" Ted, he started a campaign to make Republican voters revolt against the establishment, to make them dock at the port of novelty, which was Trump, made of pure nationalism, veiled racism, and that sense of an almost divine call to command the world.

In the primaries, Trump seemed to have no chance. It was him against 17 candidates, some of whom were true electoral machines, like Jeb Bush or Ted Cruz. We all know how that election went. Trump won. To say Trump won is an understatement. Trump was the atomic bomb and the Republican Party was Hiroshima. Trump pulverized the previous record for votes received in a Republican primary, obtaining about 14 million votes. The runner-up, Ted Cruz, stopped at about 7.8 million.

In American primaries, it's not just the votes that count, but the "delegates" who then officially vote for you at the Convention. To win the nomination, 1,237 were needed. Trump obtained 1,441; Ted Cruz had 551; Marco Rubio only 167.

Trump won in 36 out of 50 states. The incredible thing was that he managed to break through in every category: he won among the religious conservatives of the South, among the moderates of the Northeast, and especially among the blue-collar workers of the Midwest.

There is only one word that describes all this: plebiscite. Trump was the Big One for the Republicans. He proved that money is useless if you have a personality as flat as a sheet and you don't know how to talk to people, touching the right chords.

In view of such a disaster, because a disaster it was (even if it was masked as a success), the Republicans had to make the best of a bad situation and in 2016 announced Trump as the candidate who would run for the White House in November of that year.

Trump vs. Clinton.

The electoral challenge would not be easy. Facing him would be Hillary Clinton, a woman of experience, powerful and supported by the strongest families and personalities in America. She was the definition of politics, with support in strategic areas of the country, such as entertainment in general. Furthermore, she was the first woman as a candidate for the elections, a historical fact in America. Trump would have to fight against the media, against politics itself, and against that feeling of hatred present against him in large parts of America, especially the wealthy part that had the means to run a very hard electoral and personal denigration campaign against him, given that in political elections "everything is permitted."

I still remember that electoral campaign. It was something incredible. On one side was Hillary, representing competence, preparation, and the Washington establishment; on the other was Trump, representing chaos, the bulldozer, the rupture, and popular "sentiment." Those months had nothing to do with a political dialectic between adults. It felt like watching a couple during a fierce divorce case.

The key to reading those elections was Trump himself. Trump threw everything into a verbal bar fight. He didn't have a real electoral program. His strategy was based on insulting Hillary Clinton for everything, even for being a woman, and on disseminating that incredible and entirely abstract idea of "Make America Great Again," blaming the "moral and economic decline" of the country on the fact that the United States cooperated with the world instead of dominating it. For Trump, the fact that trade and military partners were talked to and treated as equals, instead of being bombed and killed to solve the world's problems, was almost a shame. It was clearly a trap.

What Hillary Clinton had to do was ignore Trump and go into the merits of her program. Instead, she fell into the trap headfirst. As they say: "Never compete with a fool, because he brings you to his level and beats you with experience."

Iconic was the almost legendary televised electoral debate on September 26, 2016. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was waiting for that clash. It was the first time Hillary and Trump clashed face-to-face after months of insults and low blows from a distance. Everyone wanted to understand how the two would behave. On one side, Hillary had to compete with a monster of stage presence like Trump, while Trump had to bestow that presidential aura. Well, what we got was a wonderful ruckus where rather than a debate it seemed like a clash between chickens, where one lashed out at the other. The only difference is that Trump moved agilely on that terrain, given his twenty years of personal experience in insulting others to win. Hillary, used to political salons made of caviar, champagne, and fake respectability, didn't know which way to turn and took slaps one after the other. Legendary was the tax passage, where Hillary accused Trump of evading taxes and Trump, in all serenity, confirmed it, saying that he was using a system that the Democrats themselves had created to advantage their own wealthy (friend) voters.

Trump emerged as the media winner, showing a confidence and a dialectic that Hillary did not have. However, the victory of one or the other was still in the balance. On both sides, in the last month of the campaign, there was a general mobilization to make this or that candidate win. The Democrats had the entire establishment, while the Republicans had the workers, including the so-called "Blue Collars" (generally Democrats), who supported Trump, accusing the Democrats of being far from reality. It was a brutal campaign. Even I, in Germany, perceived the brutality on social media.

And then came the night of November 8th. The polls gave Hillary a 90% chance of winning. Journalists already had headlines ready about the 'First Woman President'. Even the bookmakers were having trouble placing bets. Everyone had only one idea in mind: "Trump will never become president! Americans are better than this!" It was almost mathematically certain that the Democrats would win. Turnout was a record and it was one of the most felt elections up to that moment.

That night was one of the worst nights in America for one side, wonderful for the other. When the first results began to appear, the numbers shocked everyone: Trump was ahead. While the major networks waited for the data from the illuminated cities, deep America—the one of grain fields and closed factories—was voting in mass. However, it was still very early, the night was long and anything could happen. Then the votes from the big cities also arrived. The "Blue Wall" (known for being a Democratic stronghold) fell. Cities like Michigan (won by only 10,704 votes, a 0.2% margin), Wisconsin (won by about 22,000 votes, 0.7%), and Pennsylvania (won by about 44,000 votes, 0.7%) turned red.

At midnight, silence fell in the Democratic headquarters. Everyone knew what had just happened. Although Trump had taken fewer votes in total, he had won where it was necessary. That 'golden escalator' of 2015 was no longer a joke, but the beginning of a nightmare for the Democrats.

Donald J. Trump, the man of debt, reality shows, and beauty pageants, was the 45th President of the United States of America. The reality show had officially become everyone's reality.

2017-2021: The Chaos.

The post-election period was dramatic. At first, Hillary Clinton did not want to accept the defeat. For her, and for all Democrats, losing was a double mockery. The first was losing to Donald Trump, a man who knows nothing about politics; the second was that result: having more votes but losing due to the electoral college really hurts. However, the data was confirmed and Clinton had to do nothing but accept the defeat, despite the fact that the America of the powerful was all behind her. From that day on, Hillary disappeared forever. That was a technical knockout blow, both morally and politically.

Those four years were something incredible. The keyword here is only one: one-man-show. He was in power and no one else could say anything. In those four years, he drove everyone into paranoia with his immense turnarounds. First he would say one thing, then another, then yet another. You woke up in the morning and didn't know if you were at peace, at war, or if you could still go to work and be "rich" enough to survive. Already from his inauguration, he spoke of "American carnage," as if to say "now I'm going to tear apart everything I don't like, rebuilding it in my image and likeness!"

Foreign Policy.

The first big political move was the "Muslim Ban." In short, anyone coming from certain Arab countries would not enter America. We're talking about those countries where terrorism was very high (let's remember that in that period ISIS was cutting off heads and burning Westerners alive on live TV). Chaos in the airports. Those who arrived were systematically blocked and those who left didn't know if they would return. A stupid move seen now, because there were also European Arabs who traveled peacefully to America without anyone checking them that thoroughly.

Tariffs fell like the executioner's manna. No one was spared. Europe was touched, but lightly, as were Mexico and Canada. While China was martyred. In those four years, there was almost an economic war between Washington and Beijing. Every day felt like being in the final scene of "Trading Places," where the two protagonists enjoyed manipulating the brokers. Threats of all kinds were heard, incredible tariffs were applied, only to retract everything a week later with a simple agreement. It went from Trump yelling at the Chinese on Twitter to tones of praise for the great Chinese economy.

I spoke about Mexico, but how beautiful is that wall at the border? This is surely what Trump thinks every time he sees that waste of taxes on the southern border. Thousands of kilometers of concrete and barbed wire to keep drugs off the streets. Too bad the cartels are so large they could occupy a nation. A little wall doesn't worry them at all. However, for the people, the wall will save America. I still remember that image where several types of walls were built for the President to examine and choose the best one, almost like in a door and window shop.

Then we have North Korea. In that incredible period, North Korea propagandized the fact that they were developing the atomic bomb and that they were already at an advanced stage of development. Fortunately, Trump was fond of Twitter at that time, so instead of killing the Supreme Leader, he preferred to write on Twitter that "he had the biggest (atomic) button of all." Only we men can turn it into a matter of size, even when talking about potential atomic disaster. The term "Little Rocket Man" is an incredible piece of history. But, like every other aspect of that presidency, he says one thing and does another. Trump insults Kim Jong-un on the internet and then meets him in Singapore—a meeting only for photographers and history books, since nothing concrete is decided.

Let's move to the Middle East. Yes, the "Muslim Ban" was active, but here we move to the Israel area. Here he actually did something good. He put in the effort and had Israel and other Middle Eastern countries sign "The Abraham Accords," which was supposed to bring stability to a powder keg. The nice thing is that it was something very rapid and effective... until 2026...

The last move, but not for importance, was the exit from the Paris Climate Accords. For him, as for other far-right movements in Europe, climate change was a joke and this "invention" cost Americans too much money. So he withdrew and started drilling again as if there were no tomorrow.

Domestic Policy.

Inside the walls of the house, one could breathe that air of white supremacy that hadn't been felt since the 50s below the Mississippi. The key moment was Charlottesville in 2017.

The infamous phrase, after the death of a Black person at the hands of a white man belonging to a white supremacist group—"Very fine people on both sides"—echoed throughout the world, effectively declaring that, all things considered, those supremacist fringes were convenient for Trump, especially from an electoral perspective. And then we have George Floyd.

The story was talked about for months. We know what it’s about. For those living under a rock, it involves the murder of a Black man by a white police officer. That moment forever marked a rift between whites in power and suppressed Blacks. This dynamic had been present since the 80s. The Rap-Hip/Hop movements of the era—"NWA, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and many others"—emerged precisely to denounce this oppression by the "armed white man." That was the straw that broke the camel's back. In short, first Charlottesville and then the George Floyd case. All under a presidency that did not condemn these facts.

Not only did he seem to adore whites who killed Blacks, whether for sport or boredom, but he also changed staff like one changes underwear. Trump fired more collaborators in 4 years than all previous presidents combined. There were men and women who lasted only a few days, like Scaramucci who lasted only 10 days—not due to a nervous breakdown, but because the President woke up one morning and decided he had to be fired. Those 10 days in America even became a unit of measurement, the "Mooch." He governed the White House like the set of The Apprentice.

Not to mention Russiagate. For three years, Trump was accused of having contacts with Russia to "influence" the election campaign (as I said, "anything goes") to discredit the Democrats. The evidence was only circumstantial, nothing concrete, but the Democrats were so poisoned by the defeat that they would have done anything to bring him down. And so they did. In 2017 there were the first investigations, and in 2019 there was the official accusation and the request for Impeachment. That attempt failed and gave Trump—and all his voters poisoned against the Democratic hatred toward them—the leverage to elevate himself as a martyr of the system that wanted him dead because he was inconvenient, given that he defended the weak from the strong. Never before was America so divided into two factions that practically hated each other, poisoned by an internal rhetoric fueled by politics and television (Fox News for the Republicans, the Late Shows and CNN on the other side).

Finally, just to ensure nothing was missing, in 2019 an unknown virus infected the Chinese city of Wuhan. Worldwide, it was thought to be something restricted only to Asia, as it was with SARS. This virus was different. This virus was not only lethal but also damn infectious. In the span of a few months, from November 2019 to April 2020, Asia and Europe were brought to their knees. Countries were literally blocked and closed in an attempt to stem a pandemic that was severely testing the social and medical system of every nation.

The stroke of luck for the United States was that, for some incredible reason, the virus expanded from China toward Europe, thus giving Trump time to eventually try to save himself or have a soft impact. Trump completely ignored the matter, gave it no weight, and in the summer of 2020, Americans were hit by something that wasn't even present in Europe. There were days, especially in the first phase, where they died by the hundreds of thousands. CNN posted data on deaths and virus mortality every hour. Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), became the most important man and the number one target for Trump, who considered Fauci a fraud and a liar. In the country, COVID-19 conspiracy theorists were something incredible, fueled by the president himself who denied everything the world and the medical community said. It was as if the more evidence there was on the table, the more Trump did not want to see. It’s just a pity that Trump himself fell ill and, from what is known, was brought back to the land of the living by a miracle.

The pandemic was the perfect finale for four years of pure madness that ended in the most consistent way possible: with chaos.

The Journey to the Underworld.

2020 was not only the year of the Covid pandemic but also an election year. Although the Republicans four years earlier had no desire to support him, now they were forced to, given the mass of followers he had made with the motto "M.A.G.A." (Make America Great Again). By now it was not just a slogan, but a religion to be followed blindly.

That election campaign was different, but at the same time the same as four years earlier. It was the same because the tones were always the same, but different for two reasons: Trump was the outgoing president, not the outsider (so he had everything to lose), and the candidate was Joe Biden, former vice president during the two Obama governments, loved by all Democrats and supported by the party—no longer an easy target like a woman.

For months, Trump did exactly what he did with Hillary: insult and discredit Biden. We all remember the nickname "Sleepy Joe." Biden, on the other hand, took the lesson that Clinton learned four years earlier and treasured it. Biden conducted an election campaign completely ignoring Trump, basing it only on facts and proposing his political idea for the following four years. There was also another arrow in the Democrats' quiver: Kamala Harris. Harris was a great ally for Biden. Harris made use of the fact that she was a woman and Black, managing to enter the Black community and the "lobby" (if we can define it that way) of women. And women are a lot of votes if you can convince them.

For months, Trump fought two against one, something new. Four years earlier, both Vice Presidential candidates had been useless. In these elections, they perhaps became the determining factor.

In the debate between Harris and Mike Pence, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, it was a success for Harris that convinced everyone. There were even people labeling her as the future Democratic candidate for the 2025 elections.

In the debate that really mattered, between Trump and Biden, the script from four years earlier was practically the same: on one side, Trump trying to do a One-Man-Show, interrupting Biden every time he could; Biden, for his part, was as professional and presidential as possible, trying to answer the merit of the questions, until at a certain point, even Biden lost his temper and, after yet another interruption, came out with a phrase that became legend: "Will you shut up, man?" In his composure, he stood up to what was essentially a bully. I watched that debate and it was nerve-wracking. Trump not only failed to answer any question convincingly, but he was also relentless and irritating every time he interrupted Biden.

The elections were head-to-head. On one side Trump and his array of functional zombies, on the other the Democrats with the desire to kick Trump out of the White House. Until the end, that election was unique due to the pandemic. Many voters voted by mail. Few went to the polls, both out of fear of contagion and for the convenience of voting from home. In that 2020, it was known that the result would only be known days after the actual "Election Day."

Trump spent months saying that this system was rigged (despite using it himself), claiming it was a system designed to cheat him.

On Election Day night, what experts call a "Red Mirage" occurred. Trump seemed in the lead in many key states because the first votes counted were from those who had gone to the polling station in person (predominantly Republicans). Trump was so convinced of victory that at 2 AM, he took the stage and declared: "We have already won," asking to stop the count. For him, the votes at the polling stations were the ones that really counted. But things were about to spiral.

The more the mail-in ballots were counted, the more blue became predominant. States he had won in 2016, like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, turned blue. But the real blow to the heart were Georgia and Arizona, historically Republican states that chose Biden.

The result was overwhelming: Biden obtained 306 Electoral Votes against Trump's 232. Biden beat Trump by over 7 million votes (81 million against 74 million). It is true that Trump pulverized his 2016 vote record, but it wasn't enough: Americans went to the polls with record turnout (66.6%) precisely to vote "against" him. Unfortunately for Trump, four years of chaos, hatred, and veiled racism cost him dearly.

If for four years Trump was the definition of inconsistency, at that moment he was terrifyingly consistent. Along the lines of "when there is something to lose, you do everything!" As if according to a pre-written script, Trump did not accept the outcome, claiming once again that the vote was rigged, manipulated, and fake. He launched the "Stop the Steal" campaign, claiming there had been colossal fraud orchestrated by the Democrats, China, and even rigged software. Four years earlier it was the Russians favoring Trump, now the Chinese.

His legal team, led by an increasingly out-of-control Rudy Giuliani, filed over 60 lawsuits. The result? He lost practically all of them. Even the judges appointed by him said there was no evidence of significant fraud. The icing on the cake: on January 6, 2021, Mike Pence—until the day before a loyalist—"stabbed" him in the back by confirming the results.

Trump called him a traitor and did something that had never happened before: he called for a general mobilization. While Trump harangued the crowd near the White House saying "Fight like hell," thousands of his supporters marched toward the Capitol, taking that exclamation as a call to arms. The rest is history: the assault on Capitol Hill, broken glass, people fleeing, and the world watching live as American democracy seemed to collapse. It was perhaps the lowest moment in American history, as well as the demonstration that Trump's electorate was so brainwashed that they would believe anything Trump said.

The Exile.

Between 2021 and 2024, Trump lived in a forced exile at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, effectively becoming a shadow "White House." In those four years, he took control of the Republican Party. He cleared out the detractors and surrounded himself with "Yes Men" who would do anything to support him. His philosophy was "none of you can win without my support."

Those were 3 years full of trials, involving possession of classified documents, the attempt to overturn the vote in Georgia, and accusations of having paid for the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels. But we know what a stage animal Trump has become. He did something absolutely brilliant: he used those public moments to tell his electorate, "They are attacking me to get to you!" It was almost a second call to arms. His mugshot became a symbol of resistance printed on millions of t-shirts, earning him millions of dollars in donations.

And he was banned from "X" right after January 6. However, he didn't give up; he had no desire to renounce the power of social media, so he founded "Truth Social," where he continued to write things against everyone and everything.

For those four years, the Democrats treated Trump as a failure, like an old man to be forgotten belonging to a past that would no longer exist. One had almost the same perception that was had of Trump himself during the early 90s. We then saw how he rose again. This was a terrible move by the Democrats.

Trump Strikes Again.

And we arrive at 2025. Trump, already in 2022, self-nominated for the elections without primaries. Well, there were primaries, but they were a bit of a farce. Trump literally pulverized every opponent. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, not exactly thunderbolts capable of worrying Trump, were swept away like bowling pins. Honestly, I didn't even know there were Republican primaries. In the eyes of everyone, the Republican Party was now, officially, the "Party of Trump." By now, Trump does whatever he wants with the Republicans.

The 2025 election campaign was a return to the past for Trump, given that, as in 2015, he was the outsider and not the outgoing president. Everything else was completely different. Now he had a massive army of indoctrinated followers, he had the party in his grip, and he had millions coming in, given that Elon Musk—a Democrat until before Biden—switched sides and supported Trump. So, why did Musk switch sides?

The Biden government was disappointing. For four years, the talk was mainly about Biden's mental health (now in his 80s); the government did nothing of what it had promised and, even if it seems impossible after Capitol Hill, they managed to create an even deeper rift in society. The Democrats, with the "let's all love each other" excuse, allowed the LGBTQIA++ community to do as they pleased in every part of society. Between pronouns, strange names to identify things that don't exist, and that "cancel culture" policy, they created very dangerous premises. Among Republicans, ultra-conservative movements like the "Daily Wire" and figures like Charlie Kirk fomented a large part of the Republican electorate, preaching everything the Democrats were dismantling (traditional family, the role of women, the relationship with homosexuals, female personal freedoms), leading also to clashes and insults of all kinds. All this hatred between the parties was fertile ground for Trump.

The challenge, as in 2015, was against a woman. It wasn't Clinton, now forgotten by everyone, but Kamala Harris, a woman not exactly beloved by public opinion. After the great rise of 2020, in her four years of government, she didn't exactly meet the expectations people had for her. Unfortunate public appearances, various inaccuracies, and a sense of being lost led even Democrats to ask questions about her.

In fact, she was not the primary candidate. It was supposed to be Trump against Biden again. Everything changed in June. During the televised debate in June, Biden's performance was judged disastrous: he appeared fragile, confused, at times absent, while Trump was the usual old lion. From that moment, the party began to tremble, fearing a certain defeat. Since with Biden the Democrats were losing badly in the polls, they forced Biden to withdraw from the race, and Harris was the necessary choice to save the situation. Note how from one day to the next everything was already ready for Harris: graphics, posters, slogans, photos, everything. It almost seemed that the Democrats were already ready to get rid of Biden at the first good opportunity anyway.

Harris's great merit was giving momentum back to the Democratic campaign, obtaining huge funds (a billion dollars in a few months) and support from stars of the caliber of Taylor Swift.

If there was chaos among the Democrats, among the Republicans there was almost a state of mourning. Trump was nearly assassinated. On July 13, during a rally in Butler, a madman from a warehouse not too far from the stage shot at Trump. There wasn't a death, but Trump was wounded in an ear. This was perhaps the key moment for the election campaign. That image of Trump raising his fist with a bleeding ear was almost a religious image. That was the moment when the Democrats broke into a cold sweat, as many claimed the Democrats were behind that attempt to kill Trump: they couldn't do it politically, so they tried physically. In that moment, he obtained an almost divine image, as if "chosen by destiny to lead America."

The election campaign was based on two points: the Democrats focused on Kamala Harris, the prosecutor who convicted criminals, pressing the button of Trump as a criminal to be convicted; the Republicans now focused on the near-assassination to claim a violent drift brought by the Democrats, who no longer accepted a conservative society and had to be blocked in any way.

The elections were a disaster for the Democrats. There is little more to say. Donald Trump conquered 312 Electoral Votes, Kamala Harris: 226 Electoral Votes. Trump won all 7 Swing States, won the popular vote, and broke through among minorities—Blacks and Hispanics first and foremost. The only positive thing the Democrats did in those elections was accept the defeat. Harris failed across the board. She too, like Hillary Clinton, disappeared from the political scene the next day.

November 5, 2024, was not just an election Tuesday; it was judgment day for the establishment. Trump silenced anyone who defined him as an accident of history. He won everywhere: in the rust-belt factories of the north, in the countrysides of the south, and even in the suburbs that once loathed him. On January 20, 2025, climbing the steps of the Capitol for the second time, Trump was no longer the lucky outsider of 2016, but the undisputed leader of an America that had decided to entrust him, once again, with the keys to its own destiny. And once again, he rose from the ashes as he did at the end of the 90s.

The Second Ascent into Chaos.

Once Trump returned to the White House, the second act of the drama could begin. Since he has been in power, he has practically behaved like a king. In the first few days, he signed so many presidential acts that it was hard to keep up, all with a single goal: to sweep away what Biden had done. For him, it was necessary to mark the "end of the madness" and put America back in first place. What he did next was on the edge of the possible.

First, he created the "DOGE" department (Department of Government Efficiency), which had the task of streamlining the state apparatus to make it effective and less costly. "DOGE" was entrusted to Elon Musk, who began cutting positions just as he did when he acquired "X." The image of him with a chainsaw on stage is hard to forget. The method by which the cuts were made was grotesque. It didn't matter if that department was useful to the community or not: if it lost money, it was either canceled or downsized. Thousands of people found themselves without work from one day to the next. Even more incredible is thinking that the department has the same name as the Memecoin Musk had launched some time before. Musk had access to the Treasury's payment systems to monitor every cent. It was the first experiment of a government managed like a Silicon Valley startup, with mixed results: the stock market soaring, but public offices in total chaos.

The climate, exiting the Paris Accords, was another one of those striking but predictable cuts. He had done it in 2016, and he did it again. For the second time, the Paris Accords were abandoned and the motto was only one: "Drill, Baby, Drill." All subsidies for electric cars were gone, and gas and oil are being extracted like never before. Energy independence at low cost was fundamental for Trump to fix the economy. For him, the environment is a luxury that America can no longer afford.

Speaking of gas, it's hard not to mention Greenland. Greenland is rich in mineral resources that Trump desperately wants. It's just a pity that Greenland is part of Denmark, and Copenhagen had no desire to sell or cede anything to the Americans. Trump not only made a personal incursion in those parts just to see how the wind was blowing, but he even threatened the use of force to obtain that island, even though Denmark is an ally. To the threats, eight NATO nations deployed troops to Greenland in response to Trump's threats. When Trump saw the market response, he took a step back and attempted a mediation that led to an agreement.

Speaking of allied states, Trump recognizes none of them. On a day in early spring, Trump calls journalists for an extraordinary press conference. It was extraordinary in every sense. At that moment, Trump appeared with a board showing all the nations of the world and a percentage next to each. No one understood what it was until Trump announced that those percentages were customs duties for every nation. All the nations of the world were there, none excluded. Trump's idea was to make the world pay for his American restructuring plan and to use tariffs as political leverage.

Needless to say, China was also there and was punished more than all the others. With China, it was open war. We even reached tariffs of 150%. Throughout 2025, Trump used the lever of tariffs to get what he wanted. Famous in Europe are Trump's threats to raise tariffs if Europe did not increase military spending.

It has been a bizarre policy because as soon as Trump got what he wanted, those tariffs vanished or were drastically lowered.

Then we are at the unconditional support of Israel against Hamas and Iran. What can be said? Trump in these four years wants to manifest power through violence. First, he helped Israel destroy Hamas, killing 70,000 innocents, and in 2026 he killed the Iranian supreme leader and much of the government with a targeted missile attack. Not to mention the capture of Maduro in Venezuela, violating international law and the sovereignty of an independent nation without any problem.

And then we have domestic policy. The word is only one: foreigners are not welcome. And if you are Mexican, you are a danger regardless.

He used federal troops on American soil to support ICE in raids. He signed an order to attempt to abolish birthright citizenship (Jus Soli), triggering a legal battle that went immediately to the Supreme Court. By the beginning of 2026, approximately 600,000 people have been deported, creating scenes of panic in "Sanctuary" cities like Los Angeles and New York, which have openly rebelled against the central government. All this not only to guarantee that "peace" that Americans lost with immigration but also to prevent the mixing of races.

And there are still three years to go.

Finale.

Writing this post, I realized one thing: Trump is not a builder or a politician. He is a cultural virus that feeds on the attacks he receives. Every trial, every mugshot, every attempt to cancel him has done nothing but feed his popularity and nourish his success.

Today, in 2026, with wars igniting the borders of the world and a West that seems to have lost its compass, that man is playing the master, commanding everyone and everything. Whether you love him or hate him, Donald J. Trump has shown that in America you can fail a thousand times, you can be kicked out of every fancy parlor, you can even end up before a judge, but as long as you have a camera pointed at you and an audience that wants the show, you will never truly be out of the game.

The curtain has fallen many times, but he always finds a way to reopen it for one last, unpredictable encore. And the craziest thing? It's that the audience, with popcorn in hand, cannot stop watching.

M.