skip to main content

The A to Z of Trump's first year

Updated / Friday, 19 Jan 2018 07:18
A lot can happen in a year
A lot can happen in a year

Featuring high IQs, travel bans and slogans, Bannon, the Mooch and Gorsuch, a look at the 12 months since Donald Trump's election win.

A is for 'America First'

"America First, America First" - it is Donald Trump's most sacred mantra.

B is for Ban

 

As in travel ban. Out of the blue, one week after taking office, Trump decreed a 90-day ban on arrivals of people from seven Muslim majority countries and a 120-day ban on all refugee arrivals.

Chaos broke out at US airports, with travellers detained upon arrival, and Americans nationwide staged protests against a measure seen as discriminating against Muslims - though Trump said it aimed to keep out extremists.

Trump's move kicked off a legal saga that has dragged on through the first year of his presidency - and is not yet over.

The initial ban was quickly blocked in court, as was a modified version removing Iraq from the countries targeted, and a third iteration adding citizens of North Korea and some Venezuelan officials.

Last month, the Supreme Court authorised enforcement of the ban's third version as the legal challenges against it make their way through the courts.

C is for Climate Change

On 1 June, Trump announced that the US was pulling out of the Paris climate deal, reversing its commitment to fight global warming in spite of appeals from environmental groups, foreign leaders, industry and even his own daughter Ivanka.

Trump painted the accord as a "bad deal" for the US economy, declaring he "was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris".

This month, he said the US could "conceivably" return to the deal under more favorable terms, renewing questions about whether he is bluffing - and simply wants easier emissions targets.

D is for Dreamers

A term for hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the US illegally as children and until now protected from deportation under the so-called DACA programme, which Trump is phasing out.

E is for Exam

Trump underwent his first medical examination since taking office just as his first anniversary approached.

Michael Wolff, author of 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,' has claimed that Trump lacked the mental fitness to serve as president, describing him as an "undisciplined man-child" who did not want to win the election.

The claims drew an angry reaction from the president, his aides and supporters. Mr Trump took to Twitter to describe himself as "a very stable genius" and "like, really smart".

Following the physical, Doctor Ronny Jackson told a White House briefing that the 71-year-old was in "excellent" health. "He has incredible genes and that's the way God made him," he added.

F is for 'Fake News'

"Fake news" is how the US president describes the output of mainstream media.

He consistently accuses the media of not giving him credit when he deserves it and of treating him unfairly by chasing what he considers non-stories - such as, he says, Russia's alleged interference to help him win election.

G is for Gorsuch

It is the last name of Neil Gorsuch, the conservative judge that Trump nominated to the US Supreme Court.

Judge Gorsuch was confirmed by the Senate after a year of political arm-wrestling in what many see as one of Trump's chief victories since taking office.

H is for Health Care

A central plank of Trump's campaign was repealing Barack Obama's signature health care law that gave coverage to millions of Americans who lacked it.

Mr Trump largely watched from the sidelines, albeit loudly, as his divided Republican Party tried repeatedly to come up with an alternative.

H is also for Handshakes - there have been plenty of memorable ones this past year. 

I is for Ivanka

Mr Trump's eldest daughter was once seen as a potentially moderating influence on her unpredictable father, and perhaps a force to empower women.

She has since set the record straight, calling such expectations "unrealistic".

J is for Jerusalem

In a momentous announcement that broke spectacularly with the policy of his predecessors, Trump in December recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Upending decades of US policy, Trump's decision provoked a wave of condemnation around the world with the exception of Israel itself.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused the US of "deplorable and unacceptable measures" that "deliberately undermine all peace efforts".

In January 2018, Abbas was emphatic in his response to Trump's pledge to reach the "ultimate deal" in the conflict. "The deal of the century is the slap of the century and we will not accept it," he says.

J is also for Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Trump promised, upon taking office, that his pro-growth economic policy will create 25 million of them over a decade.

While that may be a stretch, the administration boasts that the jobless rate has fallen to a 16-year low under its watch.

K is for Kellyanne Conway

The senior Trump aide who, just days after the inauguration, gave the first sign that Trump's White House may take liberties with objective reality.

Ms Conway coined the term "alternative facts" to defend exaggerated attendance figures at Mr Trump's swearing-in ceremony.

L is for Love

"Love fest", anyone?

It was Trump's way of describing a meeting with Republican politicians, the same day one of them accused him of debasing the nation and another said he would leave Congress to disassociate himself from Trump and his behaviour.

M is for Mooch (The)

The Mooch - nickname of Anthony Scaramucci.

The New York financier lasted ten days as Trump's communications director until he strolled through the revolving door of a White House criticised as chaotic and riven by infighting.

N is for North Korea

In his maiden speech to the UN General Assembly last September, Trump fired the opening salvo in what would be months of brinkmanship with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un - aka 'Rocket Man' - vowing to destroy the nuclear-armed country if it threatened the US.

As 2017 came to a close, the North Korean nuclear threat had soared dramatically - with Kim boasting that his missile arsenal can hit any city on the US mainland, and Trump faced criticism for stirring tensions.

The new year opened to signs of a potential cooling, as Pyongyang reached a landmark agreement to send athletes to the Winter Olympics in the South - with the White House arguing Trump's tough rhetoric, coupled with intense diplomatic pressure, had helped bring the Koreas together.

But Trump recently boasted he has a "much bigger" nuclear button than Kim, and many analysts fear that his outbursts dangerously raise the risk of a miscalculation that could lead to disaster.

O is for Outbursts

Setting the tone of his presidency, Trump has publicly humiliated his own attorney general, for instance, and locked horns with everyone from war widows to black American football players to a judge of Mexican heritage.

P is for Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico was hit by a ferocious hurricane in September in what became a PR nightmare for Trump's administration and its disaster response.

It was exemplified by an image of the president tossing rolls of paper towels to survivors during a visit to the US island territory.

Q is for (I)Q

Trump voiced confidence his IQ is higher than that of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who reportedly called Trump a moron, preceded by the 'F word', for expressing interest in a huge increase in the US nuclear arsenal.

R is for Russia

In one of the most momentous moves of his young presidency, Trump abruptly fired FBI director James Comey on 9 May, sacking the man leading a probe into whether his election campaign colluded with Russia in an effort to defeat Hillary Clinton.

Trump later acknowledged he had the Russia probe in mind when he sacked Comey.

In the end, Trump's move backfired. The sacking led to the appointment of a more powerful, independent counsel, Robert Mueller, to head the Russia investigation - which Trump dismisses as "fake news".

The former FBI director may also be looking at whether Trump and his inner circle sought to obstruct justice.

Two Trump associates, including campaign manager Paul Manafort, have been indicted.

Two more, including former national security advisor Michael Flynn, have admitted lying to investigators and have become government witnesses.

S is for 'S**thole Countries'

There was widespread condemnation of comments attributed to Trump describing Haiti and some African nations as "sh**hole countries".

The remarks were reported to have been made during a White House briefing on an immigration plan prepared by a group of senators and how it impacted immigrants from various countries, including those in Africa.

Trump denied using that language, insisting: "I'm not a racist."

S is also for Steve Bannon

Bannon was among the most provocative members of Trump's inner circle.

He was the former chief of Breitbart, a popular conservative news website that faced criticism for fueling the so-called "alt-right" movement that includes racist, anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant elements.

Bannon left the White House as it was reeling from the fallout over Trump's equivocal response to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

He continued to push Trump's agenda from the helm of Breitbart News after exiting the White House.

But when Bannon was quoted making unflattering remarks about the president in an explosive West Wing expose, Trump split with his ally, branding him "Sloppy Steve" and declaring he had "lost his mind".

Banished by the president and rejected by his financial backers, Bannon stepped down from Breitbart.

T is for Twitter 

Trump's favourite conduit for reaching his political base, talking himself up and attacking enemies real and perceived, at any time of day or night.

He has got more than 46 million followers!

U is for USA

"USA-USA-USA" - a frequent chant at the campaign-style rallies Trump held during his first year as president.

V is for Voters

Donald Trump's fired-up base propelled his insurgent bid for the White House.

W is for Wall

The wall - a multi-billion dollar barrier Trump wants to build on the border with Mexico with the stated goal of keeping out drug traffickers and undocumented foreigners who Trump says steal US jobs.

This week it Trump defended his proposed wall, saying his position "has never changed or evolved," and that Mexico would pay for the barrier "directly, or indirectly".
           
"The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it," Trump wrote in a pair of early morning tweets.

"The $20 billion dollar Wall is 'peanuts' compared to what Mexico makes from the US NAFTA is a bad joke!"

X is for Xenophobia

Intense fear of foreigners, a charge levelled against the Trump administration for its anti-immigrant stance, and notably as part of legal challenges to its travel ban.

Y is for 'Yuge'

A phonetic rendering of Trump's way of saying the word "huge".

Z is for Zero

Another staple of Trump speak, a way to add negative emphasis, such as his assertion there was "zero collusion" between his campaign and Russia.

More stories on