Yearender 2020: When the Trump Card didn't work in the US
The year 2020 had a fair share of twists when it came to the case of the now soon-to-be outgoing US President Donald Trump as this year, was one of the, if not, the roughest year in his four year term, courtesy the coronavirus pandemic.
The day, November 9, 2016--a day in history that could never be forgotten when then business tycoon Trump was declared the winner of the 2016 Presidential election and becoming as the 45th President of the United States of America by the various outlets in the US media.
In January 2017, he was sworn in where he made his agenda of "America First" heard loud and clear. Since then, it has been four 'turbulent' years for the now soon-to-be outgoing President. But 2020 was the defining year--as it was not just the year that decided the future course of the country. It was the year where the US continues to be the worst-affected country by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Here is how 2020 -- a year that would see Trump not becoming the commander-in-chief for a second term in a row -- unfolded:
January 3: The US carried out a strike near Baghdad's international airport killing Soleimani, a US-designated terrorist, along with six others on the direction of President Trump.
January 8: Trump said that he would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. In his address to the nation after Iran's strike on US military installations in Iraq, Trump said, "As long as I am the President, Iran will never be allowed to have the nuclear weapon."
January 9: The US House of Representative on Thursday (local times) adopted a war powers resolution that limits President Donald Trump's ability to carry out military actions against Iran without the prior approval of Congress.
January 15: The US House of Representatives voted to send the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate and approved seven Democrats to serve as prosecutors in the trial of a third United States president.
The Democratic-controlled House voted in December 2019 on two articles of impeachment -- abuse of power related to Trump's dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of the Congress.
January 22: Trump complained that his country has not been "treated fairly" by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), stating that the United States is not considered a "developing nation" while China and India are, by the global trade body.
January 28: According to veteran journalist Bob Woodward's book Rage -- released earlier this year -- that included 17 on-the-record interviews with the President, Trump was briefed of a pneumonia-like virus outbreak in China.
January 31: The United States is working closely with China and other countries on the coronavirus outbreak, Trump said. According to Woodward's 'Rage', the President did place a travel ban from China. "But his public attention was focused on just about everything else except the virus," wrote Woodward in his book.
February 5: Trump was acquitted of all charges by the US Senate in the impeachment trial. First, in a 52-48 vote, the US president was found not guilty of the charge of abuse of power. Then again, he was acquitted of the second impeachment article: obstruction of Congress with 53-47 vote.
February 24: Trump and First Lady Melania Trump along with daughter and son-in-law Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner arrive in India as a part of a two-day visit under 'Namaste Trump'. The US President said that the United States loves India and will always be a faithful and loyal friend to the Indian people. "America loves India, America respects India and America will always be a faithful and loyal friend to the Indian people," said Trump.
February 25: Trump again said that the coronavirus is "very much under control" in the United States. At this point, the US reported just 53 cases of the coronavirus, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
February 28: Trump accused the Democratic Party of politicising COVID-19 and said that the virus is their 'new hoax'.
"Now the Democrats are politicising the coronavirus. They have no clue, they can't even count their votes in Iowa... This is their new hoax," Trump said during a rally in North Carolina.
March 1: Trump confirmed the first death from coronavirus in the United States, saying a woman, who has other medical issues besides the virus, passed away overnight in Washington.
March 17: Six days after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Trump called COVID-19 the 'Chinese Virus'. The president tweeted, "The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!"
March 19: Taking a direct aim at China for the spread of coronavirus, Trump said that the lethal virus which has claimed the lives of over 10,000 people globally could have been stopped at Wuhan, the place of its origin.
"Thank you all for being here and we continue our relentless effort to defeat the Chinese virus," Trump said at his combative appearance before reporters at the White House, Washington Post reported.
"It could have stopped from where it has come from--China. The whole world is suffering. I called for a ban from people coming in from China," he added.
March 21: Trump has called for an anti-malaria drug to be used to treat the coronavirus, despite being cautioned by his health expert Dr. Anthony S. Fauci saying that evidence for its effectiveness was so far "anecdotal".
April 7: Dubbing the World Health Organisation (WHO) as being "very China-centric," the US President Donald Trump has accused the global agency of giving "faulty" advice during the early-stage of coronavirus outbreak.
"The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China-centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately, I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?" Trump tweeted.
April 14: Trump said he has instructed his administration to halt World Health Organisation's funding while a review is being conducted in the WHO's "role in severely mismanaging and covering up" the spread of coronavirus after it emerged in China.
April 19: Trump, using social media platform to send 'liberation' messages over the COVID-19 lockdown, seems to have encouraged thousands of protestors who hit the streets of state capitols across the country last week to express their frustrations with the stay-at-home orders that are meant to stem the coronavirus spread.
April 23: Citing a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report, President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) said that coronavirus has a less chance of surviving in a warm and humid environment as opposed to cold and dry weather where it stays put.
May 9: Former US President Barack Obama has lambasted President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it an "absolute chaotic disaster".
June 1: Trump termed the ongoing violent protests on America's streets as unacceptable and said that any form of anarchy and lawlessness will not be tolerated, according to White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
Demonstrators across the United States have been protesting since May 25, when George Floyd, a 46-years-old African American man, died under the police custody in the city of Minneapolis.
July 12: In a first since the coronavirus pandemic began, US President Donald Trump, who had for months declined to wear a face mask in public.
July 30: In the backdrop of announcement of the withdrawal of over 11,000 US soldiers from Germany, President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) wondered as to why the US should protect the European country from Russia.
"Germany pays Russia billions of dollars a year for Energy, and we are supposed to protect Germany from Russia. What's that all about? Also, Germany is very delinquent in their 2% fee to NATO. We are therefore moving some troops out of Germany!" tweeted Trump.
August 10: Trump asserted that no other country comes close to the United States with regard to COVID-19 testing while stating that India stands second.
August 11: After Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris to be his vice-presidential running mate, President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was surprised by the announcement as she was "nasty" and "disrespectful" to Biden during the primary.
August 27: Trump accepted the Presidential candidate nomination by the Republican Party for the presidential elections in November.
September 9/10: With few days prior to Bob Woodward's release of his book 'Rage' that includes the handling of trump's handling of the pandemic, Trump on the record admitted that he liked 'playing it down' to COVID-19.
"To be honest, I wanted to always play it down. I still like to play it down because I don't want to create a panic," he told Woodward.
"You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu. This is deadly stuff," he added.
Trump further told Woodward that the virus was not "his fault" and that China was responsible for it. "The virus has nothing to do with me. It's not my fault. It's -- China let the damn virus out," he said.
September 16: Trump presided over the signing ceremony at the White House to establish the foundation of the peace agreements between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
September 17: Despite Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that wearing a mask would be more effective than a vaccine against the coronavirus, President Donald Trump said that the mask is "not more effective" than the vaccine "by any means".
September 22: Trump, at the United Nations General Assembly, renewed his attack on China accusing it of spreading Covid-19 in the world. He urged the United Nations to hold Beijing accountable for "unleashing this plague onto the world."
October 2: Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus.
October 8: Trump said that he will ensure that Americans soon receive the same experimental medication from Regeneron which he received as a part of the COVID-19 treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and that too free of cost.
October 13: Trump tested negative for COVID-19.
October 16: Terming the COVID-19 outbreak as a 'horrible situation', President Trump hit out at China for allowing COVID-19 to spread outside Beijing while preventing the spread in its own country. He also said that the lockdowns imposed by various states across the country to curb the coronavirus cases were "unconstitutional".
October 23: Trump during the third and final presidential debate called China and India's air as filthy. "Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia, look at India -- it's filthy. The air is filthy," he said.
November 4: Claiming 'false' victory in the 2020 presidential elections, the president thanked the American people for their tremendous support and said the results of polls have been "phenomenal".
November 8: Moments after Democratic candidate Joe Biden was projected to be the winner of the US presidential elections, President Donald Trump stated that the election was "far from over", and promised legal challenges by his re-election campaign.
Trump issued a statement where he claimed that networks were helping the Democrat "falsely" pose as the winner and promised to fight the results in court, reported The Hill.
November 15: Trump appeared to acknowledge in public for the first time that President-elect Joe Biden had "won" the election but kept up his assertion that the election was "rigged."
"He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn't even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!". Trump tweeted.
November 18: The President fired Christopher Krebs, the cyber chief of the Department of Homeland Security, who has publicly rejected Trump's claims of widespread election fraud.
November 22: Trump said that the Paris Accord was made to "kill the economy" of the US. Speaking at the G-20 Summit held via video conference, Trump said that his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement was "to protect American workers"
November 26: Trump on Thursday said that he would leave the White House if the Electoral College declares President-elect Joe Biden the winner of the election.
December 8: The US Supreme Court rejected a bid by the Pennsylvania Republicans to nullify President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state.
December 11: US Supreme Court rejected a bid by Texas' attorney general to block the ballot of voters in battleground states that favoured President-elect Joe Biden.
December 15: President-elect Joe Biden has bagged 302 votes, clinching the Electoral College victory. President Donald Trump has secured 232 votes.
Trump is not heading towards publicly accepting the election results, despite the Electoral College certifying President-elect Joe Biden as the winner, according to a source.
December 22: Thousands of President Donald Trump supporters are planning a virtual "second inauguration" for the outgoing US President, the same day as President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.
More than 60,000 people have indicated on Facebook that they plan to attend the event being billed as "Donald J. Trump 2nd Presidential Inauguration Ceremony".
Biden is set to take office starting January 20 after the US Congress would certify the votes by the Electoral College on January 6. Trump is, however, yet to concede the election to the former Vice President.
"I now see that Trump's handling of the virus -- certainly the greatest test for him and his presidency, at least so far -- reflects the instincts, habits and style acquired in the first years as President over the course of a lifetime," Woodward wrote in his book.
(ANI)
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