Four years of Trump : the US and the World

Unprecedented and unpredictable: this is how US President Donald Trump's administration has repeatedly been labelled during its first term. Beyond the frequent tweets and bombastic rhetoric, however, lie a more conventional four years, as the United States navigated an ever-evolving international reality, compounded by a global pandemic and one of the deepest economic recessions in over a century.This Report analyses the continuity and changes that occurred during Trump's first term. Domestically, it investigates the growing political polarization, the country's pre-pandemic economic performance, Trump's approach towards regular and irregular migration, and the US' response to a healthcare emergency. At the international level, this volume looks at how the US stance has changed vis-à-vis China, the Middle East, and Europe.Which long-term trends has President Trump had to ride through? What was his trademark, and what might be his lasting legacy? In what follows, I summarize some of the most salient points of migration policy and practice under Trump. I must emphasize this is not a comprehensive review of all the Trump measures that have aimed from the onset to restrict US-bound immigration and punish migrants. It is instead an effort to look back at some of these measures in light of the 2020 US presidential election - one that could mark the end of the (current) Trump era, or presage another four years of migration policy rooted in escalating racism and rightwing nationalism. It is also an attempt to express concern over what the return of the Democratic party into office could bring about, given it also lacks a solid plan to safeguard the rights of those arriving to the US-Mexico border or seeking to enter the US in search of protection. I say this not only as a scholar who follows US migration and border policy for a living, but as a migrant who has witnessed how US migration policy's alleged efforts to protect a nation and its people have systematically and historically relied on the depiction of migrants and their communities as threats - a trend that is unlikely to disappear under a new administration, regardless of party Unprecedented and unpredictable: this is how US President Donald Trump's administration has repeatedly been labelled during its first term. Beyond the frequent tweets and bombastic rhetoric, however, lie a more conventional four years, as the United States navigated an ever-evolving international reality, compounded by a global pandemic and one of the deepest economic recessions in over a century.This Report analyses the continuity and changes that occurred during Trump's first term. Domestically, it investigates the growing political polarization, the country's pre-pandemic economic performance, Trump's approach towards regular and irregular migration, and the US' response to a healthcare emergency. At the international level, this volume looks at how the US stance has changed vis-à-vis China, the Middle East, and Europe.Which long-term trends has President Trump had to ride through? What was his trademark, and what might be his lasting legacy? [Publisher's text] Unprecedented and unpredictable: this is how US President Donald Trump's administration has repeatedly been labelled during its first term. Beyond the frequent tweets and bombastic rhetoric, however, lie a more conventional four years, as the United States navigated an ever-evolving international reality, compounded by a global pandemic and one of the deepest economic recessions in over a century. This Report analyses the continuity and changes that occurred during Trump's first term. Domestically, it investigates the growing political polarization, the country's pre-pandemic economic performance, Trump's approach towards regular and irregular migration, and the US' response to a healthcare emergency. At the international level, this volume looks at how the US stance has changed vis-à-vis China, the Middle East, and Europe. Which long-term trends has President Trump had to ride through? What was his trademark, and what might be his lasting legacy?