'Days of Trump' – An Antidote for Trump Information Overload

[Valin]

Real Clear Politics

Susan Crabtree

May 15 2022

Before pulling off a surprise victory in 2016, Donald Trump had been eyeing a presidential run for at least two decades. In 2000, during a brief foray into seeking the Reform Party nomination, the then-real estate developer touted Oprah Winfrey as his ideal running mate.

From 2004 to 2008, Trump shifted his political affiliation from Republican to Independent to Republican, then became a self-proclaimed Democrat while at the same time supporting Sen. John McCain’s run for the White House.

And the “Make America Great Again” slogan? It was first used in the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign before Trump lawyers signed a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office application to use it for “political action committee services, namely promoting public awareness of political issues and fundraising in the field of politics.”

These are just a few of the historical nuggets from Trump’s early opportunistic political aspirations, polished off for readers in the opening pages of “Days of Trump: The Definitive Chronology of the 45^th President of the United States” by Tim Devine and Amanda Decker.

Although political junkies might have once known these facts, they are worth recalling after an avalanche of news and tell-all books about his chaotic campaign and tumultuous one-term presidency has buried Trump’s preliminary political steps in information overload.

(Snip)