Donald J. Trump was elected President of the United States on November 8, 2016. He held that office from January 20, 2017 to January 20, 2021. During his tenure, he continuously, intentionally and breathtakingly shredded American law, the American Constitution, and the material of American democracy.
Citizens for a Strong Democracy – a multi-partisan group based in Southeastern Pennsylvania – chronicled Mr. Trump’s anti-democratic and authoritarian behavior throughout that period. We recorded it on a daily basis. This site contains our chronology, which exceeds 1500 pages.
From the outset, we undertook to share the chronology with our elected members of Congress. Our goal was to advocate against Mr. Trump’s depredations, with a view to stopping them. We also sought to share the chronology with our fellow citizens.
Our initial call to action, together with links to the chronology and navigation suggestions, appear below the asterisks (*****) on this page.
We now continue to post the chronology on this site, as a record of the past, and as a caution for America’s future.
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A Chronology of Violations of America’s Democratic Principles
by the Presidential Administration of Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s presidency has the demeanor of dictatorship.
His attacks on civil liberties, his ceaseless telling of falsehoods, his demagogic political style, his admiration for foreign autocrats, his rampant self-dealing in business, and many more of his regular activities resemble the classic behavior of despots.
Congress and the courts have curbed him in certain ways. But his authoritarian, anti-democratic behavior persists unabated, and it stands as one of the most radical threats ever posed to the Constitution and to the American way of life.
The accompanying document – titled Chronology of Trump Violations – lists 17 ways in which Mr. Trump has violated America’s democratic principles. It then chronicles hundreds of violations and keys them to the list.
This is not an ordinary Web site. The Chronology of Trump Violations is a book, a record, an encyclopedia, an indictment – drawn from the general news, but informed by forensic discipline. It is long, and it weighs heavily when printed out in a volume. It is being maintained by Citizens for a Strong Democracy (CSD), a group of Republican, Democratic and Independent voters in Southeastern Pennsylvania, for the benefit of all Americans.
Viewers are urged to read the introductory Statement of Principles, then to browse through the chronological violations,** then to share the entire Chronology of Trump Violations with others – especially with their members of Congress, as CSD has done. A reader may identify his or her member of Congress at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members .
For their part, we would urge that members of Congress, regardless of party, actively challenge Mr. Trump’s anti-democratic words and actions, and not dismiss them as mere distractions. They are not distractions; they are assaults against reason, human decency, and America itself.
We are a great country. Please help protect it by sharing this chronology. Please join in this mission.
* Document Updates: CSD will update the Chronology of Trump Violations from time to time, as events develop.
** Document Navigation: Despite its length, the Chronology of Trump Violations is easily navigable.
• To search for a specific topic within the document, press Control/F, then enter a key word.
• To search violations by date, scroll through the left-hand column.
• To search by type of violation and general time period, scroll through the right-hand column.
• To find the most recent violations, scroll to the end of the document.
• To jump to any Addendum (one of our periodic updates), such as the most recent Addendum, open the Table of Contents, then click on the Addendum number.
• To return to our Statement of Principles from within the document – for example, so as to review the categories of violations to which the numbers in the right-hand column pertain – click on the link to the Statement of Principles that appears at the top of each page.