Trump's legacy: A more divided America

When U.S. President Donald Trump delivered his inaugural speech in January 2017, he painted a bleak picture of a broken country, which he promised to fix.

"This American carnage stops right here and stops right now."

But four years later, trump will depart the White House and leave behind an even more polarized America, where thousands are dying daily from the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy is in tatters, political violence has surged and Washington is in crisis.

Just two weeks ago, scores of trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, in a deadly siege that left 5 people dead and a nation shaken.

Just before the attack, trump in a speech encouraged his supporters to express their anger over an election he insists without evidence was stolen from him.

Trump on January 6, 2021: "We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."

That led to his second impeachment-- this time on a charge of inciting an insurrection. Another Senate trial will follow.

His refusal to concede defeat to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden comes as Trump's term ends amid a swirl of untruths that millions of Republicans have taken to heart, creating a serious challenge for the new administration to win their trust.

Holding firm to that position, Trump will skip the inauguration on Wednesday – the first sitting president in over 150 years to do so.

There will be no hand-off of power, no shaking of hands or gracious greetings by the sitting president and the first lady to the new ones– which President Barack Obama afforded Trump despite his birther campaign that questioned falsely Obama's right to the presidency.

Trump’s defenders will say Trump made foreign policy advancements, that his tax policy spurred economic growth before the pandemic and his appointments to the judicial branch will outlast him by decades.

But opponents say Trump did little to help the very millions of voters who supported him.

He sought repeatedly to kill the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which helped millions of Americans get health insurance. His tariffs war with China hurt American farmers and didn’t trigger the U.S. manufacturing revival he had promised. And his tax cuts mainly benefited the rich.

He will also be remembered for his response to the deadly 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia: "Yes I think there's blame on both sides. You look at both sides. I think there's blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it."

And for the hard line during the summer of protests against police brutality after the death of George Floyd, tweeting: when the looting starts the shooting starts.

In a written statement to Reuters, Deere cited a list of what he considered Trump’s economic accomplishments, such as getting the country on the path to recovery and deregulatory move. He also argued that the president secured the border with Mexico, rebuilt U.S. military strength, brought some troops home and helped orchestrate development of a coronavirus vaccine in a matter of months.

Once Tump leaves to begin his post-presidency at his Mar-a-lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, cut off from twitter and other social media platforms, his message will still be carried far and wide by a devoted base of supporters.

While some Trump voters have turned away from him since the assault on the Capitol, most appear to be sticking with him.

According to Reuters/Ipsos polling done in the immediate aftermath of the siege, seventy percent of Republicans remain loyal to Trump.