Précis

“My best advice for everyone is to strap in…” Former Trump Adviser

An incisive exploration from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners program of how President Donald Trump will wield his power.

“This is a man who defies all tradition and all precedent.  He is operating on his own rules, on his own instincts and I think a lot of people are having trouble keeping up.” Former US Assist. Secretary of State

Through interviews with key players in the Trump camp and the Republican Party, the program examines the political earthquake rippling across America.

“It makes a lot of people nervous…I think there’s no question.”    Former US Assist. Secretary of State

Reporter Michael Brissenden draws on his experience during his time as the ABC’s Washington correspondent to explain just how revolutionary the presidency of Donald Trump is.

“I first came to Washington as a correspondent just after the inauguration of Barack Obama.    America’s first black president took office promising hope and change … But this is the real watershed moment.   Donald Trump’s change is disruptive and confrontational.”  Michael Brissenden

He talks to those who know Trump well, asking how we should read the President’s actions.

“Donald Trump warned us from the very beginning that he’s going to break some eggs and that’s you know…that’s what he’s doing.”   Former Trump Advisor

And explores what a Trump presidency means for key issues like climate change and foreign policy.

“In our recent history, and perhaps throughout our entire history, we’ve never had a president come into office with such an unpredictable style of communication and with such alarm among our closest allies and friends.”  Former National Security Adviser

Trump supporters are still savouring the President’s victory.

“We’ve needed change for a long time.  We’re going to get it now.  America’s going to be number one again and we’re going to get that change and we’re going to get what we want.” Trump campaign worker  

While Trump’s opponents vow to fight him every step of the way in Congress and in the courts.

“If the new administration and the Republican majority in Congress thinks that this is going to be easy for them to pull the rug out from under Americans that have made that progress, they’re sadly mistaken.” Senior Democrat Congresswoman

Washington, DC. Night.

Music 

00:10

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN, REPORTER: It's a glittering celebration of American democracy. The night of the inaugural balls, when Washington dresses up to honour the peaceful transition of power. A political tradition that is itself a source of great national pride. All across the capital supporters are putting on their black ties and their formal frocks and making their way into town.

00:18

Caputo travels in car

Michael Caputo and his wife are among them. He's watched the rise of Trump all the way to his touch down as president elect in Washington DC.

00:43

Caputo and wife in car

MICHAEL CAPUTO, TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: He came off the plane and he was standing up there waving and I knew that look on his face. I knew that look on his face. The look said this plane is garbage. What have I got myself into, because on his plane the toilet bowl is gold, you know.

00:54

DC Traffic. Night. Caputo in car

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Actually, Michael Caputo knows Donald Trump's motivations better than most. He was a senior advisor to the new president and ran his campaign in the New York primaries; he’s known and worked with him for many years. And he knows this is exactly where Trump expected to be.

MICHAEL CAPUTO: I think it's one of the few times in American history where everything will change, and I don't think everything has changed in America because of a presidential election since the 19th century,

01:17

Caputo 100%. Super:
MICHAEL CAPUTO
Trump campaign advisor

and I think it's episodic in ways we don't even know yet. But I do know that from very instant he's inaugurated a lot of things in Washington and the United States are going to change immediately.

01:47

DC Traffic. Night

We're all in for a helluva ride. I mean I think my best advice for everyone is to strap in. Donald Trump warned us from the very beginning that he's going to break some eggs and that's what he's doing.

02:01

Brissenden into car with Trina

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN:  ‘Your limousine awaits.’

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN:  Trump campaign volunteer Trina Philips has been waiting a long time for this moment.

02:13

In car

‘So how are you feeling about tonight?’

TRINA PHILLIPS, CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER LEADER: Very, very excited. It is part of history that I never thought I'd be able to experience, so it’s really good.

02:20

DC Night. Trina to inauguration ball in car

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The inaugural ball is a long established tradition, it's the way it's always been done here. But there's little else traditional about Donald Trump and his approach to the job, and that's just the way his most ardent supporters like it.

02:30

TRINA PHILLIPS: I mean we've needed change for a long time. We're going to get it now.

02:48

Trina 100%. Super:
Trina Phillips
Campaign volunteer leader

America's going to be number one again and we're going to get that change and we're going to get what we want.

02:52

DC. Night/ Armed services ball

Music

02:57

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Trina Phillips' first stop is the armed services ball.

03:04

Trumps enter ball

Donald Trump is there. It's one of many inauguration balls she will attend tonight.

03:08

Trumps dance at ball

The President attends many of the balls but not all of them, at least not in person.

03:17

Gays for Trump inaugural ball

For the first time this year there's even a Gays for Trump inaugural ball.

03:24

Trump impersonator performs at ball

TRUMP IMPERSONATOR: But it's a big movement, it's a beautiful movement, it's a bold movement. It's a big, beautiful, bold movement. I even trademarked it. I call it Donald Trump’s big beautiful BM. And a big beautiful BM is something that crooked Hillary just didn't have I’ll tell you that much. 

03:35

And may god bless the United States of  Trump. It’s all about you…

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Strangely, as divisive as he seems to be, Donald Trump has managed to unite some disparate groups.

03:57

Trina dancing at Gays for Trump ball with Scott

Trina Phillips who founded Military Spouses for Trump is also a keen participant at the Gays for Trump occasion.

SCOTT PRESLER, GAYS FOR TRUMP: The American people are fed up,

04:09

Scott 100%. Super:
SCOTT PRESLER
Gays for Trump

we have had enough. We are tired of our jobs going overseas, we are tired of being overtaxed, we are tired of an insecure border, we are tired of 50,000 homeless veterans, we are tired of our veterans not receiving the healthcare that they need, we are tired of not having a good education system for our children. There are so many things wrong in America and those problems are not being addressed.

04:21

Scott coming out of the house wearing placard, jogging

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Gays for Trump was initiated by 28 year old Scott Presler - a gay man unafraid to speak his mind or flaunt his political colours.

SCOTT PRESLER: Whenever I go for a run I wear a backpack on me that says Gays for Trump. I know it's a little crazy but I have fun with it and I have people that throw things at me from their cars. That's violence,

04:46

Scott 100%

that's actually a felony if you throw a projectile from a car.

05:13

Scott cleaning car

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Scott Presler is in no doubt about the significance and the impact of this moment.

SCOTT PRESLER: This is America's Brexit. This was our independence from an oppressive, gluttonous, obtrusive government. We won our independence on November 8, 2016.

05:16

Scott 100%

We don't need a soft spoken gentleman. We need a pit bull, and that's what Mr. Trump is.

05:34

Inauguration footage

Music

05:43

DONALD TRUMP: I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.

05:58

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: An inauguration is usually a moment of humility, a chance to bridge the divisions of the campaign and to begin the process of governing with a speech to inspire, to heal and reassure.

06:09

But as he did in the campaign, and now in the office itself, Donald Trump has signalled his approach will not be constrained by convention.

06:26

DONALD TRUMP: This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. From this day forward it's going to be only America first, America first.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Trump's inauguration speech was dark and foreboding, a continuation of his campaign theme of a nation on the brink.

06:32

JENNIFER RUBIN, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST WASHINGTON POST: The most chilling from my perspective was his evoking the phrase "America First". That has a

07:11

Rubin 100%. Super:
JENNIFER RUBIN
Conservative Columnist, Washington Post

very dark meaning in the United States. It goes back to pre World War II years, Charles Lindbergh and other isolationists really showing sympathy towards Adolf Hitler and wanting America to stay out of the war, that mentality which does not see America as an international leader, which does not see democracy as a value to be protected and to be defended. That is a very chilling sort of phrase and people say, "Well, maybe he doesn't know what that means", and I think that's preposterous, I think he knows exactly what that means and how serious he is about that, how that translates into policy, I think is going to be the defining issue of the next however long he's in office.

07:17

DC Time lapse. Night

Music

08:05

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Jennifer Rubin is what you might call an establishment conservative. A well respected and well connected columnist with the Washington Post. She had hoped that the gravity and significance of the office itself might somehow temper Donald Trump.

08:09

Ext. White House. Night

But if anything his first few weeks in the White House have shown that's not going to happen.

08:24

Rubin working in office

JENNIFER RUBIN: We are in extraordinary times, his behaviour, his ideas, his manner of governing is unprecedented in American politics. He seems to be really a loose cannon

08:30

Rubin 100%

and I think it really cements the division that we have in this country between people who love him and love this show and think he's just showing everybody up, and those people who look aghast at this and say this man is not all there and he's going lead, not only the country, but the world, into some very dangerous directions.

08:45

Trump montage. TV interviews/Press statements

BARBARA WALTER:  Are you really going to build a wall?

DONALD TRUMP:  Yes.

09:05

INTERVIEWER:  You’re now the president, do you want water-boarding?

09:07

DONALD TRUMP:  We are going to get the bad ones out

09:10

DONALD TRUMP: You’re going to see things happening over the next few weeks. Oh, you’re going to be so happy.

09:12

DONALD TRUMP: Measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. We don’t want them here.

09:18

DONALD TRUMP:  The drug deals and gangs and gang members and cartel leaders. The day is over where they can stay in our country and wreak havoc.

09:28

MICHAEL CAPUTO: Donald Trump is deliberately confrontational, he does it on purpose and in fact

09:38

Caputo 100%. Super:
MICHAEL CAPUTO
Trump campaign advisor

when I was trying to convince him to run for Governor of New York, he insisted that he wanted to run for President of the United States and he told me then how he was going to win. He told me, he says, "I'm going to say things that are going to be absolutely newsworthy because of the way that I say them,

09:43

Montage. Trump statements footage

I'm going to say things that are going to attract all the news attention and nobody else

09:58

Caputo 100%

and none of the other candidates are going to have any oxygen left in the room".

10:01

Trump statements

DONALD TRUMP: They said what do you think about water-boarding and I said I like it a lot and I don't think it's tough enough.

MICHAEL CAPUTO: And when the news dies down and they start turning the cameras on the other candidates, I'll say something outrageous again

10:04

Caputo 100%

and when I do, eventually each one of these candidates will drop away and that's how I'm going to win the election.

10:16

Trump statements

DONALD TRUMP: And I said, I’ll answer that question.

10:21

Clip. 1988 Oprah Winfrey interview with Trump

OPRAH WINFREY: I know people have talked about whether or not you wanted to run. Would you ever?

DONALD TRUMP: Probably not.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Over the last three decades, Trump has often flirted with the idea of running for President.

10:23

OPRAH WINFERY: You’ve said though, that if you did run for president you believe you’d would win?

DONALD TRUMP: Well I don't know.

10:33

I think I'd win. I tell you what, I wouldn’t got in to lose. I’ve never gone in to lose in my life, and if I did decide to do it, I think I’d be inclined, I would say that I would have a hell of a chance of winning...

GWENDA BLAIR, BIOGRAPHER: When he first started talking about it out loud, I mean who

10:38

Blair 100%. Super:
GWENDA BLAIR
Biographer

knows, maybe when he was, you know, five years old, but out loud in 1987 after he'd written a book called 'The Art of the Deal' and it was kind of maybe I'll be president or maybe I should run and kind of marketing for his book. And so he printed some bumper stickers, he went to New Hampshire, gave a few speeches. It didn't really go very far, but then he did the same thing five more times and the last was 2015 when he really decided to go for it.

10:50

Helicopter overhead

11:22

Blair on street in DC

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: On Inauguration Day Gwenda Blair came to Washington to witness history. She's been documenting this most extraordinary American life for more than 20 years.

11:26

Photos. Trump with his father

She has written two biographies of Trump and his family. Donald Trump's greatest influence was his father, Frederick.

11:37

GWENDA BLAIR: His father raised his kids to be killers, the boys that is. The girls -- one of his sisters told me --

11:45

Blair 100%

they were never in line for taking over the company. That wasn't on the table. But the boys, they were supposed to be killers and Donald took that to heart.

11:53

Photo. Trump with his father

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: But Gwenda Blair says Donald understood something even his father didn't.

GWENDA BLAIR: From the minute

12:01

Trump buildings

he first started building in the 1970s he was pretty far ahead of the pack with the idea of celebrity branding. Getting your name to be a value added thing, getting your name to be worth more than anything.

12:08

Capitol building

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Donald Trump was even able to spin his multiple bankruptcies to his advantage.

12:10

Trump signage on truck

GWENDA BLAIR: He's been remarkably adept at framing everything as a success.

12:27

Blair 100%

Four corporate bankruptcies, that was a successful thing to do because he was gaming the system and he did indeed game the system, used his losses to write off his own income tax for nearly 20 years. So he's always looking for a way to reframe it; to turn it into a success.

12:35

Clips. The Apprentice

12:55

GWENDA BLAIR: The whole Apprentice, the last piece of his career prior to running for president, of being this reality TV show star where he was every week in people’s living rooms, being a boss, being the guy in charge, being the guy who hired people, fired people,

13:01

Blair 100%

setting them against each other, setting up conflict between them, making them very competitive, standing back deciding so that there were not loyal to each other. They'd be loyal to him.

13:17

Trump with family

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: And it's clear to all of those who know him that family is where the loyalty lies. And the most loyal of all are his children.

GWENDA BLAIR: He's really got in mind a dynasty situation there

13:27

Blair 100%

and these are who he trusts. These are the people that he sees as loyal to him. Loyalty is super important. Everybody else is an outsider.

13:42

Photo. Trump and family

Music

13:50

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Trump has five children to three wives. Donald junior, Ivanka and Eric from his first marriage, Tiffany from his second,

13:55

Melania and Barron Trump at inauguration

and 10-year-old Barron from his third and current wife Melania.

14:04

Trump with sons and Ivanka

The two older boys Donald and Eric are deeply enmeshed in the trump business, but of all of them his daughter Ivanka is the most influential.

14:08

Trump with Ivanka

MICHAEL CAPUTO: The one person who would call Donald Trump's office, and he would always take her call, is Ivanka, and when

14:17

Caputo 100%. Super:
MICHAEL CAPUTO
Trump campaign advisor

Ivanka was in the room with her father it just seemed that things moved along smoother.

14:26

Ivanka posing for pics

Her advice and counsel was something that he values above and beyond any other advisor.

14:31

Caputo 100%

I think he wouldn't be president today if it weren't for his children.

14:38

Photo. Ivanka and Kushner

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The other family member who has emerged as an important player is Ivanka's husband - the millionaire property developer Jared Kushner.

14:42

Kushner with Trump and family

He has been appointed senior advisor to President Trump.

MICHAEL CAPUTO: Donald Trump sees himself

14:53

Caputo 100%

in Jared Kushner and he listens to him.

15:02

Kushner and Trumps at inauguration

GWENDA BLAIR: Donald sees in Jared himself really, even perhaps more than he sees himself in his own sons who are at the Trump organisation. They're supposedly going to be running it while Donald is in the White House, but

15:06

Blair 100%. Super:
GWENDA BLAIR
Biographer

Jared seems to be, it looks like that's who Donald sees as his true apprentice. He's a very sharp shrewd guy, pulled off a very large real estate deal in Manhattan just down Fifth Avenue from Trump Tower at a very young age and the building is not called the Kushner building, not called the Kushner Tower, but except for that it was the kind of move that Donald I'm sure really applauded.

15:21

Time lapse. DC Inauguration day

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Donald Trump has already shown he's transferring the same techniques he's practiced in a life of corporate conquest to the art of governing.

15:55

JENNIFER RUBIN: In business, Donald Trump was infamous for taking an outlandish, extreme position and thinking that was the opening bid as it were.

16:09

Rubin 100%. Super:
JENNIFER RUBIN
Conservative Columnist, Washington Post

It's different as president because people take every word you say, at every instance, quite literally.

16:20

Fire truck/Trump hotel

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Donald Trump doesn't draw a line between business and politics. The Trump presidency is challenging more than just the expectations of the political establishment –

16:26

Brissenden to camera outside Trump hotel

it’s also challenging the laws of the nation and the constitution. Donald Trump's businesses, both here and abroad, throw up numerous conflicts of interest. One of the most public examples of this, is this building here in Washington, the new Trump Hotel, leased from the government by the man who now leads the government.

16:37

Ext. Trump hotel

NOAH BOOKBINDER, LAWYER, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBITY AND ETHICS IN WASHINGTON: He's essentially landlord and tenant of this property, so it means that on the

16:55

Bookbinder 100%. Super:
NOAH BOOKBINDER
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

one hand he's got a duty to do the best he can for American taxpayers, on the other hand he has a duty to make as much money as he can for his business, and those two interests are not compatible, it's the textbook definition of a conflict of interest.

17:00

Bookbinder in office

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Noah Bookbinder is one of a group of bipartisan ethics lawyers who are arguing that this president presents the nation with an unparalleled constitutional crisis.

17:15

NOAH BOOKBINDER: This morning our organisation filed suit against the against President Donald Trump for violating the constitution.

17:26

Bookbinder 100%

Our constitution says that an official, government official, including the President, is not allowed to accept payments or money from foreign governments. Donald Trump, by continuing to maintain ownership of his businesses is clearly violating that, whether it's through diplomats staying at his hotels, foreign government owned companies leasing space at Trump Tower in New York, foreign governments giving favourable treatment to development projects of his all over the world.

17:34

Trump

DONALD TRUMP:  They don’t want presidents getting tangled up in minutiae…

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Donald Trump says he has no case to answer.

DONALD TRUMP: So I could actually run my business. I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I don't like the way that looks, but I would be able do that if I wanted to.

NORMAN EISEN, OBAMA ETHICS ADVISER: Like so much else that he says, not accurate. Starting with the Constitution of the United States, our most fundamental law.

18:07

Eisen 100%

It has a conflicts provision that applies to presidents. It's called the emoluments clause, just a fancy eighteenth century word. What it means is the President is not allowed to get cash or other things of value -- benefits -- from foreign governments, because it would create a conflict of interest. The founders of the United States were so concerned about this that they put it in the constitution.

18:33

Photo. Eisen with Obama

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Norm Eisen - an ethics advisor to Barack Obama, is also one of the lawyers party to the suit against the president.

18:58

Exteriors. Trump hotel

NORMAN EISEN: It's much bigger than just hotel rooms. People are taking out entire floors. They're having large gatherings, these are individual events that are hundreds of thousands of dollars, and collectively millions of dollars of business from foreign governments

19:08

Eisen 100%

When you're doing that with those large sums, of course that's an emolument.

19:25

Time lapse. DC Night, including hotel

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The Washington hotel is just one of many potential conflicts of interest arising out of Trump's sprawling business empire,

19:31

Trump gold courses.

which includes golf courses and hotels around the world.

19:42

Trump playing gold/Police security detail outside Trump Tower

Music

19:46

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: As well as hotels, the President has Trump Tower in New York, the biggest tenant is the state owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

19:53

Trump and others in Trump Tower

He owns a 30 per cent stake in a partnership that borrowed more than a billion dollars from lenders which included the Bank of China.

20:01

Eisen 100%. Super:
NORMAN EISEN
Ethics advisor to Barack Obama

NORMAN EISEN: By continuing to own his businesses, he is first of all raising the question is he doing deals from the Oval Office to benefit the people, including these people in the rust belt of America, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, who've been terribly damaged by the economic dislocations of recent decades. Is he helping them or helping himself? When he sends our men and women into battle to conflict, when he threatens or deploys American force, it's going to be the same question. Are they going abroad to defend a Trump golf course or to defend American national interest, whenever one of his properties and he's got 'em all over the world is on the one side of or another of a conflict?

20:11

White House exterior. Night/Trump building

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: After relentless public pressure, Trump handed over the day to day running of the business to his sons. He says he’ll keep an arm's length but has refused to divest himself. He says he simply doesn't need to.

21:01

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: In the end the courts will decide. If they do rule against the president and the president still refuses to budge, that could spark another crisis.

NOAH BOOKBINDER: I mean at that point

21:17

Bookbinder. Super:
NOAH BOOKBINDER
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

you have a president who is essentially asserting that he doesn't have to follow the law. And I truly don't know how that resolves itself. Right now, we have a dispute about what the law is. But if it goes to a situation where courts say that the law is clear and he needs to follow it and he says no, I'm not quite sure how that plays out. That would be unchartered territory in the country.

21:31

Caputo 100%

Super:
MICHAEL CAPUTO
Trump Campaign advisor

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: So what do you say to the ethicists who are really combing through this and say this is unacceptable, constitutionally unacceptable?

MICHAEL CAPUTO: I say see you in court, because I mean I understand that the clauses that people are quoting, I'm not a lawyer, but Donald Trump is surrounded by some of the best lawyers in the world

22:00

Trump outside hotel

and they believe he's obeying the letter of the law. If he doesn't follow the liberal spirit of the law, so be it, that's politics.

22:19

Caputo 100%

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: So it will be challenged won't it?

MICHAEL CAPUTO: I think absolutely. Donald Trump's third breath every day will be challenged, he will be challenged on every front.

22:29

Women’s march

WOMEN [chant]: Yes we can! Yes we can?

MICHAEL BRISSEDEN: And the challenging began on his first day in office when hundreds of thousands of women marched on the capital.

22:35

The protests cascaded around the nation, an estimated 3.3 million people took to the streets, said to be the largest day of demonstrations in American history. Protests challenging Trump's presidency have become a regular occurrence across the country.

WOMAN PROTESTOR: I really feel that our president, our new president Trump does not reflect

22:54

Woman protestor

my beliefs, the beliefs of my family, the beliefs of my loved ones and the majority of the country. 2.9 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump and I don't accept him as my president.

23:19

Woman protestor #2

WOMAN PROTESTOR #2: I am here because I abhor everything that Donald Trump stands for. I don't want to take up two hours of your time but he is against the planet, he's against women and he is against what America stands for.

23:42

Woman protestor #3

WOMAN PROTESTOR #3: We are here to stand up for all the people he dumps on, who don't have a voice, who can't stand up to him and his bullying. That's why we are here, for human rights, women's rights, everyone's rights.

24:23

Protestors

WOMAN PROTESTOR #4: The level of hate in this country has always been here. Trump, what he did, is served it up, made it public and made it normalised, he normalised hate.

24:45

Woman protestor #4

So I think what is happening tody is historic. I’m hoping that after a few years from now I can look back on this day and say this is where it all started.

24:53

March passes by Brissenden

25:02

Brissenden to camera at march

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: I first came to Washington as a correspondent just after the inauguration of Barack Obama. America’s first black president took office promising hope and change - 'Change has come to America' he said. But this is the real watershed moment. And Donald Trump's change is disruptive and confrontational. Many say that's just what the country needs but others -- many others -- are afraid, anxious, and uncertain.

25:04

Protest march

25:28

Bonnie Bellow at march

Bonnie Bellow was one of those who travelled to Washington to protest. She was formerly head of Public Affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency.

25:32

Bellow

BONNIE BELLOW, FORMER EPA PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTOR: I am marching because I am really concerned about climate change. It is an issue that is of critical importance for us and for the next generation and we have to get out. And I am so excited there are so many people who feel the same.

25:45

Time lapse American flag

Music

26:00

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Bonnie Bellow is most concerned about Scott Pruitt - the man Donald Trump has picked to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

26:05

Pruitt in Trump Tower

Pruitt is just one of a number of deliberately provocative appointments made to key cabinet positions. In 2011, Scott Pruitt as the Attorney General of Oklahoma joined 27 other states that sued the EPA. He is one of those who disputes the science of climate change.

BONNIE BELLOW: It's hard to imagine

26:13

Bellow 100%. Super:
BONNIE BELLOW
Former EPA public affairs director

that the intention of putting Scott Pruitt in place is not to, is not to, if not destroy the EPA, to bring it to its knees and control it in a way that will ultimately be very destructive. Otherwise why would you choose somebody who has sued the very agency they’re being asked to lead to take that position. So I cannot think of any other scenario.

26:37

Caputo 100%. Super:
MICHAEL CAPUTO
Trump campaign advisor

MICHAEL CAPUTO: If Scott Pruitt does not change the EPA I’ll be drastically disappointed as will so many people among Trump’s base. Our EPA has run amok. Our EPA is creating such problems for so many different industries that they're killing jobs every time they draw a breath. The EPA is absolutely out of control. And the idea that our country is willing to, you know, make changes that have a negative impact on our economy and kill jobs while China and India aren't required to do the same things, that's not the kind of America that Donald Trump believes in. It's not the kind of America his voters believe in. It's not the kind of America we're going to have any more.

27:05

Misty Virginia landscape/Industrial landscape

Music

27:51

Road sweeper

ROAD SWEEPER: We're cleaning up after Obama for what he done to our county. He closed us all down from working the mines.

28:01

Road sweeper #2/GVs Logan

Music

28:09

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The road to Trump's victory runs through the busted industrial heartland of America. The rust belts of Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania and the once prosperous mining towns of Appalachia, where the loss of jobs has entrenched intergenerational poverty and dislocated families and communities. In the 1980s, towns like Logan were vibrant, bustling and prosperous.

28:16

ROGER HORTON, UNITED CITIZENS FOR COAL: It's close to the Depression era - it really is. Our local bakery,

28:45

Horton 100%. Super:
ROGER HORTON
United Citizens for Coal

a lot of their new, and old, patrons are now relying upon food stamps to come in and buy their bakery goods. A lot of the local mom and pop hydraulic and machine shops have closed down.

28:51

Logan GVs

They're not selling cars like they were. You don't find people buying recreational vehicles or buying properties. If you just look around, you see houses for sale everywhere. People aren’t able to sustain their mortgages.

29:08

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: West Virginia is coal country 

29:35

Brissenden to camera on street

and it's been in decline now for decades, but Obama era regulations and a shifting energy market have devastated towns like this. All Donald Trump had to do was promise to bring back coal. This used to be democrat territory, but this time nearly 70% of voters voted for Donald Trump.

29:37

Trump campaign speech in Virginia

DONALD TRUMP:  West Virginia Coal Association just endorsed me…

BILL RANEY, WEST VIRGINIA COAL ASSOCIATION: Trump brought the message. I've never seen, first of all, that many people in the civic centre and I've never seen them more enthusiastic and more hopeful and, you know, there was just a sense of confidence among all of them.

29:55

Raney 100%. Super:
BILL RANEY
West Virginia Coal Association

It was emblematic of the hope that everybody has that we can get back to where we need to be.

30:16

Raney and Brissenden en route to coal mine

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Bill Raney is taking me to see a coal mine - one of only 76 out of 300 that were once open in this district. Like a lot of people here, Bill Raney was once a Democrat - but that was a long time ago - another life time. Driving through the valleys of West Virginia with him - what they call around here the hollers - it's clear who he blames for the devastation of his community.

BILL RANEY: The last eight years have been absolutely miserable with the Obama administration.

30:23

Raney 100%

The guy that's been there for the last eight years has taken our jobs and, you know, every bit of that was done without any congressional approval or endorsement, it was all done by executive order, by policy, by regulation, agency behaviour that's under the control of the president.

30:58

Car at coal mine

He kicked the props out from under us. So yeah, it's going to take a while to get it back, but we can get back.

31:16

Trump Virginia campaign event. Dons miner’s helmet

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Donald Trump told the people of West Virginia what they wanted to hear. He is going to make America great again. Regulations will be wound back and coal will reclaim its position as the key energy provider.

31:27

Coal mine

Senior Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz claims it is a false promise.

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, CONGRESSWOMAN: If he's relying on coal, then that is sending out false hope to people who

31:45

Wasserman Schultz 100%. Super:
CONGRESSWOMAN DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ
Senior Democrat

really need to have solutions, both in terms of job training so that they can move in another direction,

31:58

‘Coal Blooded’ sign on pick up truck. Town GVs

away from the obsolete jobs that they have lost. Or we need to help them move into another form of energy that generates the kind of movement we need in our economy.

32:06

Coal mine

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: To reach that position, though, requires a degree of acceptance that firstly climate change is a significant threat and that coal use should be phased out. And you won't find too many people here who think like that.

32:20

BILL RANEY: Is the jury still out in my mind as it regards climate change and CO2?

32:34

Raney 100%. Super:
BILL RANEY
West Virginia Coal Association

Absolutely it is. And we need to have a long, long discussion about that before we have any kind of dramatic regulations such as we've had the last eight years.

32:40

Men walking down railway track

ROGER HORTON: You read the bible, the bible will tell you point blank there are always going to be spring, there's always going to be summer, there's always going to be fall and there's always going to be winter.

32:49

Horton 100%. Super:
ROGER HORTON
United Citizens for Coal

We, as people, can impact the environment, there's no doubt about it. We can impact it in a good way or we can impact it in a negative way. Coal is not the main culprit.

33:01

Coal mine

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Donald Trump once joked that climate change was a Chinese hoax, and he threatened to cancel the Paris Agreement. But climate change is just one fight that President Trump has picked in his first weeks in office.

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: With millions of supporters who

33:11

Wasserman Schultz 100%

are not going to go down without a fight on the hard fought accomplishments that we have made. And if the new administration and the Republican majority in congress thinks that this is going to be easy for them to pull the rug out from under Americans that have made that progress, they are sadly mistaken.

33:36

Man busking with trumpet

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The reality is the Republicans now have an iron grip on government. For the next two years at least they control the House, the Senate, and the White House.

33:57

Trump alighting from plane

For the moment, the group that he's already defined as the real opposition is the media.

34:11

Trump press briefing

DONALD TRUMP:  Go ahead… Go ahead. No, not you. Your organisation’s terrible. Your organisation’s terrible. Let’s go… Go ahead. Quiet. Quiet…

JENNIFER RUBIN: Usually to begin with there is a honeymoon period for the president. That is clearly not happening. We're onto the divorce before the marriage, forget about the honeymoon.

DONALD TRUMP:  You are fake news… Go ahead.

JENNIFER RUBIN:  Obviously, his

34:17

Rubin 100%. Super:
JENNIFER RUBIN
Conservative Columnist, Washington Post

relationship with the press, or anyone else who chooses to put forth a different information stream, is going to be very hostile.

34:42

Trump press briefing

DONALD TRUMP:  Again, I don’t have to do this.

JENNIFER RUBIN:  And he has already I think just inflamed the media and is at war with them, and we don't know how that's going to turn out, frankly.

34:31

DONALD TRUMP: You’re fired. Goodbye everybody. Goodbye.

35:02

Trump Twitter page. GFS o/lay of Tweets

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Donald Trump uses Twitter as a way of bypassing the traditional media channels. The pronouncements by Twitter have thrown global diplomacy into turmoil.

MICHAEL J GREEN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR TO GEORGE W BUSH: In our recent history and perhaps throughout our entire history,

35:05

Green 100%. Super:
MICHAEL J GREN
National Security Advisor to George W Bush

we’ve never had a president come into office with such an unpredictable style of communication and with such alarm among our closest friends and allies.

35:21

Trump on balcony at inauguration

DAVID J KRAMER: I certainly hope that after assuming the awesome responsibilities of being president of the United States, that Mr. Trump proves me and the other critics wrong,

35:38

Kramer 100%. Super:
DAVID J KRAMER
Assistant Secretary of State to George W Bush

and I think that would be good for everybody, Australia included.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: But you're worried?

MICHAEL J GREEN: I am indeed.

35:47

Photo. Kramer with Condoleezza Rice

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: David Kramer was an Assistant Secretary of State and former foreign policy advisor to George W Bush.

35:55

Kramer on balcony on phone

He was one of 50 senior Republican national security officials who signed a letter warning that Trump would be the most reckless president in American history.

DAVID J KRAMER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE TO GEORGE W BUSH: I am worried about our total realignment of our partnerships in the Middle East.

36:02

Kramer 100%

I worry that we will align ourselves with the Russians in dealing with ISIS, when the Russians, it might be won't deliver on that. I worry that we will view Assad as a partner, when in reality Assad is not a partner of ours.

36:22

Trump inauguration

And the whole relationship, how it evolves with Russia, is arguably the biggest issue that I think is making people nervous. My hope is that there will be a level of reassurance that comes about after a settling in period.

36:40

And if there isn't, then we are really in a whole different world. As one commentator said recently, this is the new abnormal.

36:56

Plane flies overhead/Kramer on phone

DAVID J KRAMER: I think each country that is a partner with us in the Middle East would have to re-examine its approach.

37:08

Kramer 100%

I think it would be a terrible mistake for the United States to align with Russia and with Assad. And so I think Australia and other countries that have been with us from the beginning would have to take a step back and try to figure out what approach to take as well. It would be a massive realignment.

37:14

Time Lapse. DC. Night

Music

37:35

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The president is also at odds with his own intelligence community. He initially dismissed their conclusions about Russian hacking in the election and he accused them of leaking a damaging dossier on him. At least four agencies, including the CIA, are investigating Trump's former campaign chairman and other associates, over their links with Russia.

MICHAEL CAPUTO: I know

37:41

Caputo 100%. Super:
MICHAEL CAPUTO
Trump campaign advisor

Donald Trump well enough and I've known him long enough to know there is no Putin-Trump connection, it doesn't exist.

38:07

Green 100%. Super:
MICHAEL J GREEN
National Security Advisor to George W Bush

MICHAEL J GREEN: Now he's saying he wants to build an alliance with Russia and he's acting like there's some strategic principle that underlies all this. And because of the Russian interference in our election, and independent FBI investigations of the Russian activities, and because so many on the Democratic Party side are saying he's illegitimate because of that, once again politically he's doubling down with this idea that he is doing all of this praise of Vladimir Putin and Russia out of some grand strategic vision. So it's been shaped almost entirely by domestic politics. There's speculation the Russians have something on him. That's pure speculation. Frankly, Mr Trump has survived some pretty embarrassing revelations. The Russians would have to have a pretty impressive dossier to beat what's already out there that he's survived politically.

38:14

Trump. Inauguration day

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Donald Trump came to office embroiled in numerous lawsuits. In the weeks since he was sworn in, dozens of new court cases have been filed.

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: President Trump himself has still not released his taxes and says that he will not divest from his businesses.

39:03

Wasserman Schultz 100%. Super:
CONGRESSWOMAN DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ
Senior Democrat

So he'll be profiting off of his businesses while serving as president, likely in violation when he engages in foreign business with the Emoluments Clause in our constitution. So the president is going, is inviting controversy, inviting investigations, that I believe will ultimately - if he continues down that path - cause him a tremendous amount of problems.

39:22

Kramer 100%

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Could it to lead to impeachment? Is that likely?

39:50

Super:
DAVID J KRAMER
Assistant Secretary of State to George W Bush

DAVID KRAMER: It's a little early I think to be talking about any impeachment scenarios. High crimes and misdemeanours are the threshold for impeachment and I think it would take a very serious matter. Appearance issues probably wouldn't cross that threshold. It would lead to calls for investigations and calls for independent counsels.

39:53

DC. Night

Music

40:14

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Some pundits are speculating that President Trump may not see out his four year term. While others think he will make American great again. One thing they do agree upon is, under Trump, America will never be the same.

DAVID J KRAMER: The President of the United States - and this is hard for many people including Americans to understand - has the authority to launch a nuclear strike.

40:18

Kramer 100%

Because the decision has to be made so quickly depending on circumstances, there is no resort to congress to either try to block it or to authorise it. And that is arguably the most powerful authority any leader in the world could have. So I hope that a tweet from a foreign leader, or some insult directed toward the White House,

40:42

Ext. White House

won't set off Mr Trump into a fit.

41:05

White House/American flag flying

Music

41:08

Rubin 100%

JENNIFER RUBIN: Predicting what Donald Trump will do or say is very difficult. It is possible that there will be utter chaos, that literally nothing will get done, domestically, in terms of foreign policy.

41:14

Trump inauguration memorabilia

His wall will never get built, tax reform will die a slow death and that you just cannot operate in the American political system with someone this flighty, this erratic.

41:24

Music

41:37

Out point

41:41