The Donald Trump Show: (Channel 4 Documentary)
(FADE IN on grainy, slightly over-saturated footage of the Capitol Rotunda, January 20th, 2025. The air crackles with an uneasy energy. Crowds are dense, flags wave – MAGA hats mix uneasily with protesters held far back by barricades. The familiar strains of "Hail to the Chief" sound, but they feel thinner, sharper.)
NARRATOR (Voiceover - Calm, measured, with a hint of weary disbelief): Four years earlier, it ended. Or so they thought. Defeated, impeached twice, his Twitter voice silenced… Donald Trump left the White House a man seemingly consigned to history. But history, it turns out, has a peculiar appetite for comebacks.
(CUT TO: Rapid-fire montage: Trump rallies in 2022/2023 – smaller venues at first, then swelling stadiums. Close-ups of fervent faces chanting "FOUR MORE YEARS!" Intercut with stark headlines: "POLLS SHOCK: TRUMP LEADS." "REPUBLICAN FIELD CLEARS." "LEGAL BATTLES INTENSIFY.")
NARRATOR: While Washington breathed a sigh of relief, a different America was stirring. Fuelled by grievance, amplified by echo chambers louder than ever,
Trump wasn't fading. He was reloading. The indictments? Martyrdom. The silence? Proof of conspiracy. The old playbook, rewritten for a nation still raw from division. This is how this brilliant but sometimes unwatchable documentary goes. I wasn't sure at the start if Donald had made it himself as a reality show until halfway through when I suddenly realised, no one would show themselves in such a bad light, not even Donald.
The first episode with Elon Musk blew my mind. It was a bit like watching two excited children, best friends, playing a game of satirical spoof. I was fascinated at the same time embarrassed for them both. Most of the president's life is caught on camera, he loves watching himself but will these best bits around his current presidency, stitched together, make us laugh – or cry? I wanted to do both. This is the story of four years unlike any other. Told not through dry analysis, but through the raw, unfiltered lens of the time. The triumphs, the scandals, the moments of shocking audacity and profound consequence. This is the inside story of Donald Trump's second term. A real-life drama playing out on the world's biggest, most dangerous stage.
I can understand him wanting to clean up America, the drugs, the gangs, the mess but I found watching the FBI round up people like slaves and pack them off to El Salvador, after shaving their heads, just a little brutal and scary for my liking. Although this documentary is I guess, supposed to be a spoof or even a dark comedy, it made me cringe, cry and feel somewhat ashamed to be human. It was compulsive viewing only because it is unbelievable. I just hope and pray that one day we can all live together in one world, in harmony as equals and not be fooled by the power of money and greed.