By a BBC Obituarist (Who Definitely Didn’t Have This One on Their Bingo Card)
The BBC News obituaries team, as is well known, maintains carefully crafted portraits of notable public figures, ready for that inevitable day. The files range from revered monarchs to celebrated artists . The guiding principle, as former BBC obituary editor Nick Serpell notes, is to provide a “broad-brush look at someone’s whole life,” aiming for an objective assessment that will “stand the test of time” . Some files, however, present a unique set of editorial challenges.
Donald John Trump, who has died aged [REDACTED], was a figure who consistently defied political and historical precedent. A real estate magnate, television personality, and the 45th and 47th President of the United States, his life was a cascade of superlatives—many of them self-proclaimed, several of them legally consequential .
The Art of the Legacy
Trump’s career was a study in scale and spectacle.He transformed his father’s New York real estate business into a global brand encompassing skyscrapers, casinos, and golf courses . His 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, became a business classic, while his role as host of The Apprentice cemented his public image as a decisive tycoon .
His political ascendancy in 2016, under the slogan “Make America Great Again,” reshaped the Republican Party and upended traditional diplomacy. His presidency was marked by sweeping tax cuts, a confrontational trade policy, and the appointment of three Supreme Court justices . It was also uniquely tumultuous: he became the first president to be impeached twice—first for abuse of power and later for incitement of insurrection following the violent breach of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 .
A Life Measured in Firsts and Felonies
Trump’s post-2020 period was dominated by his refusal to accept electoral defeat and an unprecedented cascade of legal entanglements.In 2024, he achieved another singular first: becoming the first major-party nominee, and later the first president, to be a convicted felon, found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records . Upon his return to the White House in 2025, he became the second president ever to serve non-consecutive terms .
His second term began with what observers called an “explosion of executive action,” issuing a record number of orders in his first 100 days aimed at dismantling existing policies and structures . A central feature was the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a cost-cutting body whose aggressive actions, reportedly influenced by billionaire Elon Musk, sparked intense controversy and legal challenges .
The Obituarist’s Dilemma
Writing an advance obituary,as the BBC does, requires navigating the subject’s final chapters while they are still being written. The tone, as per BBC guidelines, should be “broadly neutral and objective,” neither a eulogy nor a character assassination . For a figure as polarising as Trump, this meant balancing indisputable facts—his electoral victories, his imprint on the judiciary—with other indelible facts: his impeachments, his civil liability for sexual abuse and business fraud, and his felony conviction .
The ultimate assessment, as the BBC’s Serpell advises, must try to imagine how the life would be viewed “from 50 years in the future when much of the minutiae… would have been forgotten” . Would he be seen primarily as a disruptive force who permanently altered American politics? A populist champion? Or as a president whose tenure tested the resilience of democratic institutions to their limit? The obituary’s final line, perhaps, could only note that historians and scholars, after his first term, consistently ranked him among the nation’s lowest-rated presidents .
A Final, Unscripted Note
The greatest fear for any obituaries editor is the”premature publish.” The BBC itself once accidentally aired pre-prepared footage for Queen Elizabeth II . One shudders to imagine the chaos of a similar error involving Donald Trump. The ensuing social media storm from the man himself—presumably from beyond the grave—would likely be the most formidable, and grammatically inventive, rebuttal in obituary history. For the BBC obituarist, finishing this particular file must have brought not just professional satisfaction, but a profound sigh of relief . The piece, however long it sat in the vault, was finally, and unequivocally, ready to roll.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 