Why I Wrote Trump Unyielding

My decision to write about Donald Trump began with a personal interest in a man whose life has been marked by ambition, extraordinary public attention, financial setbacks, political controversy and an unlikely return to power. What started as research in late 2023 eventually became one of the most demanding publishing projects I had undertaken.

I have always been interested in people whose lives take unexpected turns, particularly those who achieve prominence, experience significant setbacks and somehow remain central to public life.

Donald Trump is one such individual.

Long before I decided to write his biography, I had followed aspects of his business career, his public image and his eventual entry into American politics. What interested me was not simply his wealth, political positions or celebrity status. It was the unusual course of his life and the determination with which he continued pursuing his ambitions, even when circumstances appeared to be moving against him.

Trump had spent decades building a name in real estate and entertainment before entering politics. He won the American presidency in 2016, lost his reelection bid in 2020 and subsequently faced legal proceedings, political opposition and considerable uncertainty about his future.

Yet by the end of 2023, he was once again pursuing the presidency, retaining a remarkable degree of influence over the Republican Party and a substantial following among American voters.

I found that development particularly interesting.

How had someone who had experienced such dramatic changes in fortune remained so influential? What explained the loyalty of his supporters, the intensity of opposition to him and his ability to remain at the centre of American political life?

Those were among the questions that led me to begin researching his life in December 2023.

I did not begin with the intention of defending Trump or challenging his critics. I wanted to understand the individual behind the public image, examine the events that had shaped his career and develop a biography that readers could approach regardless of their political views.

From business publishing to political biography

My interest in Trump’s story also emerged from my own professional background.

I began my entrepreneurial journey in Uganda, initially working in land brokerage and later exploring marketing, employment placement and publishing.

In 2012, I established Bizmart Publication, a business-focused periodical that developed into The Bizmart Magazine in 2014.

Those early publishing experiences introduced me to the demands of researching, producing and distributing content. They also influenced my interest in business leadership, entrepreneurship and the public reputations of prominent individuals.

Over time, my work expanded into digital publishing and international media entrepreneurship.

In 2022, I partnered with Sande Kennedy Nyongesa to develop Bizmart’s digital publishing operations. The following year, we established Bizmart Holdings LLC in California, extending our publishing interests into the United States.

That development was significant to my decision to undertake a major international book project.

Having spent years working with business publications and digital media, I wanted to pursue a more substantial form of nonfiction writing. A political biography presented an opportunity to examine a person’s life across several decades, drawing on business history, public records, contemporary reporting and historical developments.

Trump’s career brought many of those interests together.

He had moved from property development into entertainment, from television into politics, and from electoral defeat into another presidential campaign. His public identity had repeatedly changed, yet his name remained recognisable far beyond the United States.

For someone who had spent years working in media and publishing, there was considerable material to examine.

But the subject interested me beyond those professional connections. I was curious about Trump’s personal journey, including his achievements, failures, decisions, controversies and persistence.

That curiosity ultimately sustained the research.

Writing from a Ugandan perspective

One question I have encountered is why a Ugandan author would devote so much attention to an American political figure.

I understand the curiosity, but I have never considered nationality a limitation on what a writer may investigate.

The events that shape American politics frequently have consequences beyond the United States. Decisions made in Washington influence international trade, diplomatic relationships, financial markets, security arrangements and the wider geopolitical environment.

For countries such as Uganda, those developments are not entirely distant matters.

At the same time, my decision to write about Trump did not arise from a belief that American politics was more important than the affairs of my own country.

It came from an interest in a particular individual whose life had become an important part of contemporary political history.

I was born in Kampala, grew up in Uganda and built my early business ventures there. Those experiences remain part of my identity, but my professional and intellectual interests have never been confined to one geographical setting.

Through publishing and business, I have increasingly engaged with developments across Africa, the Middle East and the United States.

Writing about Trump was a continuation of that broader interest.

I approached the subject as a Ugandan author examining an American public figure through research, rather than as a participant in American partisan politics.

I also understood that I would be writing about someone who attracts strong and often conflicting opinions.

Some readers admire Trump’s business career, political persistence and approach to leadership. Others are deeply critical of his conduct, policies, public statements and treatment of democratic institutions.

A biography that ignores either side of that history would leave readers with an incomplete account.

My responsibility was to examine the available evidence and explain the events as accurately and coherently as I could.

The challenge of writing a life still unfolding

When I began researching Trump in December 2023, the 2024 American presidential election was approaching, but its outcome remained uncertain.

Trump was seeking the Republican nomination while facing several legal challenges. His political future was being discussed almost daily, and new developments frequently altered the direction of the public debate.

I began by examining his childhood in Queens, his family background and the influence of his father, Fred Trump, on his early involvement in real estate.

From there, I followed his expansion into Manhattan property development, the growth of the Trump brand and the financial difficulties that affected some of his business ventures.

His entertainment career, particularly The Apprentice, provided another important part of the story.

I wanted to understand how his business reputation and media visibility contributed to the political identity he later developed.

The research then extended into his 2016 presidential campaign, his first administration, his defeat in the 2020 election and the events that followed his departure from the White House in January 2021.

One of the greatest challenges was organising decades of material without losing the connection between different stages of his life.

Much of the research relied on publicly available records, established reporting, historical accounts, published statements and other documentary sources. I had to compare accounts, examine timelines and distinguish documented events from interpretations and allegations.

I was also conscious of the limits of documentary research. A biography based substantially on public sources cannot claim direct knowledge of every private conversation or personal motivation.

Where competing accounts existed, the task was to provide context rather than present speculation as established fact.

The research demanded patience, particularly because the subject was still making history while I was writing about him.

An election that changed the manuscript

By September 2024, the project had advanced sufficiently for the book to enter pre-order availability.

However, I faced an important editorial decision.

The presidential election was only weeks away. Publishing a biography centred on Trump’s pursuit of the White House before knowing the election’s outcome would have left a major part of the developing story unresolved.

I decided to hold the final release until after the vote.

That decision became even more significant as the campaign progressed.

In July 2024, Trump survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Later that month, President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee.

Another apparent assassination attempt involving Trump was investigated in September.

These events introduced new dimensions to an already unusual presidential campaign.

Then, on November 5, 2024, Trump defeated Harris and secured his return to the White House as the 47th president of the United States.

The result gave the original manuscript a natural concluding point.

I incorporated the election outcome and completed the first edition under the title Trump Unyielding: The Quest for America’s 47th Presidency.

For me, the significance was not simply that Trump had won another election. It was that the central question I had been examining since late 2023—whether he could recover politically after losing the presidency—had been answered by the electorate.

His return also gave the biography a historical dimension that had remained uncertain when the research began.

Publishing the book

The original edition was published through Bizmart Holdings LLC, the California company I had co-founded with Sande Kennedy Nyongesa.

The company provided the publishing framework and resources needed to bring the project to market. I undertook the research and writing, while the publishing process also involved editorial preparation, design, production and distribution.

It was an important development in my career.

My earlier publishing work had concentrated primarily on business information, commercial publications and digital media. Trump Unyielding represented a move into long-form political nonfiction for an international readership.

Following its publication, the book received attention from media outlets in Uganda.

Daily Monitor reviewed the biography in December 2024, examining its treatment of Trump’s background, business career and political development. Subsequent reviews appeared in The Independent and The Observer in 2025.

The coverage was encouraging, particularly because the project represented a departure from much of my previous work.

Nevertheless, I did not regard publication or media attention as the final measure of the book’s worth.

For me, the more important consideration was whether the biography offered readers a sufficiently detailed and credible account of its subject.

Why I returned to the book in 2026

When Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2025, I knew the story had entered another phase.

The original edition had examined his attempt to regain the presidency. His return to office created a different set of questions concerning governance, executive authority, economic policy and international relations.

There was also the challenge of understanding how Trump’s political methods would operate during a second administration.

I continued following developments and eventually decided that the biography required substantial expansion.

The revised edition, published in March 2026 as Trump Unyielding: A Biography of Donald J. Trump, extended the narrative into his second presidency.

The 550-page edition incorporated additional material concerning his administration, domestic policy, relationships with major business figures, and international developments.

It also addressed significant geopolitical events, including US involvement in Venezuela and the 2026 conflict involving Iran.

These additions were not simply intended to make the book longer.

They reflected the fact that the original narrative, which had culminated in Trump’s electoral comeback, could no longer fully explain his developing political career.

Writing about a living political figure presents a recurring challenge: history continues beyond the manuscript.

A biography can document a period of someone’s life, but it cannot provide a final judgment on events that remain unfinished.

I therefore approached the expanded edition as an updated historical account rather than a definitive assessment of Trump’s legacy.

What the experience taught me

Writing Trump Unyielding reinforced several lessons I had encountered during my years in publishing.

One was the importance of patience.

The volume of available information about Trump was considerable, but the existence of information did not automatically make the research straightforward. Accounts differed, events developed rapidly, and the distinction between fact, interpretation and political argument required constant attention.

Another lesson concerned the relationship between reputation and public life.

Trump’s career demonstrates how a public identity can develop across business, entertainment and politics, and how that identity can endure through periods of intense controversy.

Understanding that process does not require agreement with the individual.

I also became more conscious of the responsibility involved in writing about people whose actions affect large populations.

An author may have personal interests and opinions, but those should not become a substitute for evidence.

My goal was never to persuade readers to admire or reject Trump. I wanted them to understand the documented progression of his life, including the decisions, achievements, setbacks and controversies that shaped his position in American public life.

Readers are entitled to form their own conclusions.

Looking back

When I reflect on why I wrote Trump Unyielding, I return to the curiosity that started the project.

I wanted to understand how Donald Trump had moved through such different phases of public life and remained politically influential after circumstances that many observers believed could end his career.

I wanted to examine the businessman, the television personality, the political candidate, the president and the former president who returned to office.

I also wanted to undertake a serious nonfiction project that extended my writing beyond the areas in which I had previously worked.

The experience required more research, revision and editorial judgment than I had initially anticipated. It also gave me a greater appreciation of how difficult it is to document contemporary events while their significance is still being debated.

I do not expect everyone who reads the book to agree with my interpretation of its subject. Nor do I believe that publishing a biography of a political figure should be mistaken for an endorsement of that individual’s views or actions.

Trump’s story contains achievements, disputes, setbacks and consequences that deserve examination on their own terms.

Ultimately, I wrote Trump Unyielding because I believed his life was worth examining in its entirety, not merely through the headlines that accompanied his victories and controversies.

It began as an attempt to understand one man’s extraordinary journey.

It became a larger exercise in documenting the changing relationship between business, public reputation, political power and the events through which history is made.

And for me, that remains the purpose of the book.