Donald King (Donald King Timeline)

Donald "Guinea Pig" King was the fifty-third President of the United States of America. His presidency was one of the most hated in the history of the office. Known for rampant corruption, extensive overseas warfare (including the Guinea War) and the intentional planning of the November Horror terrorist attacks, he is considered by many scholars the worst American leader of all time. Graduating from Arizona State University in 2029, he obtained a degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2033. He secured a management position at Bruce Industries, then the world's largest mineral corporation, and ultimately one of the most powerful companies in the United States. Rising up the corporate ladder, in 2051 he became the CEO of Bruce Industries. In 2058, he vacated his office to run for president, and soon became arguably the most infamous politician in the nation's history.

President King is largely remembered for his overseas war campaigns, including extensive guerrilla fighting in West Africa. After the November Horror terror attacks in 2061, in which radical environmentalists affiliated with the west African "Army of Terra" hacked into the computer systems of US aerial drones and used them to attack civilian targets in Washington, DC, King launched his "War on Ecocentrism". Vying to destroy extremist environmentalist and ecocentric groups in Africa, he launched a number of tactical airstrikes on targets throughout the region, provided financial and military support for local governments to fight the threat, and deployed several thousand highly specialized land troops as "advisors". In September of 2062, he launched a ground invasion of Guinea, which had been run by a populist ecocentric group for seven years. Eventually, over 20,000 American lives--and 70,000 civilians--would be lost in the conflict. After seven long years of warfare, King's successor Albert Norman would withdraw all soldiers from the area.

Corruption and Reasons for Going to War
As is currently known from the 2067 Leak of Federal Government Documents, King's true reason for going to war with Guinea was to reopen the vast mineral mines of the country. Guinea had been the world's largest producer of bauxite (necessary for the production of aluminum, as well as other purposes), and offered a significant source of other resources, including gold, diamonds, cobalt, and more. As global demand for minerals increased (especially in China and India) while reserves around the world continued to deplete, many mineral corporations came looking to Africa to extract a vast amount of untapped resource wealth. Big money was to be made in the business. Meanwhile, however, most of the profits of the mining went to multinational companies and the local elites, as opposed to the larger populations of the resource countries. As global climate change caused massive flooding in west Africa, as well as extensive drought (the region was one of the worst affected in the world), a radical populist environmentalist movement was born. Starting with attacks on mining and industrial centers, the movement gained speed in Guinea, where it eventually replaced the local government and banned all mining. Bruce Industries lost over seventeen billion dollars a year from Guinea's political transformation. Eventually, Donald King, their ex-CEO, launched a ground war in the region to re-open mining infrastructure and protect his corporate interests.

Despite an approval rating estimated at 22% in 2064, King managed to win the election largely by voting fraud. As revealed in 2067, the November Horror attacks were deliberately planned and carried out by his administration to justify a war.

End of the Presidency
Donald King was so hated by the end of his presidency, he was eventually convinced by his colleagues that if he attempted to secure a third term in office, there would be a coup or national uprising against him. Thus, he essentially relinquished control of his office, allowing reformer and president-elect Albert Norman to run against him and take control of the presidency. President Norman ended the Guinea War, and eliminated Bruce Industries with a government act. Norman endeavored to try King for treason, but before he could be executed, King escaped to the Ukraine, where he lives under asylum to this very day.