Washington (CNN) It will be impossible to adequately explain in decades to come just what it was like to be alive in the exhausting first year of Donald Trump's presidency .

From the moment he trampled the unifying conventions of the inaugural address by decrying "American carnage," Trump shattered political normality, tearing at racial and societal divides, the limits and decorum of his office, even raising doubts about his fidelity to the nation's founding values.

Trump is like a raging storm that never blows itself out, as his early morning Twitter rants injected into the nation's central nervous system trigger outrages that obliterate traditional political debate and make days feel like weeks, weeks feel like months and months feel like years.

The normal tools for judging a presidency -- legislation passed, America's relative global power, the health of the economy, the President's approval rating and the security and prosperity of the populace -- can be used to assess Trump.

But such conventional measures fail to encapsulate the utterly abnormal presidency that is unfolding or the way Trump, who craves attention and gets it by fomenting chaos , has barged his way into every corner of national life.

Everyone, from the sidelines of a kid's soccer game in the suburbs to subway passengers in the cities to the hotbeds of Trump country, has an opinion on the President. He's impossible to ignore and impossible to escape.

And that is exactly the way he likes it. For Trump, the presidency seems as much about orchestrating strife in the center of a whirlwind as he tilts at national taboos as it is the steady accumulation of political and global victories.

Winning

But while he's doggedly carried out some of his most controversial campaign promises, Trump's wins have been overshadowed by behavior that electrifies his supporters but causes offense to many others.

"I don't think any administration has ever done ... what we've done and what we've accomplished in its first year," Trump told his Cabinet last week. "The achievements for our country, our people, and for our standing in the world have been very monumental."

In one sense, Trump is right: No administration has done what his has done. But his remarks were typically Trumpian, overstating his achievements and showing a tendency to create his own reality in a presidency that has posed unprecedented challenges to truth and fact.

Trump will have been president for just one year on Saturday. But he has racked up a record of blowups, feuds and stunning episodes that would make a full two-term administration look full, and scarred by scandal and acrimony.

There was the bizarre dispute over the size of his inaugural crowds, the departure of national security adviser Michael Flynn, the travel ban, the claim that he was wiretapped by the Obama administration, the airstrike on Syria and the installation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

The crazy cascade of events continued with his firing of FBI Director James Comey, the arrival of special counsel Robert Mueller, the mushrooming probe of the Trump campaign's possible role in Russia election meddling, Trump's claim he saw MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski bleeding from cosmetic surgery, the botched repeal of Obamacare, his equivocation over neo-Nazi marchers, West Wing chaos ... and that time the President looked directly into the sun during the eclipse.

That's not even close to a comprehensive list.

"Every day, there is another thing. This like reality TV, right? It's not healthy for our country or the world," Ohio's Republican Gov. John Kasich told CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday.

Institutions under assault

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If there is one underlying theme of Trump's first year, it is his willingness -- whether in his disregard for ethics norms relating to his business empire or his belief that he has the "absolute right" to do what he wants with the Justice Department -- to flout every expectation and constraint of his office.

It's a trend evident in his assault on institutions that act as checks on his power, like the intelligence agencies, the judiciary and the press , that will bear the scars after he has left the Oval Office.

"Donald Trump has no regard for rules, he has thumbed his nose at rules his entire life," said David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has known Trump for 30 years and has a new book out on Trump's presidency coming on Tuesday.

"He is a dictator in waiting, he talks as a dictator and he will do whatever he wants," said Johnston, whose book "It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America" concludes that Trump is unique in being the only US president not to pursue policies in the national interest.

"The Trump presidency is about Trump. Period. Full stop," Johnston writes.

If that is true, the political system itself is facing an unprecedented challenge.

Indeed, the President's recent assault on the credibility of the FBI and the Justice Department, interference being run by Capitol Hill Republicans on the Russia probe, combined with attacks on Mueller by pro-Trump media outlets raise profound questions about the system of checks and balances.

At this point, it appears far from certain that should the special counsel find that Trump obstructed justice or colluded with Russia in the election, the GOP-led House and Senate would move against him and consider whether he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. That fact alone means the 2018 midterm election -- in which Democrats are targeting big wins -- could end up being effectively an impeachment referendum. Trump has vehemently and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing

An underrated aspect of the President's year is the way he has cowed the Republican Party itself.

He appears to have destroyed the insurgent platform of Bannon after his former political adviser cooperated extensively with Wolff. Republican senators, such as Bob Corker and Jeff Flake who criticized him, have only done so as they choose to end their political careers. The ire of Trump primary voters keeps many other critics quiet. And Paul Ryan's praise for Trump's "exquisite" leadership after the tax law passed last year signals that the House speaker will stay aboard the Trump train as long as his long-wished for conservative program is signed into law.

And while his agency chiefs are implementing that program, critics argue that many -- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos or EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for instance -- are either unqualified or are embarked on an ideological project to dismantle government itself.

Trump's authoritarian reflexes meanwhile have been revealed in his demands for his political enemies, including Hillary Clinton to face prosecution and his call just last week for libel laws to be tightened to punish his media critics.

Changing the world

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It is not only domestic political structures that are being put under duress by this most abnormal presidency. Trump has initiated a fundamental shift in the nation's global role in the past year.

The President's national security adviser HR McMaster declared last month that under Trump, America had reclaimed its "strategic confidence."

The administration has unveiled a national security strategy aimed at "revisionist powers," such as China and Russia, that targets "rogue" regimes, such as Iran and North Korea and jihadist groups. Yet Trump's actions often appear to run counter to that strategy as he idolizes Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his foreign policy choices seem dictated not by global strategy but the desires of his political base.

Again, there have been clear successes.

His administration intensified and delivered on the Obama administration's plans to defeat ISIS in Syria and imposed the most stringent ever sanctions against North Korea.

But as at home, Trump's own actions, wild tweets and "America First" instincts have overshadowed his achievements. He's made the US, for so long a bulwark of global stability, into an agent of disruption and unpredictability. His rhetoric on race and religion threatens to dim the power of America's example.

Many nations, China included, see moves like pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, quitting the Paris climate accord and cutting foreign aid as a sign of a US retreat, even if US military might remains unchallenged.

What's next?

Photos: Donald Trump's rise President-elect Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for years. From developing real estate and producing and starring in TV shows, he became a celebrity long before winning the White House. Hide Caption 1 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump at age 4. He was born in 1946 to Fred and Mary Trump in New York City. His father was a real estate developer. Hide Caption 2 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump, left, in a family photo. He was the second-youngest of five children. Hide Caption 3 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump, center, stands at attention during his senior year at the New York Military Academy in 1964. Hide Caption 4 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump, center, wears a baseball uniform at the New York Military Academy in 1964. After he graduated from the boarding school, he went to college. He started at Fordham University before transferring and later graduating from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania's business school. Hide Caption 5 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating college in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City. Hide Caption 6 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump attends an event to mark the start of construction of the New York Convention Center in 1979. Hide Caption 7 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump wears a hard hat at the Trump Tower construction site in New York in 1980. Hide Caption 8 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977 to 1990, when they divorced. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric. Hide Caption 9 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise The Trump family, circa 1986. Hide Caption 10 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump uses his personal helicopter to get around New York in 1987. Hide Caption 11 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump stands in the atrium of the Trump Tower. Hide Caption 12 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump attends the opening of his new Atlantic City casino, the Taj Mahal, in 1989. Hide Caption 13 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump signs his second book, "Trump: Surviving at the Top," in 1990. Trump has published at least 16 other books, including "The Art of the Deal" and "The America We Deserve." Hide Caption 14 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump and singer Michael Jackson pose for a photo before traveling to visit Ryan White, a young child with AIDS, in 1990. Hide Caption 15 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump dips his second wife, Marla Maples, after the couple married in a private ceremony in New York in December 1993. The couple divorced in 1999 and had one daughter together, Tiffany. Hide Caption 16 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump putts a golf ball in his New York office in 1998. Hide Caption 17 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise An advertisement for the television show "The Apprentice" hangs at Trump Tower in 2004. The show launched in January of that year. In January 2008, the show returned as "Celebrity Apprentice." Hide Caption 18 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise A 12-inch talking Trump doll is on display at a toy store in New York in September 2004. Hide Caption 19 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump attends a news conference in 2005 that announced the establishment of Trump University. From 2005 until it closed in 2010, Trump University had about 10,000 people sign up for a program that promised success in real estate. Three separate lawsuits -- two class-action suits filed in California and one filed by New York's attorney general -- argued that the program was mired in fraud and deception. Trump's camp rejected the suits' claims as "baseless." And Trump has charged that the New York case against him is politically motivated. Hide Caption 20 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump attends the U.S. Open tennis tournament with his third wife, Melania Knauss-Trump, and their son, Barron, in 2006. Trump and Knauss married in 2005. Hide Caption 21 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump wrestles with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania in 2007. Trump has close ties with the WWE and its CEO, Vince McMahon. Hide Caption 22 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise For "The Apprentice," Trump was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2007. Hide Caption 23 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump appears on the set of "The Celebrity Apprentice" with two of his children -- Donald Jr. and Ivanka -- in 2009. Hide Caption 24 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump poses with Miss Universe contestants in 2011. Trump had been executive producer of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants since 1996. Hide Caption 25 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise In 2012, Trump announces his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Hide Caption 26 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump speaks in Sarasota, Florida, after accepting the Statesman of the Year Award at the Sarasota GOP dinner in August 2012. It was shortly before the Republican National Convention in nearby Tampa. Hide Caption 27 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump appears on stage with singer Nick Jonas and television personality Giuliana Rancic during the 2013 Miss USA pageant. Hide Caption 28 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise In June 2015, during a speech from Trump Tower, Trump announced that he was running for President. He said he would give up "The Apprentice" to run. Hide Caption 29 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump -- flanked by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, left, and Ted Cruz -- speaks during a CNN debate in Miami on March 10. Trump dominated the GOP primaries and emerged as the presumptive nominee in May. Hide Caption 30 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise The Trump family poses for a photo in New York in April. Hide Caption 31 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump speaks during a campaign event in Evansville, Indiana, on April 28. After Trump won the Indiana primary, his last two competitors dropped out of the GOP race. Hide Caption 32 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump delivers a speech at the Republican National Convention in July, accepting the party's nomination for President. "I have had a truly great life in business," he said. "But now, my sole and exclusive mission is to go to work for our country -- to go to work for you. It's time to deliver a victory for the American people." Hide Caption 33 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump faces Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the first presidential debate, which took place in Hempstead, New York, in September. Hide Caption 34 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump apologizes in a video, posted to his Twitter account in October, for vulgar and sexually aggressive remarks he made a decade ago regarding women. "I said it, I was wrong and I apologize," Trump said, referring to lewd comments he made during a previously unaired taping of "Access Hollywood." Multiple Republican leaders rescinded their endorsements of Trump after the footage was released. Hide Caption 35 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump walks on stage with his family after he was declared the election winner on November 9. "Ours was not a campaign, but rather, an incredible and great movement," he told his supporters in New York. Hide Caption 36 of 37 Photos: Donald Trump's rise Trump is joined by his family as he is sworn in as President on January 20. Hide Caption 37 of 37

A fateful question when Trump took office after a riotous outsider campaign was whether the presidency would change him or he would change the presidency.

It's now clear that the responsibilities and power that sobered most of the 43 individual men who held the job before him have not transformed Trump.

His unrestrained approach is the reason people who love him support him even more intensely one year in, but it's also why a majority of the nation fears he's disastrously unsuited to the job and why his immediate predecessors in the President's club, in a highly unusual move, have repudiated him

Trump remains uncouth, unrestrained and unrepentant. That's why his second year is likely to be even more draining and disruptive than his first.