On Monday 20 October, The Historical Bench met at The Mitre.  The motion before the Bench was whether Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States, serving his second, non-consecutive term that began on January 20, 2025 (he previously served as the 45th President from 2017 to 2021) is to be seen as a Disruptor or Peacemaker.

The Historical Bench is a Society founded in 1999 and run by Paul Murray the CT Secretary of the ODU as well as a teacher of History and the school Historian.  Its aim is to present information centred on Geopolitics, to the students to enlighten them on issues around the world as well as in their own country - and the impact of the former on the latter.

It is normally the case that the members themselves present with no outside speakers!   However, the current Chair, David Lewis, being in Matric was not available to lead the discussions for the October meeting. 

Alec Alfaro a Grade 11 student at Bishops has been appointed the Chair for 2026.  

At the meeting on Monday, Paul presented a 25 slide PPT with sources from newspapers, journals, and related media.

Events in and outside of the US formed part of the overall assessment.

The members decided that there was currently not sufficient evidence to confirm Trump as the undisputed Peacemaker.  One would need to wait and see to what extent this might be true, given more time.