Donald Trump came well-prepared for his second term as President, having waited impatiently in the wings for his expected electoral victory, to be supported by a handpicked Cabinet, compliant GOP Legislators, and an obliging Supreme Court. Extensive purges of the ‘disloyal’, including many Democratic appointees, further consolidated his position throughout the year.
The Executive took charge from Day One, overriding the system of checks and balances between the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the Federal Government. According to the Federal Register, Donald J. Trump signed 221 Executive orders in 2025, from ‘Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government’ (EO 14147) to ‘Designating Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction’ (EO 14367). By contrast, President Biden signed a total of just 162 Executive Orders during his entire term, from January 2021 to January 2025. As of January 22, 2025, 67 of Biden’s orders had already been revoked by President Trump.
There has been mixed success with the planned reduction in size of the Federal Government. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under the leadership of Elon Musk, proved to be somewhat chaotic and only “a little bit successful” in the tycoon’s own words. By May 2025, more than 200,000 federal workers had been laid off and around 75,000 had accepted buyouts. Since then, many employees have been re-hired, by the Internal Revenue Service, the Labour Department, the National Park Services, and General Services Administration, among others, to make up for excessively zealous sackings. DOGE itself was formally disbanded in November 2025, eight months before its mandate was due to expire. The Federal Government also saw the longest- ever shutdown in its history, as legislators quibbled over extending subsidies for health insurance premiums.
While the State might have shrunk in some areas, it has been expanded in others, particularly in ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement), whose 20,000 employees have been kept busy removing “illegal aliens.” The ‘One Big Beautiful Act’ allocated an extra $750 billion to ICE, which has since embarked on a massive recruitment programme. By the end of the year, ICE had become one of the world’s largest military forces and was actively recruiting another 10,000 agents. “Historic progress” has been confirmed by the departure of more than 2.5 million illegals. Heavily armed, and occasionally masked, ICE agents have carried out systematic worksite-specific enforcement operations, even targeting schools, hospitals, places of worship, and other public spaces, which can be entered without a warrant on a discretionary basis. According to a US Department of Homeland Security press release on 10 December 2025, DHS enforcement operations have resulted in more than 605,000 deportations since January 2025, while another 1.9 million illegal aliens have voluntarily self-deported. The world’s largest deportation infrastructure has expanded to include as many as 200 facilities on American soil, including such notable landmarks as ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Third-country deportations to “safe” countries such as Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Rwanda, Uganda, Eswatini, and South Sudan have further expedited the removal of unwanted people, irrespective of national origin, from the US.
Despite the isolationism favoured by MAGA supporters of ‘America First’ policies, the Trump administration has declared various expansionist and imperialist ambitions, including the desires to annex Canada as the 51st State of the US, to purchase the island of Greenland, and to wrest back control of the Panama Canal Zone. Military actions have also featured in Trump’s foreign strategy, most recently in air strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and those targeting ISIL in Syria following the murders of two American servicemen. On 16 December, a full blockade was imposed on sanctioned oil tankers leaving and entering Venezuela. The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, as articulated in November 2025, seeks to ensure American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere under the ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine, which is intended to ensure commercial, economic, political, and military domination over Latin America,
Trump’s tariffs, intended to attract investment, bring manufacturing and jobs back to the US, and to reduce America’s trade deficit, have also been used as political tools to wrest concessions from weaker nations. Somewhat strangely, tariff revenues are meant to finance tax cuts for Americans, even though tariffs themselves are nothing more than import taxes paid for by businesses and consumers. Waves of ‘reciprocal tariffs, starting on 12 March, have been invoked under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, initiating various trade wars. These tariffs have been variously paused, readjusted, and even temporarily reversed, creating wide-ranging uncertainties in global trade and much ill-feeling among America’s trading partners. Within America, tariffs have added to costs of various consumable and durable goods, whose production depends on international trade and global supply chains, leading to claims of inflationary pressures on the cost-of-living, which have been rejected outright by President Trump, especially as annual headline inflation eased to 2.7% in November 2025, The farming industry has had to be supported with “Farmer Bridge Payments for American Farmers Impacted by Unfair Market Disruptions”, amounting to $12 billion, while soybean farmers have lost out to their competitors in the lucrative trade with China. According to the Tax Foundation, Trump’s tariffs have led to an average tax increase of $1,100 for each household in 2005- predicted to rise to $1,400 the following year. The same source notes that the Trump tariffs represent the largest US tax increase as a percentage of GDP since 1993.
As a self-declared man of peace, Trump claims to have ended eight wars, somewhat prematurely in some instances- between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Thailand and Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Serbia and Kosovo, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Israel and Hamas. However, military confrontations between some of these warring nations have been reported even after the declaration of peace. Ending the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has proved to be even more of a challenge. Formal recognition of Trump’s peace -making efforts finally arrived when FIFA, in a controversial yet brilliant masterstroke, awarded him their inaugural Peace Prize during the Final Draw for the 2026 World Cup, making up for the Nobel Peace Prize he has yet to receive.
Trump, being “a builder at heart,” has been busy adding to his architectural legacy. In the White House, the Rose Garden has been paved over with stone tiles and the East Wing has been demolished to make way for a new $200 million State Ballroom, capable of seating 650 people. In a rewriting of American history, new plaques have been placed below portraits of former Presidents along the “Presidential Walk of Fame”, complete with misleading or derogatory information in many cases. Biden’s image has been replaced by that of an autopen.
The Epstein Files have proved to be a bit of an embarrassment. Despite campaign promises of a full public disclosure of their contents, the incomplete release of the files on 20 December 2025, with many redactions and in violation of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405) signed by Trump on 19 November, has not been well received across the political spectrum. Next steps may include impeachment of the Attorney General.
President Trump gives the impression of a man in a great hurry, with seemingly boundless energy despite allegations of cognitive decline and other health issues, who is determined to undo much of what he considers to be his predecessors’ misdeeds while leaving his indelible mark on the nation. He is most certainly delivering on most of his campaign promises, whatever you might think of them, and those who voted for Trump can have little to complain about other, apart from his modus operandi at times, as he carries out his mission at lightning speed. If this year wasn’t eventful enough, you ain’t seen nothing yet, with 2026 being America’s landmark Bicentennial Year.
Ashis Banerjee