9 main themes that outlined the primary yr of Trump’s second time period

Washington — Within the yr since his return to energy, President Trump has shifted America’s strategy to overseas coverage and allies, focused his political enemies, prioritized mass deportations and put his mark on Washington’s structure. Listed below are the themes which have formed his first 12 months in workplace. 

Slashing the federal workforce and businesses  

• Elon Musk was initially the face of the president’s vow to chop waste, fraud and abuse in authorities. He and the Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE, took a chainsaw to the federal workforce by means of buyouts, reductions in drive and shuttering places of work. These efforts resulted within the lack of greater than 317,000 federal workers by November, though that was offset by 68,000 hires, in response to the Workplace of Personnel Administration. Some jobs had been reinstated after courtroom challenges. 
• DOGE additionally claimed to have lower billions in federal spending, though CBS Information’ evaluation discovered the financial savings had been a fraction of what was claimed. 
• Companies that did not align with Mr. Trump’s mission had been focused for cuts or elimination, together with the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth. The president can be attempting to fireside practically each worker of the Shopper Monetary Safety Bureau, arguing it has overstepped its mission. “RIP CFPB,” Musk posted on X in February. In December, a choose blocked the White Home from defunding the company.
• The Trump administration is at present attempting to dismantle the Training Division and switch a lot of its applications to different departments, arguing that doing so will assist return schooling choices to states. 
• The legal professional common has additionally gutted the Justice Division workplace that prosecuted public corruption instances. 
• The Trump administration introduced it will get rid of 20,000 jobs from the Well being and Human Companies Division, a few quarter of its workforce. The cuts included 1,300 who had been fired from the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, in addition to $2 billion in funding. Public well being businesses have additionally slashed funding for vaccine growth and psychological well being and habit applications, though some cuts had been reversed. The president additionally withdrew the U.S. from the World Well being Group. 
• Nonetheless, total federal spending has not decreased beneath Mr. Trump. In line with federal knowledge analyzed by the Peterson Basis, outlays in December 2025 had been $5 billion larger than in December 2024. The nationwide debt continues to climb. 

Settling scores with political foes, focusing on rivals — and rewarding allies

• The Trump-era Justice Division has focused the president’s political enemies, together with former FBI Director James Comey, New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James and John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former nationwide safety adviser. Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell, who helped lead the impeachment cost towards him throughout his first time in workplace, have additionally been the targets of investigations.
• Mr. Trump has denied involvement within the prosecutions, however has publicly inspired the Justice Division to look into a few of his political opponents.
• The administration has additionally focused six Democratic members of Congress who appeared in a video in November urging members of the navy to refuse to comply with “unlawful orders.” 5 of the lawmakers stated they’d obtained inquiries from the Justice Division, the Pentagon has moved to demote and lower the pension of Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who’s a retired Navy captain.
• The Federal Reserve has additionally fallen into the administration’s crosshairs, after the president has repeatedly referred to as on the central financial institution to decrease rates of interest. Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman, stated the Federal Reserve was lately served subpoenas over his testimony about renovations on the central financial institution’s headquarters, and stated the transfer was a part of a strain marketing campaign. The president has additionally sought to fireside Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook dinner, alleging she dedicated mortgage fraud. Cook dinner is difficult her ouster, and the Supreme Court docket is scheduled to listen to arguments within the case this week. Powell is anticipated to attend.
• Over the summer time, the Justice Division fired dozens of workers who labored on particular counsel Jack Smith’s twin investigations into Mr. Trump.
• The White Home additionally revoked the safety clearances of many officers, together with former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Biden’s nationwide safety crew, Bolton and different present and former nationwide safety figures. 
• In the meantime, Mr. Trump has used his pardoning energy to wipe away felony costs from allies and political figures of his selecting.. He pardoned practically all people charged or convicted within the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on his first day in workplace, and he granted clemency to Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, former GOP Rep. George Santos, former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojavich and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Finishing up mass deportations and immigration enforcement  

• Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to hold out the largest deportation operation in historical past. In mid-December, the Division of Homeland Safety stated there had been an estimated 1.9 million self-deportations and greater than 622,000 deportations as much as that time. As of final week, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement held 73,000 detainees in custody, probably the most ever recorded. The administration goals to have the ability to maintain upwards of 100,000 immigration detainees at any given time, as a part of its effort to hold out a deportation crackdown of unprecedented proportions. 
• The Trump administration has signed agreements with international locations to simply accept immigrants who should not their residents. Along with a number of Latin American international locations, some which can be half a world away have additionally agreed to settle for deportees, like Eswatini,Uganda, South Sudan, Laos, Myanmar, Kosovo and Rwanda.
• Apprehensions on the Southwest border are at document lows. In December, U.S. Customs and Border Safety apprehended 6,478, 96% decrease than the prior yr.
• In March, Mr. Trump invoked wartime authority to ship tons of of principally Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s infamous CECOT jail. In line with a Human Rights Watch report, half had no felony historical past and simply eight had been convicted of violent or probably violent crimes. One Salvadoran man who was deported and held in CECOT in error, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was returned to the U.S.; officers then filed felony costs towards him and are additionally attempting to deport him to a different nation. The entire Venezuelan males despatched to CECOT had been later flown to Venezuela as a part of a prisoner swap.
• Underneath Mr. Trump, DHS has launched an immigration enforcement marketing campaign in cities throughout the nation, sending federal regulation enforcement to Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York Metropolis and Portland. Immigration raids have usually been met with protests. 
• Clashes between authorities and civilians have turned up the temperature, most lately with an ICE officer’s deadly capturing of Renee Good in Minneapolis this month. 
• The president deployed Nationwide Guard troops to help and defend federal regulation enforcement, drawing lawsuits. California, Illinois and Oregon sued, arguing the president was reaching past his authority, and judges usually sided with the states. The Nationwide Guard will stay in Washington, D.C., this yr, however Mr. Trump despatched guard members dwelling from different jurisdictions on the finish of 2025. 
• Regardless of the intensive sources being dedicated to deportations, the president informed “60 Minutes” in November the immigration raids “have not gone far sufficient.”

Flexing American energy abroad, realigning U.S. overseas coverage

• Among the most consequential strikes of the president’s time period to this point have concerned his willingness to exert American navy energy abroad and upend relations with longstanding U.S. allies.
• In June, the U.S. carried out main strikes towards three Iranian nuclear services in an operation referred to as “Operation Midnight Hammer.” Mr. Trump has lately threatened to strike the Iranian regime once more over its crackdown and killing of protesters. 
• Amid a navy buildup in Latin America, the U.S. has carried out a minimum of 34 recognized strikes on boats the administration claimed had been ferrying medication within the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans. The strikes have killed greater than 120 folks.
• In a rare and controversial navy feat, U.S. forces infiltrated Venezuela and captured then-President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3. Mr. Trump quickly introduced the U.S. could be operating the nation and taking management of Venezuela’s oil infrastructure. The U.S., the White Home says, will promote the oil for the good thing about Venezuelans, Individuals and U.S. oil firms.
• Asserting energy over Venezuela is one a part of the president’s “Donroe Doctrine,” which holds that the U.S. ought to wield affect over the Western Hemisphere and play much less of a task in Europe’s affairs.
• However the president’s audacious marketing campaign to purchase Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory throughout the Kingdom of Denmark, has sparked intense concern amongst NATO allies, flying within the face of contemporary Western democracies’ rejection of imperial enlargement. The president has refused to rule out the usage of navy drive to amass the territory, and says he’ll impose tariffs on European international locations objecting to his efforts — telling a number of international locations he not feels “an obligation to suppose purely of Peace” as a result of he wasn’t awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• The president has pushed for a decision to the battle in Ukraine, however peace efforts stalled after a high-level summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August.
• The Trump administration, with the assistance of companions within the Center East, brokered a long-sought ceasefire and peace deal between Israel and Hamas in October. The implementation of the settlement continues to be underway, however all dwelling hostages have been returned, and the tenuous peace seems to be holding.

Reshaping financial coverage, specializing in commerce and a love for tariffs 

• Mr. Trump calls himself “the tariff king,” and his love for tariffs — what he is referred to as his “favourite phrase” — has reshaped worldwide commerce and worldwide relations. Mr. Trump insists tariffs are bringing in billions of {dollars} for the nation, though economists say U.S. customers will finally pay larger costs. Research present that U.S. importers usually pay the tariffs, not the overseas international locations. 
• The inventory market has continued to climb beneath Mr. Trump, though inflation, unemployment, hiring and layoff knowledge are a blended bag. Practically three in 4 Individuals say the president is not focusing sufficient on reducing costs, and simply over three in 4 Individuals say their earnings is not maintaining with inflation, in response to the newest CBS/YouGov ballot.
• New U.S tariffs on Chinese language items set the stage for a commerce battle between the world’s largest economies over every part from laptop chips and uncommon earth metals to soybeans and TikTok, briefly sending each international locations’ tariffs on one another to over 100%. Mr. Trump met with Chinese language President Xi Jinping in October and struck a deal that partially defused tensions.
• The president’s signature financial laws, which he calls the “massive, stunning invoice,” prolonged a set of tax cuts handed in Mr. Trump’s first time period, partially paid for by means of restrictions on Medicaid and meals stamps.

Pushing the boundaries of presidential energy

• Regardless of Republican management of each chambers of Congress, Washington has handed few items of main laws, with Mr. Trump relying closely on government actions to perform his goals. He signed 228 government orders — not together with different sorts of government actions — in 2025 and the primary weeks of 2026, in response to the Federal Register, simply outpacing all different presidents of their first yr in workplace.
• The president’s use of emergency powers to levy tariffs with out approval from Congress has been challenged all the way in which to the Supreme Court docket. The justices are anticipated to rule quickly on whether or not the president had the constitutional proper to impose the tariffs. If the courtroom guidelines he didn’t, the U.S. authorities could need to discover a technique to repay the levies.
• The president’s makes use of of navy drive with out congressional approval in Syria, Iran and Venezuela — and his deployments of Nationwide Guard forces to U.S. cities — have additionally raised questions on constitutionality and the boundaries of government energy. The Supreme Court docket blocked a Guard deployment to Chicago final month.
• After an deadlock in Congress led to the longest authorities shutdown in U.S. historical past, the White Home examined the boundaries of its energy to unilaterally transfer cash round. It saved sending out paychecks to members of the navy and FBI brokers, sought to put off 1000’s of idled authorities staff and threatened to pause meals stamp funds, drawing authorized challenges.

Bending establishments to his will

• One other theme of Mr. Trump’s presidency continues to be pushing establishments to bend to his will. The president has terminated authorities contracts and revoked safety clearances with main regulation corporations that represented political opponents. The American Bar Affiliation sued over the strategy, calling it a “regulation agency intimidation coverage.” Some corporations, beneath strain, reached agreements with the administration to spend hundreds of thousands of {dollars} on professional bono work. 
• Mr. Trump has pressed each federal businesses and personal employers to finish range, fairness and inclusion (DEI) applications, and his administration has focused what it views as “woke” initiatives within the navy, enterprise, schooling and different features of American society.
• The Trump administration threatened to sue or in any other case pressured universities over their range and inclusion practices, pro-Palestinian campus protests or granting of in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants, slicing off funding to some faculties. Columbia College settled with the administration to keep away from additional investigations, and Brown College, Cornell College, Northwestern College and UPenn all reached some kind of settlement with the administration. 
• The president has additionally personally sued a number of information organizations over their protection. Forward of the inauguration, ABC Information mother or father Disney agreed to pay $16 million to settle a defamation go well with Mr. Trump introduced. CBS Information was additionally amongst these the president sued, after which Paramount, CBS Information’ mother or father firm, agreed to pay $16 million to settle a go well with over a 2024 “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. Neither firm admitted wrongdoing.

Dealmaking with firms and international locations

• Quite than imposing uniform coverage by means of laws, the president prides himself on making offers — the extra offers the higher — with particular person firms and nations. The tariff negotiations with totally different charges for varied international locations are a primary instance of that. 
• The president has sought to dealer particular person offers with pharmaceutical firms to carry down the costs of medicine for Individuals. Among the many medicines that might be offered direct-to-consumer at decrease prices are GLP-1 weight reduction medication Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound.
• The president has additionally unveiled offers to put money into U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure with tech giants like Apple, Meta and OpenAI in addition to buying and selling companions like South Korea and Japan — although a number of the company investments predated Mr. Trump.
• The administration sought to dealer a deal for TikTok’s China-based mother or father firm to promote its American operations to U.S. traders, avoiding a legally mandated nationwide ban on the social community. It is not but clear if the deal can be authorised by Chinese language officers.
• Mr. Trump let Japan-based Nippon Metal purchase U.S. Metal, however with a “golden share” that permits the president to evaluation some main company choices.

Placing his stamp on the White Home and Washington, D.C.

• The president has moved to make his imprint on the White Home itself and Washington, D.C., as a complete, forging forward with plans to construct a big ballroom on the grounds of the manager mansion and assemble a brand new triumphal arch to match different main monuments.
• Mr. Trump demolished the East Wing of the White Home in October with little warning, paving the way in which for his ballroom challenge. Architects engaged on the ballroom introduced plans to a board that oversees building on federal land earlier this month. The president has stated the price of the challenge, which has ballooned to roughly $400 million, can be lined by personal donations. A few of these donations have come from corporations and people with intensive enterprise earlier than the federal authorities.
• Mr. Trump has renovated different elements of the White Home, together with by constructing a patio within the Rose Backyard, putting in huge new flagpoles on the grounds, redecorating the Oval Workplace with gold-colored furnishings and putting in a “Presidential Stroll of Fame” with pictures of his predecessors — besides former President Joe Biden, who’s represented by a picture of an autopen.
• Mr. Trump has additionally touted plans for the development of a triumphal arch throughout the Potomac River in Virginia. Mockups of the arch the president showcased in October bore the title “Independence Arch.”
• The president has additionally labored to affix his identify to establishments across the capital. Mr. Trump’s handpicked board of the Kennedy Heart, Washington’s premier arts venue, voted to rename the establishment the Trump-Kennedy Heart, a change that might require Congress to change into official.
• The administration additionally added Mr. Trump’s identify to the U.S. Institute of Peace in December. The State Division stated the change was meant to “replicate the best dealmaker in our nation’s historical past.”