First year of Trump 2.0 brings jarring changes and low approval

Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office brought an unprecedented use of presidential power and significant change to the country and the world. Polling shows he’s under water at the end of his first year, with only 40% of Americans approving of his performance and 57% disapproving.

Here’s a look at some of what Trump hath wrought in the past year.

Day One. He got off to a fast start, going from his inauguration to a stage in Capitol One Arena where he signed eight executive orders and proclamations on stage and threw pens to the cheering crowd. The first signed order overturned 78 of President Joe Biden’s orders and actions. He also withdrew America, again, from the Paris Climate Accord and froze federal hiring.

One controversial order (“Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”) declared the U.S now recognizes only two genders.

Another freed nearly 1,600 people convicted of crimes during the January 6 insurrection, saying: “This proclamation ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation.”

J6 has remained central to Trump 2.0. The administration has gone after federal investigators and prosecutors who pursued J6 cases, sought to intervene in state cases, revised government websites and asked new hires to confirm their belief in Trump’s falsehoods about the 2020 election.

Aid. Almost a quarter of a million more children are projected to die in 2025 than in 2024 following cuts in global aid from the U.S. and other nations, reversing steady declines in child deaths dating back to 1990. Focus on the Family and other conservative groups say the cuts end dependency on foreign aid and deny they’ve led to increased deaths.

Allies. With his tariffs, social media posts and military actions, Trump has overturned global trade and weakened NATO alliances dating back to the years after World War II.

As The New York Times asked Tuesday, “What happens to an 80-year-old diplomatic alliance when its leading power threatens a military invasion of one member, wages economic war on the others and vows to cultivate political and cultural resistance to their governments?”

Trump said his aggression toward Greenland, a NATO ally, is due in part to Norway’s failure to award him a Nobel Peace Prize, but the country does not award the prizes.

Borders and immigration. Most Americans support Trump’s sealing of the southern border, giving him high approval ratings on that issue, but there is opposition to his immigration raids and efforts to revoke the immigration status of Haitians, Venezuelans and others are much less popular. Pew reported in December that 53% of Americans say the administration is doing “too much” when it comes to deporting immigrants who are living in the United States illegally, up from 44% in March.

Cabinet meetings. Gatherings of administration officials have devolved into fawn-fests. For example, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s praised Trump in an August meeting: “Mr. President, I invite you to see your beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor, because you are really the transformational president of the American worker, along with the American flag and President Roosevelt, because we’re bringing business and labor together. And I was so honored to unveil that yesterday and everybody is taking note of that.”

Conflicts of interest. Trump campaigned by claiming his business background would help him run the country, but he has strenuously refused to “sever ties to the companies or financial interests that may pose, or present the appearance of, a conflict of interest” and members of his family “are in the unique position to profit directly from his public service.”

Conservative Christian support. Groups supporting Trump largely ignore his controversies and praise the ways he has supported his agenda. Focus on the Family praised Trump for “Top 10 Conservative and Pro-Family Victories in 2025,” including:

• “U.S. Supreme Court upholds state laws protecting children from ‘Trans’ interventions”
• “Reversing illegal immigration”
• “Biological sanity restored to the federal government”
• “Protecting womens’ sports”

Anti-abortion group Live Action praised Trump for “a year of pro-life wins,” including:

• “Defunding Big Abortion by limiting federal Medicaid funding”
• “Trump pardons peaceful pro-life activists”
• “Pro-abortion policies rescinded for American military”

Trump also created a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias that has reversed Biden-era policies and given credence to evangelicals’ belief they have been persecuted by government.

DEI. Universities, charities and other recipients of federal money were cut off if they supported diversity, equality and inclusion efforts. Those who didn’t get cut off scrubbed their websites of the forbidden terms.

DOGE. Elon Musk, the billionaire industrialist who donated $275 million to help Trump win reelection, served as the public face of the president’s Department of Government Efficiency for 130 days. He quickly fired government employees, eliminated or shrank departments and agencies and caused chaos, but he failed to find a promised $1 trillion in savings.

Christian conservative leaders support continued chainsaw-style cuts to federal departments and programs that Congress previously approved.

Economy. Trump gets some of his lowest ratings on his handling of the economy, which he campaigned on fixing on “Day One.” Most people believe his tariffs have made things worse. His claims that complaints about affordability were a “hoax” and a “con” haven’t helped.

Education. As promised, the Department of Education was largely eliminated. The revamped department has formed an America 250 Civics Education Coalition to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary next July 4. Participating groups include conservative Christian groups; the Heritage Foundation; Turning Point Education, part of Turning Point USA; Moms for Liberty, which promoted book bans in public schools; and Hillsdale College.

Epstein Files. The administration has failed to meet deadlines for court-ordered release of documents from the investigation of the socialite, sexual predator and billionaire friend of the powerful.

Environment. In April, the Environmental Protection Agency publicly embraced the evangelical myth that environmentalism is a false religion. “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a Jewish Republican who says his faith informs his public service.

Executive orders. Trump signed 225 in 2025, a new record. President Jimmy Carter, the previous record holder, issued 80 executive orders a year during his single term. President Barack Obama issued 35 a year during his two terms, a record low number.

Gold. Trump has festooned the Oval Office with golden picture frames, goblets, nicknacks and flourishes. “After a year of revamping the Oval Office, President Trump is nearly out of wall space,” reported The New York Times, which published a 3-D look at the changes.

Hate. Trump had a chance to promote healing while speaking at the funeral for slain TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk but instead chose hate, saying of Kirk, “He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them.”

Health. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and the Make American Healthy Again movement have upended the nation’s food pyramid, limited access to vaccines and halted research into deadly diseases, including cancer.

Heaven. “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” Trump he told the hosts of TV’s Fox & Friends. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. … I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven bound.”

Meanness and vulgarity. Trump has called a female reporter “piggy.” He called Somali immigrants “garbage.” He approved calling an immigrant detention facility Alligator Alcatraz. He shared memes of a cartoon King Trump pooping on U.S. citizen protesters while piloting a plane.

But he outdid himself with his social media post on the slaying of Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife Michele: “A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS. He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”

Media and press. Trump makes himself personally available to media scums more often than most of his predecessors, but the White House press operation is tightly controlled and gives more time to right-wing outlets including The Daily Caller (founded by Tucker Carlson), Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire, The Daily Signal (founded by the Heritage Foundation, the group behind Project 2025), Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, RealClear Politics and the Gateway Pundit. Trump also has worn down media outlets through lawsuits.

At the Pentagon, new restrictions on coverage led to a mass exodus of mainstream journalists and outlets and a mass influx of some of the outlets listed above.

Trump also shut down editorial operations of Voice of America, which has supplemented its coverage with programming from far-right network One America News, which parrots Trump’s agenda.

The name game. Calling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America didn’t stick. Congress recently passed a budget for the Department of Defense, not for Secretary Pete Hegseth’s preferred term, the Department of War. The front of the Kennedy Center now has lettering calling it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, but an official name change must be approved by Congress, and many prestige performers have cancelled their events at the venue.

Other things named after Trump already: A new battleship, the Trump Gold Card for wealthy immigrants, Trump Accounts for babies and Trump RX for medical benefits. His photo appears next to that of George Washington on the new National Parks pass.

The administration is renaming nine Army bases. Fort Benning and Fort Bragg were originally named after Civil War officers, but the Biden administration changed the names to Fort Moore and Fort Liberty. In April, the names were changed back to Fort Benning and Fort Bragg, but the administration insists these forts are not named after Civil War officers but after other little-known soldiers with the same the last names. Seven more base names were changed in November.

Pardons. Trump has issued dozens of pardons and commutations, some to hardened criminals, drug kingpins and fraudsters.

Partisanship. Trump has targeted Democratic-led cities and states with funding cuts and immigration raids while ignoring Republican jurisdictions with similar problems.

In July, Trump asked Texas Republicans to take the unusual step of redrawing five state congressional maps to favor the GOP, setting off a redistricting race in red and blue states. But in ruby-red Indiana, state legislators rejected partisan redistricting. Legislatures in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio followed Trump’s wishes. California countered with a successful ballot measure to redraw five GOP seats to favor Democrats.

Presidential power. Trump has taken an expansive view of presidential power, going after Federal Reserve officials, refusing to honor Congress’ law restricting TikTok and tearing down the East Wing of the White House to replace it with a donor-funded ballroom whose size and cost have soared, from $200 million, to $300 million, to $400 million.

Asked if there were any limits to his authority, Trump responded: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

Project 2025. Trump once claimed ignorance of the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for his second administration, but his administration has enacted more than half its recommendations.

Tariffs. Trump loves tariffs and has applied them to many nations, but the Supreme Court will decide soon if doing so was constitutional. In some cases, he has applied tariffs based on pique, such as an additional 10% on Canada after Ontario ran advertisements quoting Ronald Reagan’s opposition to the fees. He also has threatened to raise tariffs on European allies who oppose his forceful acquisition of Greenland.

Vengeance and retribution. He campaigned on these promises and has delivered with investigations and some indictments of:

• Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve chair
• Mark Kelly, Sen. Adam Schiff and other members of Congress
• Jack Smith, former special counsel
• James Comey, former FBI director
• Letitia James, New York attorney general
• John Bolton, former national security adviser
• Minnesota Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis

Many others have been accused of crimes or had their security clearances revoked. See the list here.