Exactly one year ago, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated for a second term as president. It’s safe to say that the country and the world will never be the same again.
President Trump has engaged in energetic and bold governance and diplomacy, delivering on campaign promises such as boosting domestic energy production, while also seeking peace in turbulent parts of the world and trying to realize long-term ambitions such as the acquisition of Greenland.
He has interacted with the press on an almost daily basis, boosted recruitment into our military, dismantled harmful left-wing shibboleths like DEI, convinced our NATO allies to spend more on their own defense, challenged burdensome regulations that have hampered our country’s progress, challenged our woke universities, extracted and imprisoned alleged drug lord Nicolás Maduro, defended women’s sports, significantly derailed Iran’s nuclear program, oversaw new health initiatives like ridding our food of artificial dyes, shrunk the ever-expanding federal bureaucracy, and pushed through a reconciliation bill that cut taxes for middle-class Americans. It’s an incredible boat full of performance.
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But Trump’s first year is most notable for closing the southern border that predecessor Joe Biden opened to millions of unvetted illegal immigrants and for rebuilding U.S. trade ties through the introduction of tariffs. As he may have boasted, few thought these efforts would succeed; however, neither has been without controversy.
Today, President Trump stands at a crossroads. He begins his midterm campaign with an approval rating that is underwater according to RealClearPolitics polling, even on his signature issues of immigration and the economy. He has especially lost favor with independents and some of the groups that helped him win in 2024, such as young voters and Hispanics.
Polls show voters think the president is spending too much time on foreign affairs rather than lowering the cost of living. While he pursues peace between Ukraine and Russia, the Americans want lower grain prices and cheaper housing.
President Trump is trying to do too many things at once. On the one hand, we applaud this president’s energy and pace, a welcome change from the inert Joe Biden. On the other hand, Americans want stability, not chaos.
President Trump is outraged that the country is not giving him high marks for booming economic growth, a shrinking budget deficit, new investments flowing into the US, a narrowing trade gap, rising middle-class wages, unprecedented oil production and record stock prices. And inflation is substantially lower than the decades-high 9.1% recorded during Biden’s presidency.
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Public perception of the economy will play a decisive role in the midterm elections. Given current subdued consumer confidence, President Trump faces the very real prospect that Republicans will lose their limited control of the House of Representatives and perhaps even their advantage in the Senate. He has warned more than once that if Democrats were to take over, they would almost certainly move to impeach him; he might be right.
Faced with that threat, and seemingly perturbed by Democrats’ new “affordability” plea, Trump has unleashed a barrage of new policies intended to tackle the cost of living, some of which appear half-baked. He has proposed capping credit card interest rates at 10% and has teamed up with progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to strategize that controversial idea, a development that is raising hives among most Republicans. He has also launched an attack on company housing, which he says has caused rents to rise. The number of properties bought up by companies in recent years is small and unlikely to be a major source of rental inflation.
The frustrated president also lashes out at opponents and threatens to sue JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon for ‘debanking’ him in 2021 and, for example, waging war against Fed Chairman Jay Powell.
Trump blames the Fed chairman for keeping interest rates too high, which in turn drives up the cost of living. The Justice Department’s investigation into whether the Fed chairman lied to Congress about the costly renovation of the Fed’s headquarters was a foolish miscalculation; it backfired when Powell dug in and caused the Senate to refuse to confirm his successor.
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Trump also recently introduced “The Great Healthcare Plan,” which would make payments directly to households to cover health care costs, rather than sending federal subsidies to insurers on behalf of consumers. This proposal comes as Congress continues to debate expanding increased premium subsidies for Obamacare; Lapsed payments that have increased during COVID-19 will significantly increase some people’s insurance costs. Since they have not yet come up with a solution to this dilemma, which has been expected for more than a year, voters should blame Republicans in Congress, not President Trump. Nevertheless, efforts to reconfigure our dysfunctional health care system, nearly a fifth of our economy, should not be taken lightly.
Recently, Trump again threatened to impose heavy tariffs on European Union countries unless Denmark agrees to sell Greenland. This is a mistake because it undermines the President’s constructive use of tariffs, signals that our partners cannot trust hard-won trade deals, and plunges America’s commitment to NATO back into uncertainty.
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President Trump is trying to do too many things at once. On the one hand, we applaud this president’s energy and pace, a welcome change from the inert Joe Biden. On the other hand, Americans want stability, not chaos.
President Donald Trump walks down the steps of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (Luis M. Alvarez/AP Photo)
Above all, they don’t want chaos on the streets of Minneapolis, with ICE agents being attacked. They also do not want chaos in our dealings with foreign nations. And they don’t want chaos in our economy, with rates being raised and lowered according to the latest push from the Oval Office and major proposals being made almost every day.
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The president has accomplished a lot in his first year in office. He must build on the victories and remind voters why they elected him. That starts with de-escalating some of his confrontations and restoring trust through stable leadership. It continues with following the campaign, talking to the American people and bringing them back on board.
President Trump’s agenda is not complete; Let’s hope he restarts and wins three more years so he can make America great again.
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