In the year since his return to power, President Donald Trump has profoundly changed the domestic and foreign policies of the United States.
He has reordered relations with allies and partners, focused institutional pressure on his political opponents, put mass deportations at the center of his administration, and left a clearly recognizable personal mark on the very face of Washington. These are the nine key themes that have defined the first 365 days of his second term.
1. Massive federal cuts and dismantling of government agencies
Elon Musk became the public face of the president's promise to "cut waste, fraud, and abuse" in the federal government. Musk, along with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has taken radical measures against the federal administration, using voluntary departure programs, forced layoffs, and the closure of entire departments and offices.
According to the Office of Personnel Management, more than 317,000 federal employees have left or been laid off by November 2025. Some of this decline has been offset by about 68,000 new hires, and in a number of cases, courts have ordered the reinstatement of fired employees after legal appeals.
DOGE announced that it had saved "billions of dollars" from the federal budget, but a CBS News analysis showed that the actual savings were significantly lower than stated. Despite the aggressive rhetoric and massive cuts, overall federal spending has not decreased. According to data analyzed by the Peterson Foundation, federal government spending in December 2025 was $5 billion higher than the same month in 2024, and the national debt continues to rise.
The Trump administration has focused its efforts on eliminating or severely cutting agencies that the White House says are not aligned with its vision. Among them is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The president has also attempted to fire almost the entire staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), arguing that the agency has overstepped its authority. In February, Elon Musk published a short "RIP CFPB" in X. In December, however, a federal court blocked the White House's attempt to strip the agency of funding.
The administration also announced plans to dismantle the Department of Education and transfer its functions to other departments, arguing that education decisions should be returned to the state level. At the same time, the Attorney General disbanded the Justice Department's unit that investigated public corruption.
In the health sector, the White House announced the elimination of about 20,000 jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services - about a quarter of the total staff. Among them were 1,300 employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as a $2 billion funding cut. Public health agencies have cut funding for vaccine development, as well as mental health and addiction programs, some of which have since been reversed. The president also withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization.
2. Cracking Down on Political Opponents and Institutionally Rewarding Allies
The Justice Department under Trump has cracked down on a number of his political opponents. Among them were former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Adam Schiff and Congressman Eric Swalwell, who were active in the first impeachment inquiry against Trump, have also come under fire.
The president has denied any direct involvement in the specific investigations, but has publicly called on the Justice Department to "look closely" the actions of some of his opponents.
The administration also took action against six congressional Democrats who appeared in a video in November urging the military to refuse to follow "illegal orders". Five of them said they had received inquiries from the Justice Department. The Pentagon also took action to downgrade and cut the pension of Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired Navy captain.
The Federal Reserve has also come under pressure after the president repeatedly pushed for lower interest rates. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the institution had received subpoenas related to renovations to its headquarters, a move he described as part of a pressure campaign. The president also tried to fire Board member Lisa Cook, accusing her of mortgage fraud. Cook is appealing the decision, and the Supreme Court must hear the case.
Over the summer, the Justice Department fired dozens of employees who worked on special counsel Jack Smith's investigations into Trump. The White House also stripped a number of former and current officials, including former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and members of their national security team, of their access to classified information.
In parallel, Trump has been making extensive use of his pardon power, clearing charges against his allies. On his first day in office, he pardoned nearly all of the defendants and convicts in the January 6 Capitol storming. Among those who received pardons or commutations were Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar, former Republican George Santos, former Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
3. Mass Deportations and Increased Immigration Enforcement
The president fulfilled a central campaign promise by announcing and implementing what his administration describes as the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. As of mid-December, the Department of Homeland Security reported approximately 1.9 million so-called "self-deportations" and more than 622,000 forced deportations since the beginning of his term. As of last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was holding 73,000 people in custody, a record high. The administration has set a goal of holding more than 100,000 migrants at any given time.
As part of this policy, the United States has signed agreements with a number of countries to accept deportees who are not their citizens. In addition to Latin American countries, such agreements have been reached with countries such as Eswatini, Uganda, South Sudan, Laos, Myanmar, Kosovo, and Rwanda.
Apprehensions at the U.S. southwest border have fallen to a historic low. In December, U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained 6,478 people, a 96% drop from the same period a year earlier.
In March, the president invoked emergency wartime powers to send hundreds of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, to the CECOT detention center in El Salvador. A Human Rights Watch report found that half of those deported had no criminal record, and only eight had been convicted of violent crimes. One Salvadoran national who was wrongfully deported was returned to the United States, where he was charged and re-deported to a third country. All Venezuelans sent to CECOT were later returned to Venezuela in a prisoner exchange.
The Department of Homeland Security has launched large-scale immigration enforcement operations in cities including Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and Portland, with several actions leading to protests. Tensions have escalated since the fatal shooting of civilian Rene Goode in Minneapolis earlier this month.
The president has deployed National Guard units to assist federal agencies, prompting lawsuits from states including California, Illinois, and Oregon. In a number of cases, the courts sided with the states. The National Guard will remain stationed in Washington, but the president withdrew parts from other jurisdictions at the end of 2025.
Despite the unprecedented scale of the operation, Trump told the media that the deportations "did not go far enough."
4. Demonstration of American power abroad and realignment of foreign policy
Among the president's most significant actions were those related to the use of military force abroad and the rethinking of relations with allies.
In June, the United States carried out large-scale strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran as part of Operation "Midnight Hammer." The president subsequently threatened further strikes over the crackdown on protesters.
Amid a military buildup in Latin America, the United States has carried out at least 34 strikes against vessels accused of transporting drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans. More than 120 people have died.
On January 3, US forces invaded Venezuela and captured then-President Nicolas Maduro. The White House announced that the US would take over the country and control its oil infrastructure, with the proceeds being used "for the benefit of Venezuelans, Americans and American energy companies". This was presented as part of the so-called "Donro Doctrine".
At the same time, the president began a campaign to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory within Denmark, which caused serious concern among NATO allies. Trump has not ruled out the use of military force and has threatened tariffs on opposing European countries.
The president has tried to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, but efforts have stalled since a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in August.
In October, the administration, along with Middle Eastern partners, brokered a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. All live hostages were released, and the fragile truce remains in place.
5. Economic Policy Realignment and the Cult of Tariffs
The president has repeatedly called himself the "tariff king", making trade tariffs a central tool of his economic policy. He claims the tariffs bring in billions of dollars in revenue, while economists warn that the cost is ultimately borne by American consumers.
The new tariffs on Chinese goods have sparked a trade war with China, with tariffs temporarily exceeding 100% on both sides. A meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in October led to a partial de-escalation.
The president’s key economic law, which he calls “the big, beautiful law,” extended tax cuts from his first term, with some funding coming from cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs.
6. Expanding the limits of presidential power
Although the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress, relatively few significant legislative initiatives have been passed in Washington. Instead, President Donald Trump has relied heavily on executive action to achieve his goals. According to the Federal Register, in 2025 and the first weeks of 2026, he signed 228 executive orders, not counting other forms of executive action, significantly surpassing all of his predecessors in their first year in office.
The president's use of emergency powers to impose tariffs without congressional approval has been challenged in court and has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices are expected to rule soon on whether the president had the constitutional right to impose these tariffs. If the court rules that such a right did not exist, the federal government could be faced with finding a mechanism to recover the funds already collected.
The use of military force without explicit congressional approval in Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, as well as the deployment of National Guard units to American cities, have also raised serious questions about the constitutionality and limits of executive power. Last month, the Supreme Court blocked the deployment of the National Guard to Chicago.
After a political stalemate in Congress led to the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, the White House is testing the limits of its power to unilaterally redirect funds. The administration continued to pay military and FBI agents, tried to lay off thousands of suspended government employees, and threatened to cut food aid payments, leading to new lawsuits.
7. Bending institutions to the president's will
Another consistent trend in the Trump administration has been to pressure institutions to comply with the president's will. He has cut government contracts and revoked classified information clearances from major law firms that have represented his political opponents. The American Bar Association has sued this practice, calling it a "law firm intimidation policy". Some law firms, under pressure, have entered into agreements with the administration to provide millions of dollars in pro bono legal services.
The president has pressured both federal agencies and private employers to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. His administration has focused its efforts on what it calls "woke" initiatives in the military, business, education, and other areas of American society.
The White House has threatened legal action or otherwise pressured universities over their DEI policies, pro-Palestinian student protests, or the provision of state tuition to undocumented immigrants, in some cases withholding federal funding. Columbia University reached a settlement with the administration to avoid further investigations, and Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) have also entered into various agreements with federal authorities.
The president has personally sued several media organizations over their coverage. On the eve of the inauguration, Disney, the owner of ABC News, agreed to pay $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump. CBS News was also among the media outlets the president sued, and Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, later agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit related to a 2024 "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris. Neither company has pleaded guilty.
8. Governing Through Deals with Companies and Countries
Instead of imposing a unified policy through legislation, the president has touted his ability to make deals—the more the merrier—with individual companies and countries. The tariff negotiations with different rates for different countries are a prime example of this approach.
The president has tried to negotiate individual agreements with pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices for Americans. Among the drugs that could be sold directly to consumers at lower prices are GLP-1 weight loss drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound.
Trump has also announced deals to invest in U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure with tech giants such as Apple, Meta and OpenAI, as well as with trading partners such as South Korea and Japan, although some of these corporate investments were planned before his term.
The administration has tried to broker a deal in which TikTok’s Chinese parent company would sell its U.S. operations to U.S. investors in order to avoid a legal national ban on the social network. It is not yet clear whether such a deal would be approved by Chinese authorities.
The president has allowed Japan-based Nippon Steel to acquire U.S. Steel, but with the condition of so-called "golden stock", which gives the president the right to review and influence certain key corporate decisions.
9. Imposing a personal stamp on the White House and Washington
The president has taken active steps to leave his personal stamp on the White House itself and on the appearance of Washington more generally. He has moved forward with plans to build a grand ballroom on the grounds of the presidential residence and to build a new triumphal arch, comparable to other great national monuments.
In October, Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House with minimal advance notice to make way for the ballroom project. The architects presented their plans to an oversight board that oversees construction on federal land. The president said the cost, which has already ballooned to about $400 million, would be covered by private donations, including from companies and individuals with large business interests in the federal government.
Trump has also renovated other parts of the White House, building a terrace in the Rose Garden, installing massive new flagpoles, redecorating the Oval Office with gold accents and creating a "Presidential Walk of Fame" with photos of his predecessors - except for former President Joe Biden, who is represented only by an image of an automatic signing machine (autopen).
The president has also touted plans to build a triumphal arch over the Potomac River in Virginia. The models unveiled in October are called "Independence Arch".
The administration is also working to add Trump's name to various institutions in Washington. The board of trustees he appointed for the Kennedy Center, the nation's premier cultural institution, voted to rename it the "Trump Kennedy Center," a change that requires congressional approval. In December, the president's name was added to the U.S. Institute of Peace, which the State Department said was intended to "reflect the greatest dealmaker in the nation's history."