WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday will celebrate one year back in the White House. It’s been an eventful year for the president since he was elected in late 2024.
Since the start, Trump’s second administration has made headlines, particularly as some of his Cabinet nominees were criticized by some on the left over questions about their qualifications.
With new programs like the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Trump has reshaped the federal government in Washington, D.C., and worked to pass his “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” which will extend tax cuts he passed during his first term.
Voters’ reaction to Trump’s job performance so far is mixed. While Trump’s approval rating has dropped recently at the national level to a low of around 42% according to RealClear Polling, he’s doing better among Republican voters. CNN reports that almost 9 in 10 Republicans approved of Trump’s job performance in their recent poll.
In a recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted Jan. 6-12 by Morning Consult of 799 Utah voters, 51% said they strongly or somewhat approve of Trump’s job performance, compared to 46% who disapprove. Among Republicans in the state, more than 8 in 10 voters said they approve of Trump’s job performance, while 94% of Democrats disapprove.
Trump, meanwhile, has given himself high marks.
Before Trump came to office last year he repeatedly stated that America was “dead” and now, he says, the country is the “hottest” in the world.
Take a look at some of the biggest political moments for Trump as he marks one year back in office:
First actions back in the Oval Office
Trump vowed to downsize the federal government and rein in the country’s spending. On his first day back in office, he created the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and he appointed tech billionaire Elon Musk to lead the new department.
Musk worked quickly to slash the budget by laying off thousands of government workers in various federal departments and caused a lot of confusion for those who wondered if they would be hired back on, and fear for those who remained safe from the firings.
Among the biggest cuts was the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Those who criticized the move argued that shuttering the agency left a gap in the United States’ international development and aid efforts around the world, putting many vulnerable people at risk.
On his first day back in office, Trump issued pardons to around 1,500 people who were convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes. The pardons were given to those who stormed the Capitol in 2021 and were charged with crimes under the Biden administration for their actions that day.
Trump also promptly undid many of former President Joe Biden’s actions, including withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, many diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and COVID-19 pandemic actions. Trump reversed Biden’s choice to allow transgender individuals to serve in the military, among other reversals like ending remote work for government employees.
Immigration is top priority
Trump, like in his first term, promised to crack down on illegal immigration to the United States. His administration vowed to conduct the country’s largest mass deportation effort, sparking fear among immigrants across the country.
In March, the president issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th century wartime law that allowed him to deport members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. It’s the first time it’s been used since World War II.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has overseen the administration’s deportation efforts. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have worked with states and cities to deport migrants in the country illegally. In states where officials won’t work with ICE, agents have gone into American suburbs and cities to round up migrants who have been charged with crimes, as well as those who haven’t. The effort has been met by protests from opponents who say they don’t want officers in their cities and that innocent people who haven’t committed crimes have also been detained.
The latest action has been in Minnesota. ICE agents were deployed to Minneapolis and an incident occurred earlier this month where an officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good. The killing has divided the city and led to large, daily protests.
Trump shared online that if the protests do not settle down, he would invoke the Insurrection Act to “put an end” to the violence happening across the city. Meanwhile state and local officials, like Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have called for federal officers to leave the city.
Tariff confusion
One of Trump’s major priorities upon returning to office was implementing tariffs. In January, he began by putting tariffs on goods coming into the country from China, Canada and Mexico.
In April, he announced that “Liberation Day” was here, as he levied tariffs on dozens of countries. To justify the tariffs, he declared a national emergency over the country’s trade deficit. A 10% baseline tariff was put on imports from nearly all countries and there were country-specific tariffs as well.
The Trump administration then engaged in negotiations with several countries that wanted to lower the tariffs on their exports.
National Guard in the streets
Trump first deployed members of the National Guard to quell anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, overriding Gov. Gavin Newsom and the city’s Mayor Karen Bass. After declaring the protests a national emergency, he sent troops to California.
Weeks later, the president sent troops into Washington, D.C., using the district’s Home Rule Act, which allowed him to put the city’s law enforcement under federal control to help drive down crime rates.
Since then, Guard members have been sent to other cities, including Memphis, Tennessee, and Trump has said he wanted to put troops on the ground in other Democratic-led cities like Chicago.
International action
One of the biggest accomplishments for Trump during his first year back in office was securing a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The war had waged for two years after Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.
Trump, who visited the Middle East to celebrate successful negotiations, has repeatedly touted ending that war and other conflicts that began, including between Iran and Israel.
Despite his confidence ahead of the 2024 election, Trump has not been able to bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine. Securing a ceasefire deal is a sore spot for him as he previously claimed once he was back in office he would end the war on day one.
The issue also sparked concern among the international community when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House last February for negotiations and got into an on-air verbal spat with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The two have since repaired their working relationship.
Trump is also in the process of trying to acquire Greenland. The Denmark-controlled island is necessary for U.S. national security, he said, given Russia and China’s designs on the Arctic.
Officials from Greenland and Denmark recently met with Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss their opposition to the U.S. acquiring the land.
One of Trump’s biggest international moves came at the start of 2026, when the U.S. military conducted an operation in Venezuela and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. This followed a monthslong pressure campaign against Venezuela, including boat strikes that the administration said was to target the flow of drugs coming into the United States.
Election woes and new friends
The 2025 election was another sore spot for the president. Democrats won in key races, including the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. The election wins pumped much-needed energy into the party after brutal losses across the board in 2024.
It also provided Democrats with the hope they will be successful in midterm elections in 2026, including their battle to win back control of the House.
In New York City, one of the closely watched races was the mayoral race, where Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Late in the race, Trump endorsed Cuomo, who originally lost to Mamdani in the Democratic primary then ran in the general election as an independent. The last-minute endorsement for Cuomo was an attempt to encourage more Republican support for the former governor.
However, after the election and some verbal threats from both men, Mamdani visited the White House and Trump was very friendly during their meeting.
Congress and the court
After taking home big wins in 2024, Trump reentered the White House with both chambers of Congress on his side with Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.
Congress passed Trump’s massive tax package just before July Fourth. Titled the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” it approved trillions of dollars in spending cuts to government programs and made permanent Trump-era tax cuts. It also eliminated taxes on tips and expanded the child tax credit. The bill also made changes to border security, energy production and more.
But it didn’t all go in Trump’s favor. A 43-day shutdown that started Oct. 1 plagued the federal government and brought spending across the country to a halt. This came after Congress failed to pass a spending package and left many workers without pay for weeks.
Congress was then able to pass three spending bills and a continuing resolution. Once Trump signed the resolution, the government was funded until the end of January.
Congress has until the end of the month to pass the remaining bills and if they don’t, the government will go into a partial shutdown — unlike the total shutdown that ended in November.
The Trump administration also faced a rocky few months related to the bumpy release of the files in the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump promised to release the files once elected, but after months of public pressure, Attorney General Pam Bondi slowly began making information public late last year. It’s a sensitive issue for Trump, who was once friends with Epstein.
Trump’s wins weren’t isolated to the White House or Congress, he secured several wins with the judicial branch over the year, too.
His administration appealed several cases through the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, also commonly known as the shadow docket, which quickly puts cases before the court. When Trump issued the order ending birthright citizenship, it was immediately challenged and the justices agreed to take up the case for its current term. A decision likely will be handed down by the end of June.
A look ahead
Trump has a lot on his to-do list for 2026 and his second year back in office.
Besides some aspirations including ending the Russia-Ukraine war and seeing Republicans keep hold of their majorities in Congress, Trump has plans in motion for more changes this year.
He’s demolished the East Wing of the White House for a ballroom to be built, but it won’t be completed until about 2028.
Trump also has grand plans to celebrate America’s 250th birthday and announced he will be hosting the Patriot Games, where one high school aged boy and girl from each state will compete in a sporting competition.
He also will deliver his first State of the Union address to members of Congress on Feb. 24.