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We, like many others, predicted that a second Trump term would be bad for America. We knew that Donald Trump would be motivated by settling scores and punishing his perceived enemies. We feared that the guardrails that held his first term in the White House somewhat in check had been weakened or eliminated. His policy priorities, experts warned, would weaken America, at home and abroad.
Those fears — and many others — have already come to fruition, and Trump has been back in office for only a year.
We’ve learned that Congress — controlled by Republicans — and the Supreme Court — controlled by conservatives — have failed to be a check on a damaging and divisive president.
Of course, presidents, having won elections, are granted somewhat wide latitude to enact their policies and to appoint the people of their choosing. But, Trump’s behavior and priorities are so far beyond the norms of American leadership that the traditional rules of governing have been torn apart or set aside.
Because Trump’s leadership is of a sort we haven’t seen before in America, the response must also be of a sort we haven’t yet experienced. So far, such a response has not materialized from an obsequious cabinet, a compliant Congress and an empowering Supreme Court. State leaders, like Gov. Janet Mills, have and will continue to be tested to uphold state laws and federal legal and constitutional requirements that the Trump administration tries to ignore.
Trump campaigned on a pledge to make America great again. Instead, our economy is under strain and prices continue to rise.
He has weakened America by threatening our allies and backing our long-time adversaries. U.S. foreign policy is as incoherent as it is cruel. For example, he has threatened to take over Greenland and its resources because Norway didn’t give him the Nobel Peace Prize. He pardoned the former president of Honduras who had been convicted of helping drug traffickers while bombing Venezuela and capturing its president, who the administration blames for drugs that come from other countries.
At home, Trump has unleashed an empowered, but hastily trained, band of masked men, under the guises of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to terrorize cities and states that favor Democrats. ICE agents are acting far beyond their authority to enforce American immigration laws to threaten, harass and assault people, many of whom are American citizens.
The goal of these actions, as we’ve seen an expected expansion of ICE activities in Maine, is to spread fear and to stoke calls for compliance. Just follow the law, this logic claims, and you’ll be left alone. Yet, we’ve seen protesters, operating in ways the masked agents don’t like but that are clearly within the bounds of the law, physically assaulted, tear gassed and detained. A Minnesota court order demanded an end to such behavior, but it continues.
We’ve seen U.S. citizens targeted for the color of their skin or an accent harassed to show proof of their citizenship, a new “show us your papers” standard that Americans have long decried. We saw a U.S. citizen shot dead by an ICE agent who called her a slur, walked to his vehicle and drove away. The Department of Justice has declined to investigate the officers’ actions.
Meanwhile, immigrants, even if they are in the U.S. legally, are hiding, keeping their children out of school, missing work and relying on others for food and safety. Some are trying to leave America, action that is cheered by the now misnamed Department of Homeland Security, which encourages such self deportations.
In one year, Trump has taken a country that had an astoundingly successful recovery from the COVID pandemic, and turned it into a country with a weakening economy damaged by a strong undercurrent of fear and resentment.
Even the people Trump has empowered are likely scared. Afraid that they will eventually be found out for the weakness that drives their anger and hatred. Fear, much more than strength, is a motivator when a leader seeks to turn people against one another, against perceived enemies who are different.
Republicans who see the damage Trump is doing are afraid to speak out because he and his backers are quick to resort to violent threats. People like former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, have had their lives and the lives of their families threatened because they dared to challenge Trump and his worldview.
Worse, of course, is the fear borne by those who Trump has made targets: immigrants, transgender Americans, judges, Democratic leaders, the list is long. For many, the threats were followed by action. The Trump administration, beyond the expanding ICE raids, has tried to end long-standing legal protections for immigrants from many countries, including Somalia. Many were stopped by federal judges.
The administration has pushed policies, withheld funding and launched investigations targeting transgender students. Such actions helped spawn a referendum question to take away the rights of transgender students in Maine, which voters may see on the November ballot.
Far from making America great again, the first year of Trump policies and actions have widened long-existing fissures in an effort to turn Americans against one another. The year since Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025 has been demoralizing and anxiety inducing. But, we’ve also seen great moments of courage and support.
We don’t know what the next three years will bring, but we know that such courage and support will be much needed to hold America together and to begin to heal the vast damage that the president has done.