By Paul Rozycki
On the national political scene, 2025 has been a year of dramatic turmoil and change.
In the less than 12 months since President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, the nation has faced challenges and changes that surpass many in recent history.
Unlike in his first term, Trump has surrounded himself with supporters who are largely unwilling to oppose him as he expands executive power beyond its normal limits.
Most of the Republican members of Congress have followed suit, as evidenced by their support of the recent federal shutdown – though a few are starting to speak out.
And while some federal district and appeals court judges have attempted to block Trump’s actions, the U.S. Supreme Court seems willing to go along with several of them. For example, in the last week of its 2024-25 term, the Court granted the administration’s request to continue deporting immigrants to nations other than their home country.
Overall, most of Trump’s early agenda has faced vociferous opposition and support, and it may take years to sort out the full impact of all the actions his government has taken just this year. Here’s a look back at some of them.
Pardons
On Inauguration Day, President Trump pardoned some 1,500 individuals who were part of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Many other pardons of Trump allies and supporters have followed, including those charged with being “fake electors” in Michigan. By early December Trump had issued about 2,000 pardons or commutations, including convicted drug-trafficker and former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández; Changpeng Zhao, founder of cryptocurrency exchange that has connections to Trump family crypto ventures; and two turkeys, Gobble and Waddle, just before Thanksgiving.
DOGE
We have seen attempts to cut the size and spending of government as the now-defunct “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) dismissed tens of thousands of federal employees by June. DOGE’s former leader, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, symbolized the dramatic cuts by waving a chainsaw around at a conservative political conference earlier in the year. And while Trump recently ended the DOGE initiative eight months early, the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service estimated that it cost the government $135 billion rather than saving U.S. taxpayers any money.
Tariff wars
Much of the early part of 2025 was centered on Trump’s “Tariff Wars,” which greatly increased tariffs on goods from many nations. Over the year some of those tariffs were delayed or modified, but the tariffs – and the ongoing uncertainty around them – produced strong reactions from other nations and trading partners of the U.S. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, here in Michigan, tariffs resulted in major auto companies reporting significant revenue declines in the second quarter of the year. Both General Motors and Ford showed losses of about $1 billion.
Government shutdown
The past year saw the longest government shutdown in history: 43 days. During that time, the president dismissed a significant number of governmental employees, withheld Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and blocked the compilation and release of important reports on the economy.
The key issue between Democrats and Republicans was the extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that went into effect during the pandemic, for which Democrats said they were holding out. A vote on the issue is scheduled for the near future.
DEI limits
One major policy of the second Trump administration was to end or limit diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI) in many organizations, from colleges and universities to private companies. Many organizations complied while others resisted. The University of Michigan closed its DEI office in response to pressure from the administration early in the year.
Immigration
Immigration was a major issue that Trump ran on and his second term. Since returning to office, he’s mobilized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and local-level police forces to round up and deport illegal immigrants – though at least 170 American citizens have been swept up in these efforts according to an October ProPublica report. While the methods used to detain people have been sometimes successfully challenged in court, the number of detainees in ICE custody hit a record high of 66,000 in November – a 70% increase to the detainee population since Trump took office, according to reporting by CBS.
National Guard in cities
Perhaps one of the most controversial of Trump’s policies has been the use of the National Guard troops as a police force in urban areas of the U.S., often cities governed by Democratic mayors such as Memphis, Los Angeles, Portland and Washington D.C. There have been challenges in the courts that have blocked some of these actions, and state attorneys general in 22 states, including Michigan’s Dana Nessel, have taken legal action to block the use of the National Guard in this manner.
Criminal charges against adversaries
Other contentious actions include Trump’s attempts to bring criminal charges against his adversaries. So far the courts have intervened to block some of those prosecutions, such as those aimed at former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. But Trump more recently threatened six U.S. Senators, including Michigan’s Elissa Slotkin, with treason charges for producing a video saying that those in the military do not have to follow illegal orders.
The Epstein files
A continuing hot button issue has been the attempt to force the release of the “Epstein Files” which might connect many high level individuals, including Trump, to Jeffery Epstein, a financier charged with sex trafficking who died in jail in 2019. After much delay and debate, Congress did vote to release the files.
All of the files were ordered to be released by Dec. 19, but the Department of Justice did not end up meeting that deadline, with “several hundred thousand” pages still being reviewed according to a BBC report.
Wars
On a positive note, the Trump administration played a key role in the current, if tenuous, ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. With some exceptions, the ceasefire seems to be holding, but there are still many details to work out for the future of Gaza and the Palestinian people.
Trump is now making similar attempts to bring a conclusion to the war between Russia and Ukraine, but the prospect of peace seems elusive as a first proposal seemed to heavily favor the Russians and was widely criticized by the European Union.
Closer to home, the recent U.S. military buildup around Venezuela and the administration’s attacks of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean raise the threat of future U.S.-involved conflict and allegations of war crimes.
Stock market record
The stock market reached record high levels, fueled in large part by the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) investments. Yet some financial analysts fear that the AI “bubble” could burst, leading to a sharp decline in stock prices as happened with the “dot-com” bubble in the late 1990s. Others are concerned about the impact of AI on many white collar jobs that could be performed with artificial intelligence programs.
Continuing political violence
2025 was also a year of much political violence domestically, from the shooting of political activist Charlie Kirk to the attack on the Mormon Church in Grand Blanc and the shooting of National Guard troops ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Senator Slotkin also faced a bomb threat at her home in Holly following her comments that the military should resist illegal orders from the president.
Positives on the local level
While national politics brought us much controversy in 2025, on the state and local levels, we’ve had some good news.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer worked with Trump on several beneficial projects, such as expanding the Selfridge Air National Guard Base, and the split state legislature did produce a budget despite a divisive year for Republicans and Democrats nationally.
We also saw the Genesee County Board of Commissioners move to a new administration building in downtown Flint, consolidating 14 departments into a single location, and, following many deadlocked votes, Flint City Council found a working majority with the election of LaShawn Johnson (3rd Ward). Further, in May, eleven years after the Flint water crisis began, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lifted its emergency order requiring the city to treat its drinking water to control pipe corrosion, as reported in Michigan Public Radio, and payments to those harmed by the water crisis are moving closer to reality.
Though we’ve had some positives on the local level, federal actions will continue to present challenges to all of us in 2026. My hope is that we will all be able to meet those challenges with optimism and a positive attitude in the new year and beyond.
Editor’s Note: This article originally ran in East Village Magazine’s December 2025 print edition. It has been updated to include additional information on the Epstein Files, which had not been released at the time of print.
