Official White House photo

Not long ago, I stopped watching the national news. I told myself I was stepping away from the noise and the churn for some peace of mind. But reading a daily paper doesn’t guarantee a complete sense of calm; it simply delivers the chaos in longer form: page after page of anger, violence, grievance, retribution, and my-way-or-the-highway governance.

It is nearly impossible to avoid the daily barrage of headlines about President Donald Trump: what he’s done, what he threatens to do, or what now bends around him.

Today marks one year since Trump was sworn in as president. This is what Americans have been living through.

Domestic Actions:

• Granted clemency to approximately 1,500 individuals charged or convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol that we all witnessed.
• Fired or sidelined FBI and DOJ officials connected to January 6 investigations, including the abrupt dismissal of career prosecutors
• Continued to publicly deny losing the 2020 presidential election.
• Governed through a historically high volume of executive orders, including dozens on his first day back in office—actions largely supported by Republican leadership and now moving through an unsettled judicial process, with the Supreme Court determining the boundaries of presidential power as cases proceed.
• Cut, dismissed, or left vacant roughly 300,000 federal civil service positions, hollowing out institutional capacity.
• Weakened or dismantled Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives—intended, as the title suggests, to broaden opportunity, promote fairness, and ensure that all Americans, regardless of political or religious affiliation, have a fair chance across the federal workforce and beyond.
• Restructured or downsized federal agencies, including significant reductions at USAID– the United States Agency for International Development–whose mandate is to provide humanitarian services, global health programs, food security, agriculture initiatives, respond to natural disasters and refugee emergencies, and promote democratic institutions, rule of law, and civil society.
• Paused most foreign aid programs pending review, a domestic decision with immediate global consequences: disrupting humanitarian relief, halting health and food assistance, and weakening U.S. credibility and influence in fragile regions.
• Rolled back environmental regulations, including emissions limits and climate enforcement, while threatening federal action against states pursuing renewable energy mandates.
• Expanded executive control over independent agencies, challenging long-standing norms of autonomy.
• Advanced sweeping deregulation affecting labor, finance, and consumer protection. (There are more links to specific groups targeted.)
• Pushed broad tariff authority from the White House, sidelining congressional oversight.
• Publicly attacked the press–(calling a female reporter “piggy.”)–universities (e.g. Harvard), and civil society organizations as enemies or corrupt institutions.
• Eliminated federal funding for PBS, silencing educational and investigative programming such as American Experience, Ken Burns documentaries, NOVA, Frontline, and PBS NewsHour
• Moved to defund Voice of America, weakening access to fact-based reporting in countries with limited press freedom.
• In Minnesota, threatened to deploy federal forces after protests following a fatal ICE-involved shooting, while administration officials asserted that ICE agents possess federal immunity for actions taken in enforcement.
• Threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis in response to continued protests regarding immigration-related arrests.

International Actions:

• Reduced U.S. support for NATO allies, straining long-standing security partnerships.
• Recalled or left vacant 30–40 ambassadorial and senior envoy posts across more than 25 countries, slowing diplomacy and crisis response.
• Withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and promoted renewed coal production, sharply reducing U.S. leadership on climate change and related global health initiatives; climate scientists widely agree that coal combustion is a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Threatened military action against Iran, tying it to internal unrest and regional instability. This marks a shift from his campaign promises.
• Signaled openness to authoritarian and nationalist governments while distancing democratic allies.
• Advocated U.S. annexation of Greenland on national security grounds, suggesting it could be done “the easy way or the hard way.”
• After U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, declared the United States would “run” Venezuela during a transition, including overseeing oil production and involving U.S. energy companies.

The question is no longer what Donald Trump will do next. The question is when Congressional Republicans will honor the oath they swore—to the Constitution and all Americans—and act before the damage becomes irreversible.