MAGA world seems to be down at the mouth lately. Though still months away, the latest polling seems to portend defeat in the upcoming midterms. And yet, looking back over the past year since January 20, 2025, I see not gloomy defeat but an America that has—for the first time in decades—a fighting chance.
The first year of President Trump’s second administration gives me hope that America will not continue on the path that seemed inevitable just over a year ago: tyrannical censorship, weaponized government agencies, and a Rubicon as heavily trafficked as the Rio Grande. Instead, the Trump Administration has racked up a series of clear victories in several major areas of policy that they can build on in the years ahead to inaugurate a new American golden age.
Monumental Immigration Enforcement
No issue was more central to Trump’s ascent than finally getting immigration under control, a demand from American voters that both parties had previously ignored for decades. In his first administration, Trump controlled the border. But in his second term, he’s done far more than that (crossings these days are virtually nil, something the political class said just a couple of years ago required an act of Congress). He’s taken massive steps toward removing the many millions who reside in the United States illegally.
Despite furious and often unlawful interference by lower courts, the Department of Homeland Security reports that it deported over 600,000 people in 2025. In addition to deportation quotas, made harder to meet in blue states because of sanctuary policies necessitating community raids, many more illegal immigrants are choosing to take the administration’s deal: $1,000 to self-deport rather than wait for ICE to get them. An estimated 2.5 million aliens left America during the first year of Trump’s second term.
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