Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, will mark President Donald Trump\u2019s first year in office for his second term.<\/p>\n
Over the past year, Trump and his administration have made a string of highly controversial policy decisions. Compared to his first term, Trump has enacted harsher policies<\/a> on immigration, tariffs and foreign affairs, drawing criticism.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Protests in the U.S. were up 133%<\/a> in 2025 compared to 2017, the first year of Trump\u2019s first presidency. In June 2025, the No Kings protests<\/a> became one of the largest<\/a> single-day protests in recent U.S. history. More recently, there have been nationwide anti-ICE protests<\/a> in response to Trump\u2019s immigration enforcement and ICE presence in major cities, including Portland<\/a> and Minneapolis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Paul Johnson, an associate professor in the Department of Communication, explained how Trump\u2019s increasing ability to deport immigrants to foreign countries<\/a> is because of shifts in immigration enforcement norms. Along with the change in enforcement, the Trump administration has restricted the distribution of new student visas<\/a> and terminated existing visas<\/a>, prohibiting access to the United States for some.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a long time, [there was] a kind of modus vivendi that [has] been established with regards to the charges<\/a> that you could receive if you were a person here without a proper legal authorization \u2014 that right has been basically abolished.\u201d Johnson said. \u201cEven before that, [they] have been cracking down on all kinds of visas<\/a>, so they\u2019re just making it harder for people to come here through the legal channels<\/a> too.\u201d<\/p>\n Lou Glatt, a sophomore biology major, has experienced the Trump administration\u2019s change in immigration policy. She said her neighborhood back home has been \u201cripped apart\u201d by Immigration Customs Enforcement<\/a> officers, leaving her feeling powerless.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m from Minneapolis. My neighborhood and all neighboring neighborhoods are being ripped apart right now, families and everything<\/a>,\u201d Glatt said. \u201cA lady I work with, she got deported by ICE at her other job, and it\u2019s just scary to see all this happening. It feels helpless. Even though I know there are things that [the people who want to make a difference] can do to show support, we don\u2019t have the power to change what we want to change.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Glatt described President Trump\u2019s first year back in office as \u201cscary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI say that because a lot of people from my community just aren\u2019t safe,\u201d Glatt said. \u201cA lot of people are being ripped away<\/a> from their home.\u201d<\/p>\n Jalynn Braxton, a sophomore digital communications major, said the past year has been \u201cexhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like we just hear so many new news stories every day, and it\u2019s so hard to keep up with everything changing so fast with the government,\u201d Bratt said. \u201dIt\u2019s just so hard to hear everything that\u2019s happening. It\u2019s very exhausting to hear.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson said, overall, the policies and decisions of the Trump administration are not very popular<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issue of the border crisis [in] 2024<\/a>, both parties agreed, [was a] huge issue<\/a>,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cNow that people see what they meant when they said \u2018border crisis,\u2019 which was abducting their friends and family members and hauling them off to some prison<\/a> in a foreign country, they don\u2019t actually like that very much.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, most Americans disapprove of the Trump administration\u2019s tariffs, amongst other policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cApproval for the tariffs is actually pretty low<\/a>, because you\u2019re starting to see inflation creep into lots of different things<\/a>,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not popular legitimacy, because what they\u2019re doing is, by and large, very unpopular.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson offered insight into how the Trump administration has been able to change policies so drastically in such a short period of time, despite the administration\u2019s lack of public support<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think [there are] two factors \u2014 one is spectacle,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey\u2019re very good at using social media<\/a> to kind of produce an image of themselves as powerful. This is why ICE will pump out videos on social media<\/a>, clips of people being detained and thrown into a plane and sent away. Fear is a big part of it, too. Fear and a combination of opportunity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nolan Blaze, a sophomore nursing student, does not think Trump\u2019s second term is going very well. He thinks the administration is focusing too heavily on what he sees as \u201cnon-major\u201d issues, such as immigration.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not very happy with how it\u2019s been going. I think there\u2019s just been a lot of focus on non-issues that are very polarizing<\/a> and just aren\u2019t helpful to moving the country forward,\u201d Blaze said. \u201cA lot of them are ICE deportations, especially when it comes to the fact that the majority of the people that he\u2019s deporting are not criminals<\/a>, let alone violent criminals, or have convictions in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaze would prefer the administration to focus more on the economy and lowering costs.<\/p>\n \u201cHousing is more expensive than ever<\/a>, groceries are more<\/a> expensive than ever, tuition is more <\/a>expensive than ever,\u201d Blaze said. \u201cThe wages that people are making aren\u2019t keeping up with that<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jesse Milston, vice president of College Republicans at Pitt<\/a> and junior political science major, said Trump\u2019s first year back in office is off to a good start.<\/p>\n \u201cThe term is going very well,\u201d Milston said. \u201cHe\u2019s been acting on things he clearly promised<\/a> he would during the campaign. More than half of what was promised in the campaign platform sheet was focused on in the [One Big Beautiful Bill Act<\/a>] alone. He\u2019s closed the border<\/a>, reordered our trade<\/a>, lowered taxes<\/a> and has run a phenomenal foreign affairs plan<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Gianni Davis, a first-year majoring in psychology, said while they aren\u2019t a fan of the administration, they are not surprised by the actions Trump\u2019s team has taken so far.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think any of it\u2019s going well \u2014 it\u2019s going how I expected it to go,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThe economy hasn\u2019t improved, really at all, since Biden\u2019s term<\/a>. When [Trump] got into office and he passed those [tariffs], prices started going up<\/a> in pretty much every capacity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Chilota Udeani, a first-year studying political science, said Trump and his second-term administration have motivated her to get more involved in politics and make her voice heard.<\/p>\n \u201cI am getting more involved, especially since I have turned 18,\u201d Udeani said. \u201cLast year was the very first time I voted. Even though it was a small election, I did feel like my voice was getting heard. And I was at an ICE protest. [I\u2019m] trying to get involved more, and trying to know [what] is happening, and do something about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n