What a year.
President Trump finished the first year of his second term imposing sadistic violence on American communities and creating chaos around the world. American families face rising costs for food and health care, but Trump and his family have raked in billions from corruption and self-dealing.
Anyone paying attention to Project 2025’s destructive plans and Trump’s seething desire for revenge against his opponents knew last year was going to be bad. Shamefully, many people helped advance that destruction. Fortunately, many others rose to the occasion to blunt Trump’s efforts.
A full accounting will take years and many books, but within our limited space let’s remember just a few of the Trump collaborators who will fill history’s hall of shame. And let’s celebrate some of the heroes who met the moment with courage and conviction.
First, from the hall of shame:
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.): Johnson says God chose him to lead America like Moses. But he’s acted more like a manservant to Pharaoh. Johnson has led congressional Republicans abandoning their constitutional responsibility to be a check on abuse of power — while shoveling more of our national wealth to the top 1 percent.
MAGA tech bros: Tech execs who lined up at Trump’s inauguration to pledge their loyalty and money have been more than paid back with billions in contracts, tax cuts and deregulation — all while gutting Americans’ privacy, safety and financial security. The DOGE assault on cancer research and other science will cost Americans dearly. Elon Musk’s destruction of USAID saw the world’s richest man using our government as a weapon against millions of the world’s poorest. Shame is not a strong enough word.
Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan, Gregory Bovino, and their machinery of terror: Citizens, children, grandparents — no one is safe from the brazen violence and culture of impunity that Trump and his gang have unleashed in Minneapolis and other communities. It is heartbreaking — and enraging.
Former and current owners of CBS News: Trump filed a ridiculous lawsuit against CBS over his claim that a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris was edited unfairly. It would have been laughed out of court. But CBS’s corporate owners wanted approval from Trump’s corrupt regime for a merger that would make them even richer. So, they sacrificed the network’s integrity and handed him millions. Then the new MAGA-aligned owner put CBS News in the hands of a Trump-approved editor-in-chief. She yanked a 60 Minutes story about Trump shipping people to a torture camp in El Salvador. (The story eventually did run.) We need a robust free press, not more MAGA mouthpieces.
Chief Justice John Roberts: The disastrous Supreme Court ruling inventing a broad doctrine of presidential immunity was handed down by Roberts and his majority in 2024, but that ruling and others last year have emboldened Trump’s lawlessness. Bonus call out to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who will long be remembered for justifying ICE abusing the rights of U.S. citizens via the “Kavanaugh stop.”
Thank goodness for our heroes:
The Justice League: The rule of law is more fragile than we hoped but stronger than Trump would like. Thousands of lawyers have urged courts to uphold Americans’ rights and freedoms. Judges appointed by Republicans and Democrats alike have done their jobs and required the Trump regime to follow the law. They remind us how important it is to have principled judges, not political enforcers, on the bench.
Protesters and resisters: I am deeply moved by the solidarity and heroism shown by everyday Americans turning out to protect their neighbors even in the face of official brutality and deadly violence. Our responsibility is not to be silent, and not to comply with tyranny.
Elected officials: Trump is using the federal government to wage financial and physical warfare against cities and states whose leaders will not submit to his will. There are too many to name — local leaders, mayors, governors, state legislators and members of Congress. On days when hope is hard to muster, I am grateful for every brave and committed leader who is using the power of their office to serve their communities.
Voters: Trump lies about having the “best numbers ever,” but in November, voters in Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Georgia and across the country resoundingly rejected MAGA candidates in favor of leaders who promised to work for the people, not the president. They have given us a road map to shift our tragic national trajectory in this year’s midterms.
For all the harm done by Trump’s regime — and they’re just getting started — we have seen that they are not invincible. Let’s make this the year we stop them in their tracks.
