Trump’s year has revealed an authoritarian who believes in his divine right to rule

One chaotic year of Donald Trump’s second term has redrawn US politics, concentrating unprecedented presidential power, eroding democratic guardrails and leaving allies, institutions and voters struggling to grasp the speed, scale and consequences, writes Jon Sopel

You know the quote. The one attributed to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The one where he is said to have said, “there are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen”. Well, on that basis, it feels like one year of Donald Trump has been a millennium.

Sitting down to write a review of this momentous and consequential year, I got my notepad out and started to scribble down all that I could remember: Tariffs. Liberation Day. Going to war with the Fed. Epstein. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Zelensky eviscerated in the WH. Putin feted in Alaska. Flip-flopping on Ukraine. Second UK state visit. Strikes on Iran. Release of Israeli hostages. No Nobel Prize. But the inaugural Fifa peace prize! Greenland. Bond market wobbles. Labour statistics head fired cos Trump didn’t like the statistics. Persecution of political opponents.

Comey, Letitia James, John Bolton indicted. Crack down on anti-Trump protesters. Pardoning of all January 6 rioters. White House website says J6 was peaceful. Death of woke. Dwarves cause Washington plane crash. Demolition of East Wing. New ballroom. Trump crypto. Gold bars from the Swiss. Jumbo from Qatar. Trump family enriching itself. Smithsonian removes all reference to past Trump impeachments. Shakedown of biggest US law firms. Dozing off in cabinet. Health questions. Charlie Kirk murder. TV host Jimmy Kimmel fired and then reinstated. Media companies surrender. Musk fireworks. DOGE. USAID. Pentagon becomes department of war. Generals told to do press-ups and lose weight. Venezuela boat strikes. Maduro abducted. Minnesota. ICE immunity.

The behaviour of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers has been likened to a private militia (Getty)

Is this exhaustive? No. But – jeezzz – it’s exhausting.

So, how to make sense of it all? In academic circles in the US, there is an active debate going on about whether the word ‘fascist’ should now be applied to Donald Trump, but that seems to have limited value. Or is he a neo-royalist? I’m not sure any ‘ism’ fits into a characterisation of this president.

Just in the last couple of weeks, he has embraced policies on house prices and credit card fees that would be welcomed on the left. He greeted the newly elected socialist mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, as though they had been lifelong bosom buddies. On one of the key policy offerings in the 2024 election – stopping illegal immigration across the southern border – he has been astonishingly successful. The promised undoing of woke and DEI policies has happened. A lot of what he pledged to the American people has been delivered.

Trump’s proudest achievements are his tariff policy, which he will tell you has swelled treasury coffers – but at the expense of the American people, who are still struggling with rising prices (The White House)

The economy is more problematic. Donald Trump’s proudest achievements are his tariff policy, which he will tell you has swelled treasury coffers – but at the expense of the American people, who are still struggling with rising prices – and affordability is going to be one of the key battles going into the midterms in November. And that has hit his approval ratings.

Donald Trump doesn’t have a central political philosophy. He has impulses. He is smart and cunning. Sometimes he behaves strategically; often he just trusts his gut. But there are some unmistakable characteristics. There was a book written in the 1970s during Richard Nixon’s time, and it was called The Imperial Presidency, by Arthur M Schlesinger Jr. It traced the growing power of the presidency from George Washington onwards. If Mr Schlesinger were alive today, he would be frantically rewriting – because never has the presidency looked more imperial, or more regal.

Donald Trump is an authoritarian leader who seemingly believes he should have untrammelled power. He rewards his allies; he is vindictive and vengeful towards his enemies. You don’t want to incur his wrath. In my list of the year, some of what is listed – like the pardoning of the January 6th rioters, or the Smithsonian Museum removing all reference to Donald Trump’s impeachment might seem relatively inconsequential, but they point to a president who behaves as though he has total impunity; without the guardrails that might have inhibited less imperious presidents. History can be rewritten. The January 6th rioters weren’t rioters, they were peaceful protesters. It says so on the White House website. But anyone who opposes him is an enemy.

Look at what is happening in Minneapolis right now. The behaviour of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, currently marauding around the city in their unmarked cars, snatching people off the streets if their skin colour is brown (Hispanic) or black (Somali), demanding that they prove they are not illegal aliens, has been likened to a private militia, answering only to Donald Trump. Some have even said it reminds them of the Gestapo in the Second World War.

That is not me drawing that analogy. It is Joe Rogan, America’s most influential podcaster, and a crucial voice in helping Trump win re-election. One woman has been killed; on Wednesday night, a Venezuelan-born man was shot in the leg. The videos flooding social media are harrowing, and somehow profoundly un-American.

Far from trying to douse the flames, it feels as though the White House has wanted to fan them. Stephen Miller, a key Trump adviser from the first term who has assumed even more power in the second, has gone on TV to denounce the protesters against the ICE officers – and has stressed they have immunity to do what they want. Immunity!

But it appears that even that is not enough for Donald Trump. He is now threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act that would allow him to put federal troops on any US city he chooses, whenever he chooses. These are extreme measures. And that brings us to the midterms in November. If Trump loses control of the House, the Democrats are bound to launch investigations into so many aspects of this administration’s behaviour. The charges of corruption are extensive. The way the Trump family appears to have enriched itself financially is going to come under fierce scrutiny. The subpoenas will fly; many will be under threat of impeachment.

Trump with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky (Reuters)

So, having reviewed the year, let’s look ahead – and let me give vent to what I have heard from many – Trump supporters and detractors alike. Losing the midterms is unthinkable to Donald Trump, so he will do whatever he can to win. When I heard the threat to bring in the Insurrection Act, it was so predictable.

Come November, let’s imagine federal troops are deployed in cities and electoral districts where the Democrats would be expected to win. But will voters want to turn out if there are going to be rifles pointed at them, with soldiers demanding to see their passports? Do you want the hassle? What if you suppress turnout enough that it hurts the Dems in their strongholds, but you leave Republican districts unscathed?

You don’t need to cancel an election to be sure to win it. But just because an election happens, doesn’t mean your democracy is in rude health. This July will mark the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution that saw off the British monarchy. Ironic that once again the US seems to have someone in charge who believes and behaves as though he has a divine right to rule.