United States: Political developments and data in 2025: The return of Trump

Abstract

On 20 January, Donald Trump returned to the White House and immediately began to challenge previously accepted constitutional and legal expectations. Setting the tone for the year, by the end of his first day in office, he had issued executive orders soon challenged in, stayed by, or overturned by the courts, pardoned or commuted the sentences of January 6 rioters, and appointed a cabinet widely seen to be more notable for its loyalty to him than to the mission of, or competence for, the departments they were to head.