Since Donald Trump took office in 2016, I have offered annual lists of the best and worst things the president did each year — a tradition I continued for Joe Biden. Now, once again, I’m keeping tabs on Trump.
Trump’s first year back in office was remarkable, and (spoiler alert) my list of the best things he did will be extensive. So let’s begin with the worst:
10. His administration sought to shut down America’s “Freedom Radios.”
Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Farda and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are the United States’ greatest low-cost, soft-power counters to authoritarian adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran, which spend tens of billions on their insidious anti-American propaganda. (Disclosure: I serve without compensation on the board of RFE/RL.) Under the chaotic leadership of Kari Lake, parent organization U.S. Agency for Global Media has tried to shutter these services. That backfired when Trump bombed Iranian nuclear sites, and Lake had gutted America’s ability to get information to the Iranian people.
9. He moved to more than double the number of visas for Chinese students.
On taking office, the Trump administration announced plans to “aggressively revoke” visas of Chinese students, whom the Chinese Communist Party systematically seeks to recruit to conduct espionage and steal “technologies needed to advance China’s national, military, and economic goals,” according to the FBI. Then Trump reversed course, announcing he would more than double the number of Chinese students attending American universities to 600,000. He was right the first time.
8. He accepted a new Air Force One from Qatar.
There is nothing illegal about accepting the donation of a Boeing 747-8 aircraft, but Qatar is a nexus of terrorism and anti-Americanism in the Middle East — a country that funneled more than $1 billion to Hamas, provides safe haven to terrorists and funds media platforms spreading antisemitic, anti-American, pro-terrorist hate. Trump should not accept gifts from such a regime.
7. He issued unjustifiable pardons.
Trump campaigned on a promise to pardon the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters, but his decision to include those convicted of violence against police officers will remain a stain on his presidency. Trump also pardoned the former president of Honduras who was convicted of trafficking tons of U.S.-bound cocaine even as the administration is blowing suspected Venezuelan drug boats out of the water in the Caribbean.
6. He ordered federal agencies to ease marijuana restrictions.
THC content in cannabis has surged, yet Trump is seeking to lower the classification of this dangerous psychoactive drug, which would further reduce the stigma of marijuana use and reduce banking and tax risks for growers. As Sen. Ted Budd (R-North Carolina) and 21 Republican colleagues told the president in a letter, numerous studies link marijuana use to “increases in industrial accidents, injuries … absenteeism” and “the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warns that marijuana users are more likely to be involved with car crashes.” Trump wants to reindustrialize America, and educational test scores are plummeting. Encouraging marijuana use is a terrible idea.
5. He violated U.S. law on TikTok.
His administration repeatedly refused to enforce the law that Congress passed banning the social media app from operating in the U.S. without a deal divesting it from ByteDance, which is subject to the influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party. The deal Trump eventually brokered does not actually separate U.S. TikTok from China. The platform will remain fueled by code from China, and thus subject to continued Chinese state influence, in violation of the law.
4. His administration bungled the release of the Epstein files.
Attorney General Pam Bondi raised expectations of a big reveal, declaring she had Jeffrey Epstein’s client list “sitting on my desk right now.” Then the Justice Department released a memo stating it would not be releasing any files, causing a needless confrontation with Republicans in Congress, who forced the administration to do so.
3. His tariffs slowed economic growth.
While tariffs did not unleash the recession some predicted — to the contrary, third-quarter gross domestic product grew at a strong 4.3 percent — according to the Yale Budget Lab, the Tax Foundation and other analysts, they will slow real U.S. GDP growth by as much as half a percentage point. That means the equivalent of about half-a-million fewer jobs created annually. Tariffs are a wet blanket on Trump’s agenda for economic renewal.
2. He underfunded defense buildup.
Yes, his One Big Beautiful Bill added a one-time $156 billion boost to defense spending, but his 2026 budget proposed just $893 billion for defense — far less than the record $1 trillion he promised — and would have been a net cut in the regular defense budget after inflation (Congress eventually added $8 billion more). The U.S. is now set to spend just 3.2 percent of GDP on defense, less than the average under Barack Obama, and far less than the 1980s Reagan buildup.
1. He is allowing the sale of the most advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.
The familiar communist aphorism goes “the Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.” Trump is proving that right by allowing Nvidia to sell its H200 AI chips to China in exchange for a 25 percent kickback to the U.S. government. This would be like Ronald Reagan selling advanced nuclear missile technology to the Soviets during the Cold War. We are in an AI arms race with Beijing! Why on earth would Trump help China?
That’s the bad. But it is far outweighed by the good Trump did in his first year back in the White House. In my next column, I’ll give you the best things he did in 2025.
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