Best. Political year. Ever. Amirite? For all of us who rolled into the year wondering “How much more chaotic could a second Trump term be?” 2025 did not disappoint.
As with President Trump’s first spin in the White House, I felt it necessary to limit the president’s eligibility for these awards, lest he overwhelm the field. It would be easy to get lost in all his administration’s extraordinary — in some cases, possibly illegal — actions: abusing his pardon power, manhandling universities and law firms into bending the knee, unleashing the National Guard on American cities, blowing up boats in the Caribbean without congressional approval, using the Justice Department to target his perceived enemies, bullying Republican state lawmakers to redraw congressional maps, ordering cruel and capricious immigration raids. I could go on. But you get my point. In an era of political chaos and extremism, Mr. Trump belongs in a class of his own.
As for the rest of the class …
Hottest Newcomer. Zohran Mamdani. That smile. That charm. That social media savvy. New York’s mayor-elect is the undisputed shiny new star of the Democratic Party, even if he’s making many in the party exceedingly nervous. Not Taylor Swift level, but definitely Sabrina Carpenter.
Most Surprising Dropout. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Until the past several months, the Georgia Republican was one of Congress’s loudest, rawest MAGA mad dogs. Who can forget her Cruella de Vil cosplay while heckling Joe Biden at his 2023 State of the Union? But she and Mr. Trump got to feuding, and suddenly she was announcing an early departure in January. Ever scrappy, she is throwing punches at the president on her way out the door like a seasoned anti-Trumper.
Biggest Loser. Elise Stefanik. First, Mr. Trump took back her nomination to be the U.N. ambassador, for fear of Republicans losing her vacated House seat. In the shuffle, the New York representative lost her post as the chamber’s highest-ranking Republican woman. Then the president declined to endorse her candidacy for governor. This month she announced that she was dropping out of the governor’s race and that she would not run again for Congress. Sad. With Mr. Trump, loyalty remains a one-way street.
Most Impressive Comeback. Measles. This highly contagious, highly preventable childhood disease enjoyed a distressingly successful 2025. As of last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had officially confirmed 2,012 cases nationwide, the most in over 30 years. But measles shouldn’t get too cocky. With a vax skeptic at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services, running amok and trying to upend the childhood vaccination schedule, who knows what other old-school ailments are poised to come roaring back? Diphtheria? Whooping cough? Polio?
Most Pathetic Comeback Attempt. Andrew Cuomo. Just three years after being driven from office amid accusations of sexual misbehavior (which he has denied), the former New York governor decided it was time to return to power, this time running for mayor of New York City. New Yorkers’ response? Nah, bruh. We’re good. Couldn’t happen to a more entitled guy.
Best Trump Impersonator. Gavin Newsom. The Democratic governor of California upped his national profile and earned social media love with his brutal, all-caps, tongue-in-cheek trolling of the president. Vaguely childish and obnoxious? Maybe. But it helped turn Mr. Newsom into the Democratic front-runner for 2028. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.
Most Likely to Be Voted Off the Island. Chuck Schumer. The Senate Democratic leader has become the focus of frustration and rage for a chunk of his party’s voters. With many younger voters and progressives, in particular, craving a fresher, feistier approach, his popularity now hovers at the level of spoiled cheese.
Most Egregious Grade Inflation. Mr. Trump’s self-assessed “A+++++” economy. Someone needs to get out of his gilded palaces more often.
Runner-Up. Vice President JD Vance gave the economy an “A+++.” Smart to stop at three pluses. Wouldn’t want anyone to think you’re just licking the boss’s boots.
Class Clown. Elon Musk. The world’s richest man broke ground in his quest to prove money can’t buy you cool. Prancing around with a chain saw at a political conference gives off major big dork energy. And his ill-fated run atop the short-lived DOGE, while destructive, was a useful reminder that being a tech titan does not make you competent in other fields.
Most Influential, posthumous edition. Jeffrey Epstein. The sex predator died behind bars in 2019. Six years later, he was back to haunt his old buddy Mr. Trump and assorted other boldface names. The president’s efforts to keep the Epstein files under wraps became a nightmare for Republicans and dented Mr. Trump’s relationship with some MAGA die-hards.
Most Inept. Group award for Mr. Trump’s legal eagles. It would require more time, energy and legal expertise than I possess to plumb the depths of what my colleague David French has characterized as “legal buffoonery.” Let’s just say some of these folks would have washed out of the University of American Samoa Law School. (#BetterCallSaul4Evah!)
Class Badasses. Governors-elect Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill. Living up to the nickname they picked up during their congressional days, these politically moderate Democratic pragmatists romped to victory in this year’s two premier races. The friends and former housemates proved that you don’t need to be political extremists to fire up the voters.
Worst Makeover. The East Wing teardown. The public has been unimpressed with Mr. Trump taking a wrecking ball to the White House to make way for a mammoth ballroom. This month the National Trust filed suit to stop the carnage. Based on what we know of his plans and his dictator chic aesthetic, the redo is more likely to scream czarist Russia than American democracy.
Poshest Nap Room. The Oval Office. Mr. Trump hates it when people suggest his vigor is fading and that he is giving off “Joe Biden vibes,” as my colleague Frank Bruni put it. But it’s hard not to notice that the president’s verbal stylings are growing increasingly incoherent, his public schedule is lighter and he has started treating White House meetings like nap time.
Cutest Bromance. Mr. Trump and Mr. Mamdani. No one wanted these two crazy kids to vibe. But against all odds, their Oval Office meet was all unicorns and rainbows.
Vilest Bromance. Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes. Please insert your own tasteless pun about whitewashing white nationalism here.
Worst Group Vacation. The longest government shutdown in history. Upending the lives of federal workers for 40-plus days is no way to run a country.
Most Unexpected Resistance Leader. Jimmy Kimmel. How perfect is it that a reality TV star turned authoritarian president turned a snarky late-show host into a poster boy for the First Amendment?
Worst Rebranding. The Trump-Kennedy Center. LOL. Rarely has a president seemed so desperate for attention from the cultural elites he claims to loathe — and who he suspects loathe him right back.
Runner-Up. The Department of War.
Honorable Mention. The Gulf of America. Anyone else out there remember the great freedom fries craze of 2003? These efforts feel even sadder.
Most Out of His Depth. Pete Hegseth. In an administration that cared about competence, the secretary of defense sharing sensitive military info on a Signal group chat that included a national journalist would have been enough to get him the heave-ho. Then came his boat-bombing adventure that might have resulted in a war crime. The mind reels. But in Trump 2.0, Mr. Hegseth’s overweening machismo apparently outweighs his total unfitness for the job.
Most Inappropriate Gift. The Boeing 747 from Qatar. The U.S. president accepted a “gift” worth $400 million from a foreign government. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Most Awkward Field Trip. Greenland. In March, JD and Usha Vance made a quick but disruptive pit stop to this icy object of Mr. Trump’s real estate fixation, the national security adviser and the energy secretary in tow. This despite Greenland’s prime minister calling the planned visit “highly aggressive.” Next time, Mr. Vance, maybe just take the kids to Disney World?
The Darkest Tourist Trap. Alligator Alcatraz. This month a report from Amnesty International declared conditions at the facility “amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” Pure ghoulishness from the Sunshine State.
Profiles in Courage, federal edition. Representatives Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace and Thomas Massie. This intrepid band of Republicans defied their leadership’s and their president’s efforts to keep the Epstein files under wraps, even when Mr. Trump put the screws to them.
Profiles in Courage, state edition. The 21 Republicans in the Indiana Senate who slapped down Mr. Trump’s redistricting scheme. In Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas, G.O.P. state lawmakers caved to the president’s push to rig next year’s midterms in the party’s favor through middecade gerrymandering. The Hoosier State 21 deserve a big shout-out for not being total Trump weenies.
Here’s hoping 2026 brings many more displays of political grit.
Michelle Cottle writes about national politics for Opinion. She has covered Washington and politics since the Clinton administration. @mcottle
Source photographs by Will Crooks for The New York Times; Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times; Justice Department, via Reuters; Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated Press; Anna Watts for The New York Times; Nina Westervelt for The New York Times.
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