In November 2024, he won the presidential election. What has he not done during this time! Photos
On November 5, 2024, Donald Trump won the US presidential election for the second time. Both during the election campaign and after returning to the White House in January 2025, he was and remains the world's main newsmaker. In less than a year as president, he managed to declare a trade war on most countries of the world, limit international humanitarian aid, achieve a truce between Israel and Hamas, quarrel and then settle differences with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, personally meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, strike Iran and announce the resumption of nuclear tests - and that’s just foreign policy. And on the domestic front - large-scale raids and expulsions of migrants, massive layoffs in government agencies, the abandonment of diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) programs and many other decisions that have become the reason for nationwide protests. Meduza recalls the brightest moments of Trump's year.
Alex Brandon / AP / Scanpix / LETA Trump first served as president from 2017–2021. His attempt to immediately be re-elected to a second term failed - in 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won the election, although Trump and his supporters tried to challenge the voting results. In 2024, he ran for election again. Pictured is an election rally in 2024 Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images On July 13, 2024, Trump was assassinated at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the ear. The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed on the spot Jim Watson / AFP / Scanpix / LETA The most prominent member of the team with which Trump ran in the elections was businessman Elon Musk. He spent millions of dollars on the campaign. After Trump’s victory, the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) was created specifically for Musk, whose task was to reduce costs and optimize the functioning of the government apparatus. In the first months of Trump's new term, Musk was called the second man in the country. The broad powers that Musk received became one of the reasons for mass protests . However, Musk failed to quickly achieve his stated goals. His political activities had a negative impact on business. By the end of May, the businessman's relationship with Trump had deteriorated . Musk left the presidential team. In the photo - Trump and Musk at an election rally in October 2024 Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post / Getty Images Trump's initial opponent was current US President Joe Biden. However, after a disastrous debate, Biden withdrew from the election . Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic candidate. Pictured is the Trump-Harris debate on September 10, 2024. Harris won the debate Daniel Cole / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA On his first day in the White House, Trump decided to limit birthright U.S. citizenship, changed immigration and asylum rules, initiated the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, and suspended aid through the Agency for International Development (USAID). Soon, protests against Trump's policies took place throughout the United States. Pictured is an action in Los Angeles on April 5, 2025 Santiago Mejia / San Francisco Chronicle / AP / Scanpix / LETA Demonstrators on Ocean Beach in San Francisco. "No king!" - the main slogan of anti-Trump protests in the United States. June 14, 2025 Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Posters demanding Congress stop the Trump administration as it cuts humanitarian aid to the world's poorest countries. Protests in the Congress building were also carried out by former USAID employees; they were dispersed by the police. February 26, 2025 Sophie Park / Getty Images Major universities have become another target of Trump. The administration accused them of becoming breeding grounds for destructive leftist ideology, anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. The administration carried out a demonstrative action against Harvard: after the university refused to change the rules for admitting students and hiring teachers, as required by the authorities, it was deprived of federal government grants and government contracts worth more than two billion dollars. Subsequently, the court declared this decision illegal. The photo shows a gathering of students on the Harvard campus in April 2025, after the administration presented its demands to the university. Andrew Leyden / Getty Images Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard to several of the country's largest cities, including Washington (to fight crime) and Los Angeles (due to protests against the actions of immigration police). Local authorities, represented mainly by Democrats, criticized Trump's decision to send troops and called it contrary to the law. Pictured are armed National Guard soldiers in Washington. August 30, 2025 Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Trump ended the moratorium on the federal death penalty imposed by his predecessor Joe Biden. Photo taken September 25, 2025, shows Trump signing the death penalty order in Washington. Alon Skuy / Getty Images One of the key points of Trump's election campaign was the fight against illegal immigration. Returning to the White House, he immediately began implementing the promised large-scale deportation of foreigners. The tightening of immigration policy also affected those who lived in the United States for many years and did not break the laws. The Trump administration has announced plans to expel up to a million foreigners a year. The photo was taken on July 4, 2025 in one of the migrant detention centers in Florida. People awaiting deportation lined up in the shape of the word SOS Salvadoran Government / Getty Images Migrants from the United States were also sent to El Salvador. There were Venezuelans expelled from the United States, whom authorities called members of criminal gangs. El Salvador, which agreed to accept the deported migrants, was paid several million dollars by the United States. Photo taken April 4, 2025, shows deportees from the United States at a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Carlos Osorio / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA Even before the start of his second term, Trump began talking about territorial claims to other countries. Thus, he insisted that Canada should become the 51st state of the United States (Canada did not agree with this), said that the United States needed Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, and threatened to take away the Panama Canal from Panama. Photo taken on March 22, 2025, of a protest in Toronto, Canada. Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images On April 2, 2025, Trump started a trade war by announcing tariff increases on almost every country in the world. American stock exchanges reacted to this with the largest drop in indices in recent years. Amanda Perobelli / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA Trump has radically increased tariffs on imports of goods from many countries, including Brazil. Photo taken on August 1, 2025 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, shows a protest against this policy. Adek Berry / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Trump constantly revised decisions on the timing of the introduction of new duties and their size. The United States managed to conclude a trade agreement with the European Union in August; the trade war with China was not completed by November, although at the end of October, after Trump’s first meeting in six years with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, it was announced that American duties on Chinese goods would be reduced from 57 to 47%. Photo taken October 30, 2025, shows footage of Trump and Xi meeting on screen at a shopping mall in Beijing Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA / Bloomberg / Getty Images During the election campaign, Trump promised to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours. Then - in 100 days. On February 28, 2025, Trump received Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the White House for the first time. It was assumed that at this meeting an agreement would be signed on priority access for American companies to the extraction of Ukrainian minerals. However, during the meeting there was a skirmish between Zelensky, Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance. The Ukrainian delegation left the White House without signing documents. Subsequently, Trump and Zelensky met several times, and an agreement on mineral resources was nevertheless signed . In the photo - Zelensky, Trump and Vance in the White House on February 28, 2025 Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Kenneth Moll / US Navy / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA Ukrainian authorities are calling on the United States to expand military assistance, including the provision of Tomahawk missiles . Trump has repeatedly said that he is considering the possibility of transferring such missiles to Ukraine, and the Russian authorities have stated that they will regard such a step as an escalation of the conflict. Putin, in particular, said that such supplies would “destroy” relations between Moscow and Washington. As of early November, Ukraine had not received Tomahawks. In the photo published on October 6, 2025, the launch of the Tomahawk from an American ship Sergei Bobylev / TASS / ZUMA Press / Scanpix / LETA Trump personally met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15, 2025 in Alaska. As a result of the meeting, no binding decisions were made . In October, Trump announced plans to hold a new summit with Putin, this time in Budapest. However, the meeting did not take place. On October 22, Trump said he canceled the summit because he "didn't want to waste time." The Russian side announced that the meeting was postponed indefinitely, but not cancelled. Following this, the United States imposed sanctions against the Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil. In the photo taken on August 15, 2025, Putin and Trump in Alaska Satellite image 2025 Maxar Technologies / AFP / Scanpix / LETA On the night of June 13, Israel launched a military operation against Iran. The targets of the air strikes were uranium enrichment plants, missile bases, as well as the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and nuclear scientists. Iran responded by attacking Israel with missiles and drones. On June 22, the United States carried out strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran - in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. Iran attacked a US air force base in Qatar the next day. Before the attack, Iran warned Qatar about where the attack would be carried out, and the base was evacuated in advance. On the night of June 23, Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire. A satellite image taken on June 24, 2025 shows the aftermath of a US strike on Iran's Fordow nuclear facility. Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post / Getty Images In August, Trump said that through his mediation it was possible to resolve the long-term conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. On August 8, Trump met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (pictured) at the White House. They signed a declaration of renunciation of hostilities (but not a peace treaty ) In October, with the participation of Trump, an agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of surviving Israeli hostages. Hamas terrorists must also return the bodies of all dead hostages. Israel, in turn, released almost two thousand Palestinian prisoners from prison, including those serving sentences for terrorism. After the hostages were freed, Trump traveled to Israel, where he was greeted as a hero . The photo shows an installation on the beach in Tel Aviv, which was visible from Trump's plane as it landed at Ben Gurion Airport. October 13, 2025 US President Donald Trumpʼs TRUTH Social account / AFP / Scanpix / LETA At the end of August, Trump ordered the dispatch of eight warships towards Venezuela as part of an “anti-drug trafficking operation.” In September, the US military destroyed two ships that the US said were carrying drugs. At the end of October, the WSJ wrote that the Trump administration had identified targets for strikes in Venezuela. Among them are military installations that the White House says are used for drug smuggling, including military ports and airstrips. As of November 8, no decision had been made on strikes on Venezuelan territory. The photo shows a screenshot from a video published by Trump, which shows the strike carried out on September 15 on a Venezuelan ship in the Caribbean Sea Strategic Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces of Venezuela / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the US decision to send eight warships closer to the coast of his country a “hostile siege” and asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to “provide assistance in respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty.” In mid-September, Venezuela announced it would conduct exercises on the island of Orchila in the Caribbean Sea. Photo taken on September 18 shows military exercises in Venezuela Evan Vucci / Getty Images After the agreement between Israel and Hamas, Trump said that it was easier to achieve it than ending the war between Russia and Ukraine. In total, Trump has said that since returning to the White House in January 2025, he has stopped at least six wars (he has intervened in nine conflicts in total). Among them is the armed conflict between India and Pakistan , as well as between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Trump has repeatedly made it clear that his peace initiatives deserve a Nobel Prize. However, in 2025, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Photo taken October 13, 2025, shows Trump at the summit in Egypt that announced “sustainable peace” in the Middle East.
