During his first 365 days back in office, Trump 2.0 aggressively and brutally asserted power within United States and globally. He implemented punishing tariffs on the whole world; he used tariffs not just as a trade tool but also as an economic and political weapon.

He sent the National Guard into some American cities to police the citizenry. He sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol into others to round up immigrants. Trump uses executive power in ways that it has not been used before and ignored laws meant to ensure the balance of power in the American government. Trump calls for criminal investigations of his enemies (poor Jerome Powell). Trump uses a law meant for wartime to deport people without due process. He has moved to end birthright citizenship, though it is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. He has renamed the Gulf of Mexico and the Department of Defense (now called War Department).

Trump began his second term with an all-out assault on institutions and policies that have long been seen by American politicians as the foundations of American strength. Trump 2.0 undermined the independence of the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice, cut funding to American universities and slashed the federal work force. He dropped out of the Paris Climate Agreement, opened nearly a million square miles of ocean floor to drilling and stopped new wind power projects.