The 2025 Politics Yearbook: Most Likely to Be Extreme and Chaotic

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.