There are some U.S. presidencies that don’t seem to leave much of an impression. (Franklin Pierce, anyone?) While I do not fancy myself much of a prognosticator, I’m going to take a wild guess that people will remember Donald Trump’s time in office.
Just his first year, starting in 2017, was enough to fill a section of a history book – and forever ruin family gatherings.
It started with millions of women pretty ticked off with Trump’s explanation of his dating plan/sexual assault playbook. The year continued with an order to build a border wall, a travel ban on people in several majority Muslim countries, bans on transgender people in the military, withdrawal from a landmark climate deal, the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, guilty pleas from top Trump advisers and big tax cuts that especially helped corporations and the wealthy.
As it turns out, that was pretty bland sauce compared with Trump’s second first year, which is now coming to a close. It’s tough to know where to start. Gulf of America? Immigration crackdown? National Guard sent into cities? Tariffs? Elon Musk dismantling major portions of the federal government? New vaccine policies? Our military seizing the president of another country?
How do you rate Year 1 of Trump’s second term? Tell us below.
That’s where you come in, our USA TODAY readers. As part of our regular Forum feature, we want to know what you think of this first year of Trump’s presidency since he returned to office. What do you think the most significant events were? How would you rate the 47th president so far? How did his actions impact you and your community?
Tell us using the form below, or send us an email to forum@usatoday.com with the subject line “Forum Trump first year.” We’ll publish a collection of the best ones in an upcoming piece.
Joel Burgess is a Voices editor for USA TODAY Opinion.