PresidentDonald Trumpswept back into the White House last year amidst a series of promises he laid out during his Jan. 20 inaugural address: Prosperity. Security. Respect. Hope.
For millions of conservatives, Trump's return to power was a dream come true. For millions of liberals, a nightmare. And a year later, whether you think he's succeeded so far or failed miserably depends heavily on your political persuasion. While Republicans overwhelmingly believe the president is doing a great job, Democrats are furious at how quickly Trump has shifted the country's norms, relationships and reputation.
Over the past year, many Americans became increasingly unable to recognize the world in which their neighbors live because their view is so colored by how they see the president himself.
Inside a Kansas rancher's life as he credits Trump for a rural boost
365 days:Has it only been a year? 12 months of all Trump, all the time
Trump's anniverary comes at a time when popularity is slipping nationally and58% of the publicthinks his first year was a failure, according toa recent poll.
As Trump enters the second year of his second term, USA TODAY interviewed ordinary Americans around the country to hear their perspectives, among them a Kansas cattle rancher, a Rhode Island wind-farm builder and a Colorado coal mining family.
Kansas cattle rancher sees 'good times'
Sitting in his new one-ton Ford white F350 pickup ‒ paid for with cash ‒ Kansas cattle rancher Hal Luthi, 73, said he's appreciating high beef prices, and Americans' willingness to pay them.
Cattle ranching is rarely lucrative, and Luthi said the historically high prices he's getting for beef cows are allowing him to pay down debt and prepare for the lean years that will inevitably come.
Luthi said he's been earning a profit of about $1,000 per head of beef cattle sold ‒ dramatically more than just a few years ago. Nationally, the numbers of beef cattle have dropped due to ongoing drought in many ranching areas, including Texas and the Midwest, driving up beef prices at a time when consumers are complaining about grocery bills. Some consumer experts say consolidation and potential collusion among slaughterhouses has also played a role in rising prices.
"We're experiencing some really good times right now," Luthi said. "We're just thankful because a lot of times when prices get high, consumers cut back, but we haven't seen much of that."
Luthi said Trump's approach to the economy has driven down the interest rates he pays, along with most other forms of inflation, although fertilizer prices have continued rising.
The president has also floated importing more beef from Argentina, which could potentially undercut profits for ranchers like Luthi.
Luthi said some of his neighbors who live off oil well lease profits are worried about the plummeting per-barrel price, but he's happy it costs him less than it did a year ago to fuel up his new pickup. And he said he's seen little impact from immigration enforcement that administration officials claim has seen 2.5 million people either deported or voluntarily return home.
"There's people in our own community who are struggling, of course," said Luthi, a lifelong Republican. "But I have the feeling our country is heading in the right direction. I have hopes there's a lot of new jobs being created. We could certainly use more factories and more jobs here in the Midwest."
‒ Trevor Hughes
'Whoop-de-do' about gas, says childcare worker facing other bills
All around Chicago, licensed child care provider Jamila Wilson, 48, sees fear in her neighbors' eyes, and hears it when she talks to parents dropping off or picking up their kids.
Last fall, Trump sent hundreds of immigration officers into Chicago for Operation Midway Blitz, leading to violent confrontations between federal forces and protesters. Many immigrant communities feel terrorized by the enhanced enforcement, especially because federal officials appear to make little distinction between convicted drug dealers and people brought into the country illegally as children.
Wilson provides federally subsidized child care services for working parents, many of them bus drivers or factory workers who would have to make other arrangements, or quit working, if the government didn't help them.
Now, the president is trying to halt or at least pause the federal subsidies. Trump argues there's vast fraud within the system, and the White House has demanded extensive documentation for how the $10 billion allotted to childcare is being spent. A judge recently blocked the White House from freezing the funds, but the move injected vast uncertainty into Wilson's world.
She said it's hard not to feel singled out, and to compare how people like her are treated to the billionaires Trump surrounds himself with.
"I think he's targeting Black and brown communities. It's horrible. It makes us feel like we're unworthy, that our president is not for us," said Wilson. "Prices are going up and payments are going down or staying steadfast."
The uncertainty has a knock-on effect, Wilson said, with providers worrying how they'll meet payroll if there's any delay in the payments. She said conservative suggestions that more women should stay home with their kids are laughable at a time when most families need two incomes just to survive.
"I mean, gas is down whoop-de-do, but we still have to pay for food, pay our mortgages," Wilson said. "I feel that he's steadily, steadily trying to come at us. He hates our governor. He hates our mayor. He's doing things out of spite."
‒ Trevor Hughes
Housing industry veteran see lots of 'uncertainties'
The real estate market has become more challenging, filled with "a lot of uncertainties and unknowns" since Trump took office, saidKristina O'Donnell, a longtime suburban Philadelphia Realtor.
The Federal Reserve recently dropped 30-year mortgage interest ratesto a three-year low, which is good for the market. But Trump doesn't think rates have come down fast enough, so he's been trying to remove Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who he named to that position in 2018. Powellis not going quietly.
Because mortgage rates remain high, homeowners desperate to upgrade feel trapped by their current ‒ but more affordable ‒ home loans and are reluctant to enter the market, O'Donnell said. Current mortgage rates are around 6%, double pre-pandemic levels, when tens of millions of Americans refinanced. Her home sales were down slightly in 2025, she said.
Despite the uncertainty, O'Donnell, a real estate agent for 38 years, recently bought a new move-in-ready house herself,paying $50,000 over the asking price. After waiving an inspection, she beat out at least five other prospective buyers in the process, she said, locking down the two-story, three-bedroom home.
"I was under pressure competing with pent-up buyers who have been looking for a while," said O'Donnell, who considered 22 potential houses over three months, before finding her dream home. "I don't plan on moving. I'm going to die here. I eventually will be redoing the bathroom, but it's just not in the budget right now."
O'Donnell is delaying that bathroom upgrade to keep more money on hand to cover rising everyday expenses, she said. The pens, magnets and keychains she gives out as marketing materials are more expensive to buy. Evenpostage stamps cost more, she said, and she's dropped the frequency of her real estate newsletter to every other month.
"I'm an independent contractor, that's therealthing about real estate," O'Donnell said, noting that her mortgage is due every month, regardless of whether she sells any homes. "We are all our own business."
‒ Terry Collins
Coal-town resident celebrates Trump's hands being 'untied'
In Colorado's coal country, lifelong resident Trula Simmons, 61, said the president's first-term promises to protect mining jobs haven't exactly panned out.The mine where both her husband and her son worked shut down Dec. 31. But she's still a Trump fan.
Just days before the closure, Trump ordered the nearby power plant the mine served to stay open at full capacity, instead of phasing out as planned. The power plant will now have to get coal from a different mine.
Luckily, Simmons said, her husband was able to get a job working the reclamation project at the ColoWyo mine, and her son got a job at the still-operating Deserado coal mine near the Utah border. Many of Simmons' neighbors in Meeker, Colorado, struggled during the Obama and Biden years, as the two Democratic presidents pushed green energy and, concerned about climate change, raised the costs for burning coal to make electricity.
Trump in his inaugural address highlighted the nation's abundant coal and petroleum reserves as a source of both national pride and economic power. He said national security and artificial intelligence (AI) both demand reliable power that only nuclear and coal can provide.
"I wish he could have done a little more a little sooner," said Simmons, who pronounced herself otherwise pleased with the first year of Trump's second term. "I feel like his first term, his hands were tied or he felt like they were tied. And now he's doing exactly what he said he was going to do."
Simmons said lower gas prices have been among the biggest relief for her family, because they usually have to drive 100 miles round trip to fill their pantry. Simmons said she's largely been unaffected by mortgage rates, as she and her husband own their house outright, but acknowledged that things are harder for young people. But she sees Trump focused on improving the lives of everyday Americans.
According to the fuel-tracking service GasBuddy, gas prices are at the lowest they've been since 2021, with the average price for regular below $3/gallon in almost every mainland state, and below $2/gallon in more than a dozen states.
"I feel like he has such a list that he's ticking off at record speeds, things are starting to look up and some really bad policies are being reversed," Simmons said. "By driving the economy the way he's planning, it's going to be better. I don't see how it couldn't make things better."
‒ Trevor Hughes
Gold prices up, jeweler worries about tariffs
In Oklahoma City,Naifeh Fine Jewelryhad a rough year.
"Our business was about 15% lower – not that bad, but we felt it," said George Naifeh, who co-owns the business with his wife, jewelry designer Valerie Naifeh.
Ongoing inflation, atough job marketandglobal economic uncertaintysent the price of gold soaring last year as investors flocked to the "safe haven" investment. An ounce of gold rocketed to a new record in January 2026, above $4,600 an ounce. The price was about $2,700 per ounce when Trump took office a year ago.
Higher gold prices pushed Valerie Naifeh's gold-and-gemstone designs out of reach for many customers, while economic uncertainty led even those with money in their pockets to hold off on purchases, he said.
"Tariffs seemed to cause a lot of chaos in people's minds," he said, as consumers worried how much more they would spending on basic goods. "People were hoarding or holding on to their money."
But Naifeh, a three-time Trump voter, sees upside in 2026. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill includes a tax credit for employee training that will enable the couple to hire three jeweler apprentices this year, bringing their manufacturing team to eight.
His main concern is stability: "New ideas pop out of Trump that cause more hysteria with the economy, but overall I feel good about it," he said. "I feel 2026 will be a strong year."
‒ Lauren Villagran
Wind farm worker worries about 'green' energy fate
For the past three years, industrial painter Nick Reynolds had a steady job helping build a massive offshore wind farm near his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. Earning close to $60 an hour and home every night, Reynolds said he was proud to have been working on a project that would have helped stabilize electricity costs in the northeast, which are among the nation's highest.
Trump has now twice tried to kill the project, citing unspecified national security concerns and putting Reynolds and about 12,000 others out of a job in the dead of winter.
Reynolds, 35, hoped the $6.2 billion privately funded project would offer years of stable work. He spent several anxious weeks without work over Christmas before a federal judge in early January ordered the project restarted. Trump has repeatedly attacked wind turbines as ugly and ineffective, and earlier in January said he planned to bar their construction whenever possible.
Reynolds, who hopes to buy a house with the money he earns on the project, said he doesn't understand how the president would want to block an effort that would stabilize electricity prices for millions of Americans. Federal taxpayers provided significant tax incentives for the project approved under Biden, who argued subsidies were necessary to shift the nation's energy mix away from fossil fuels.
Reynolds said the fact that other countries, including China, are investing so heavily in green energy makes him question why Trump is so hostile to it.
"It's not the kind of thing that makes you want vote for Republicans," he said. "He made campaign promises to protect working people, and in my experience, it's been quite the opposite."
‒ Trevor Hughes
Nurse fears cost-of-living expenses while getting graduate degree
After years of debate ‒ and increasing back pain from the physical demands of her job, nurse Candace Smith last year took the plunge into grad school and the burden of student loans.
At 33, Smith felt it was the right time to become a nurse practitioner, both to reduce the risk to her health and to shorten the monthslong wait times patients at her San Luis Obispo, California, hospital endure just to see a healthcare provider.
But changes tofederal student loanborrowing limits passed in theOne Big Beautiful Billsigned July 4 have thrown Smith's plans into turmoil. The law, much of which was drafted by the White House, established two tiers of loan limits forgraduate and professional studentsand imposed a lifetime cap on total graduate borrowing. Under the new rules there's also a limit on loans for graduate students in fields not considered "professional," which now includes nursing.
"It was like, wow, I'm so excited to go back to school and gosh, how is this going to affect me? And will I be able to afford the program?" Smith said, describing her rollercoaster of emotional reactions to the bill.
Due to the change, set to take effect in July, Smith said she will need to work more hours per week to pay her bills and afford tuition.
Before the student loan news, Smith had already planned to cut back on travel spending and eating out with friends to save money. Now, she's taking those efforts further, putting off contributing to retirement and opting to shop at the Grocery Outlet Bargain Mart instead of her local Sprouts Market to cut down on her roughly $800 a month food bill. She also plans to stop buying organic produce and eat more oatmeal for breakfast.
"It shocks me sometimes to see the cost of groceries," Smith said.
In April, she's also expecting the rent for her one-bedroom apartment to increase.
"It stresses me out to think about needing to budget for an increased cost of living while I'm trying to reduce my spending," Smith said. "The cost of everything is going up and wages are not going up in the same fashion."
‒ Karissa Waddick
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:A year in Trump's America. The impact he's had on daily life.
