What A Difference A Year Makes

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of Donald Trump's second term as President.

What a difference a year makes.

It is impossible to argue that point whether you voted for Trump or not.

Some like the difference. Others abhor it

Those with Trump Derangement Syndrome seem to be even more unhinged than they were before.

Look no further than what is going on in Minneapolis. They are not happy that the immigration laws are being enforced. They yearn for a year ago.

However, a recent Wall Street Journal recent polling shows that Trump voters are overwhelmingly supportive of the difference.

92% of Trump voters in 2024 approve of his job performance thus far and 70% of those give him a "Strong"approval.

Overall. the WSJ poll has Trump at 45% approve/54% disapprove for a net approval of -9 points.

The RealClearPolitics average of all polls has Trump at 42.4% approval at this point.

Remarkably, this is almost identical to where Barack Obama and George W. Bush stood at the same point in the their second terms.

Source: https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/trump-obama-bush-second-term

Have you heard anyone in the mainstream media telling you that Trump actually has a higher approval rating at this point in his second term than Barack Obama did?

Let's take a closer look at a few of the differences we have witnessed over the last year.

I have written many times in these pages that Donald Trump would never have gotten the attention and traction he got in politics without his strong views on immigration.

It is his signature issue.

He is doing exactly what he said he would do and many on the Left are not happy.

Source: https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2024/09/03/trump-promises-mass-deportations-of-undocumented-people-how-would-that-work/

They apparently did not believe that he would follow through on his campaign promise.

We were also told by Democrats that nothing could be done to stop the illegals pouring over the southern border without new immigration legislation.

In December, 2023, over 300,000 illegals crossed the Southwest border.

In December, 2025, that number was 10,000. 

All of this without one new law. All it took was the will to enforce the laws already on the books.

You can also see from this chart how quickly the border was sealed once Trump became President.

Source: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters

The small number of illegals entering, combined with the ICE removals and those who have deported voluntarily, has resulted in negative net migration for the first time in 50 years.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/us-1st-time-50-years-experienced-negative-net/story?utm_sf_post_ref=651237589&cid=social_twitter_abcn&id=129175522&utm_sf_cserv_ref=28785486

This has also resulted in a reversal of trends of the last few years that have seen almost all of the job gains go to foreign born workers.

In 2025, native-born Americans gained over 2 million jobs while the number of foreign born workers decreased by 662,000.

Real wages were also up 1.6% for the year.

Real wages fell 4% during the previous four years under Biden.

Securing the border also appears to be having an effect on drug overdose deaths.

For the 12 months ending August, 2025, the CDC reports that drug overdose deaths were down 23.3%

Drug overdoses were down in every state.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm

Murders across the nation were also down 20% compared to a year ago for the period ending in October.

Source: https://realtimecrimeindex.com/

What a difference a year makes.

The Atlanta Fed just projected that 4th quarter, 2025 GDP growth will come in at 5.4%.

This is stronger GDP growth than China is experiencing right now.

The U.S. trade deficit also just fell to its lowest level since 2009.

Trump's tariffs seem to have had a large impact on reducing imports while exports increased.

Many economists said that the tariffs would fuel further inflation but inflation has been trending down.

The most recent Truflation Index revealed a 1.56% inflation rate for the last 12 months.

 

Declining gasoline prices have been a big reason that inflation has moderated.

Source: https://www.gasbuddy.com/charts

Everybody was complaining about egg prices at this time last year.

Eggs are now down 95% from where they were last February.

Eggs are now at the lowest price they have been in five years.

Source: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/eggs-us

Despite these positive developments many respondents in the WSJ are not feeling the progress.

Trump is in negative approval territory on the economy, tariffs and inflation and most see the economy as worse now than it was last year.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Are the economic numbers ahead of the sentiment?

Or are the numbers a mirage?

We should find out in the next six months.

The biggest drag on Trump's approval is that voters believe he is focusing too much on foreign affairs and not enough on the economy.

Of course, what has been going on in foreign affairs with Trump also confirms what a difference a year makes.

Israel/Gaza war in a ceasefire.

Iran's nuclear capability destroyed by Trump.

Iran's Islamic regime on the verge of collapse.

Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro arrested and brought to the U.S. for trial. 

The European NATO countries which did not want to commit 2% of GDP to defense when Trump took office in 2017 have now agreed to a new target of 5% by 2035 due to Trump's pressure.

Trump has failed in his desire to end the Russia/Ukraine war but prospects for an end of the war have improved substantially compared to a year ago.

Trump is aggressively pursuing his desire for the United States to acquire Greenland

It remains to be seen how all of this works out but Trump has the potential to remake the world order to the benefit of the United States in a way not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain.

What a difference a year makes.

Compared to last year the number of federal government employees is down by over 250,000.

When has that ever happened before?

Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES9091000001

DEI and Woke policies are under pressure.

As are men playing women's sports and transgender surgeries for minors.

We are 180 degrees away from where we were a year ago.

What a difference a year makes.

How big is that difference?

It is like comparing night and day. Or north vs. south.

Or Trump's energy level and Biden's.

In many respects it is hard to believe that we are living in the same country we were last year.

And that is something everyone should be able to agree on no matter your political persuasion.