At noon on January 6, 2021, while Congress was certifying the presidential election results in the U.S. Capitol, Trump held a rally at the nearby Ellipse. Speaking from behind a glass barrier, he called for the election to be overturned and urged his supporters to “fight like hell” and “take back our country” by marching to the Capitol. His supporters then formed a mob that broke into the building, disrupting certification and causing the evacuation of Congress. During the attack, Trump posted on social media but did not ask the rioters to disperse. In a tweet at 6 p.m., he told them to “go home with love & in peace”, called them “great patriots”, and restated that he had won the election. Congress later reconvened and confirmed Biden’s victory in the early hours of January 7.

More than 140 police officers were injured, and five people died during or after the attack.

Upon taking office in 2025, Trump signed a series of executive orders that tested the limits of executive authority. Many drew immediate legal challenges. He issued more executive orders on his first day than any other president. Trump pardoned around 1,500 January 6 rioters, including those who violently attacked police, and commuted the sentences of 14. In his first weeks, several of his actions have ignored or violated federal laws, regulations, and the Constitution according to American legal scholars. In his administration’s first month, Trump issued ninety executive orders, memorandums, and directives. By March 7, his orders and actions on immigration, firing commissioners and watchdogs, downsizing the federal workforce, and others had been challenged by over 100 lawsuits nationwide.

In the knowledge of the above should we be surprised or shocked by his actions as president in 2025? Internationally, he has sided with Russia’s Putin and demonished in public Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has also sided with Israel’s leader Netanyahu and continued to provide arms support in the continued destruction of Gaza and the West Bank, and killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians (70% of which are women and children).

His most recent and destructive international presidential order is in danger of creating a worldwide trade war and recession with his imposition of substantial and unjustified import tariffs including a minimum baseline of 10%, with China and many other countries burdened with far higher tariffs (and 25% on all car and car parts and steel imports). Knowing Trump this could change overnight…His declared aims of “making America great again” and “bringing jobs back to America” cannot be fulfilled with this and other actions ordered by Trump.

Trump promised that the Ukraine war would be over in 24 hours under him and that Gaza would become a riviera resort with over 2 million Palestinians moved out to other middle east countries. Russia refuses to agree a ceasefire deal. A Gaza peace deal was signed but broken by Israel without censure, with hundreds more dying and injured, vital assistance blockaded and destruction continuing. In short, Trump is failing on all counts, with even senior Republican party supporters becoming serious doubters. What is equally concerning is that one of the great democracies has become an authoritarian state with little debate and rule by presidential dictate. And a cabinet selected for its loyalty to Trump as a pre-condition regardless of experience and skill. The USA has become more like Russia, and its leader more like president Putin.

The evidence of catastrophic Climate Change, predicted by the science, is all around us with floods, drought and wildfires almost an everyday occurrence. Those suffering most are inhabitants of the poorest countries where drought is causing continuous crop failures. Wealthy countries including the USA, are also experiencing the serious and deadly effects. When fossil fuels are burned, they release large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the air.

Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere, causing global warming. Already the average global temperature has increased by 1C, and global temperatures passed the critical 1.5C milestone for the first time in 2024. Warming above 1.5°C risks further sea level rise, extreme weather, biodiversity loss and species extinction, as well as food scarcity, worsening health and poverty for millions of people worldwide. But President Trump’s policy is to “drill, drill, drill” for more fossil fuels, ignoring the science and climatic implications at a time when even China has acknowledged the need to change.