After 38 years as a journalist in Washington, 23 of them in the White House, I thought I'd seen it all. That includes covering the first term of President Donald Trump, whose specialty is thinking—and acting—across borders.
But the past year has been truly unprecedented. For me, it all started on Christmas Eve 2024, when I made the first of two visits to the D.C. Jail. Outside, I talked to the participants holds an overnight vigil to honor those convicted of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Their fervent hope: that a future President Trump will pardon the convicts, some of whom are friends and loved ones of those on guard.
These prison visits will herald a year of turmoil – with a president returning to office feeling vindicated and determined to wield his power, shaking up Washington while rewarding friends and punishing enemies.
Why did we write this
The Monitor's Linda Feldmann has covered numerous administrative and historical events during her decades in Washington. But, she writes, President Donald Trump's second term is unlike any other. She reflects on how she navigated a momentous and tumultuous year under the leadership of a president who returned to office determined to wield his power, shake up the federal bureaucracy and make his mark on the nation's capital.
Fast forward almost a month to Inauguration Day, when it was the Monitor’s turn to serve in the “press pool.” From dawn until late at night, I had a ringside seat on the big day for two American presidents and was required to write regular reports for the wider press. In the morning we watched the outgoing President Joe Biden in the pool, and at exactly noon we were like Alice in Wonderland, passing through the mirror into the new reality of Trump's second term.
In a motorcade, we raced through the streets of Washington, moving from event to event, including several inaugural balls. That night, returning triumphantly to the Oval Office, Mr. Trump answered the prayers of vigilantes by pardoning nearly all of the nearly 1,600 people convicted of breaking the law in connection with the Jan. 6 riot.
Pardons, a presidential power in the US Constitution, will prove to be a regular and controversial aspect of Trump's first year in office. The same could be said of many other defining features of this extraordinary period, from the massive layoffs initiated by his Department of Government Effectiveness to the widespread crackdown on immigration and the crippling tariffs imposed on nearly every U.S. trading partner. Mr Trump has also criticized major universities over alleged anti-Semitism.
In May, the press rotation brought me back to the Oval Office when the discussion turned to Trump's efforts to ban foreign students from attending Harvard University. I took advantage of this opportunity.
“Why wouldn’t you want the best and brightest people from all over the world to come to Harvard?” I asked Mr. Trump.
The President moved on to talk about how some Harvard students in recent years have needed what he called “therapeutic mathematics.” When I tried to push him back to my question, he disagreed. “Wait a minute,” he said, continuing his argument.
The video with these questions and answers quickly spread.. Trump eventually allowed Harvard to continue admitting international students, and then went even further: He decided to issue 600,000 visas to students from China, to the chagrin of his MAGA base. American schools, he said, need money for tuition.
Breakfasts with Bannon and Vought
Understanding the presidency—and the broader universe of characters associated with the White House—requires persistent questioning and careful listening. As moderator of Monitor Breakfasts, I had the opportunity this year to host two key figures from Trump's world: former senior adviser Steve Bannon and current budget director Russ Vought.
Mr. Bannon's breakfast invitation sparked controversy given the MAGA activist's inflammatory views, including his insistence that Mr. Trump won the 2020 election and would serve a third term despite the Constitution's two-term limit. But Mr. Bannon also had the president's attention. The day after our breakfast, he spent three hours at the White House, including lunch with Trump. Mr Bannon was adamant that the United States should not attack Iran's nuclear facilities, but four days later Mr Trump did just that. Monitor Breakfast video on YouTube became our most viewed ever, with over 443,000 views.
Our breakfast with Mr. Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and previously the architect of Mr. Trump's second-term agenda, was less contentious. But as a key member of the administration, he is more significant. Dubbed the “shadow president” by some, he wields the power to push through results, including a series of deep cuts to government programs and spending that occurred without congressional approval.
The most memorable he said this at our breakfast: “The appropriations process needs to be less bipartisan.”
Our Vought breakfast audio on YouTube didn't come close to the viewership of Bannon's video, but I still recommend it as a way to understand how this administration works.
Changes in the White House and Washington
As a Washington resident and longtime White House observer, I was struck by the changes Trump made to the building itself. Firstly, there was an addition a lot of gold filigree The Oval Office and the paving stones of the Rosary. Most recently, Mr. Trump made international headlines by announcing the demolition of the East Wing to make way for a giant ballroom. I will never forget sound of jackhammers The sound grew louder as I walked down 15th Street NW toward the site the morning demolition began. For weeks, the scale of the project had been a point of contention between the president and his chief architect. whom he eventually replaced.
Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to the streets of Washington became another controversial decision. The president took the step in August in the name of fighting crime, but like the June deployment to Los Angeles, it seemed largely indicative.
One day in mid-September, while walking home, I struck up a conversation with a member of the Guard who said he was a police officer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He had been in Washington for three weeks, he said, and seemed ready to return home.
— Did you take part in any police activities here? I asked. “No,” he replied. Were you sent to any bad areas? “No,” he said. “Are there any?”
Two months later, on Thanksgiving Eve, the unthinkable happened. Just a few blocks from the White House, a gunman shot and killed two Guard soldiers, killing Spc. Sarah Beckstrom from West Virginia. The alleged shooter was a young man from Afghanistan who worked for a CIA unit there during the war and later received asylum in the United States.
Before the tragic events of November 26, the media often portrayed the Guard soldiers patrolling here as perhaps a little bored, although at times willing to help. Security guards were seen collecting trash and helping people carry groceries or change tires. From the moment they arrived, crime in Washington has dropped But like tourism.
Now, after the Farragut Square ambush, the National Guard's mission is burdened by new developments. In the deployment, which had already been extended through Feb. 28, all Guard members are now armed. Mr. Trump has ordered 500 more troops to the District of Columbia, adding to the 2,000 troops already here. And he suspended immigration applications for migrants from 19 countries.
As Mr. Trump's first year back in office comes to an end, I am reminded that the daily drama of life in Washington reaches far beyond its borders, touching the lives of people near and far.
