What results has Trump achieved in a year in office and what should Ukraine expect

On 20 January 2025, Donald Trump began his second term as President of the United States.

Despite the fact that only a quarter of his second presidential term has passed, Trump has already managed to undermine the international security system, turn allies against himself and, as a result, lose the support of a significant portion of his own voters.

Can low approval ratings and the approaching midterm elections force Trump to adjust his policy? Is internal resistance to this course possible within the Republican Party? And why do the Democrats remain passive?

Volodymyr Dubovyk of the Center for International Studies addresses these and other issues in an interview with European Pravda: Trump’s anniversary: what US president has achieved and could be effective resistance possible.

It has become definitively clear over the past year that America is indeed gradually moving toward soft authoritarianism.

This has probably never happened in its history before. Of course, there were certain exceptions like the presidency of Lincoln during the Civil War or the actions of President Roosevelt during the Great Depression and World War II, when not entirely democratic instruments were used to influence the situation. But the current situation still looks unique.

And institutions, unfortunately, are not withstanding this pressure very well. After all, they were built on the assumption that both the president and other political actors would play by the rules.

However, if you demonstratively reject these rules, you can manage to break the system.

Over a year in office, Trump has failed to achieve any of the goals he himself set during the election campaign.

Of course, from the perspective of controlling illegal migration, he can report certain successes, but these achievements look like mere trifles.

And in other areas, I think there are no grounds at all to speak of any achievements.

As for foreign policy, Trump, of course, boasts that he is very successful and that he has ended many wars, though he constantly cites different numbers.

But this is, of course, complete nonsense, because there have been no successes here. Quite the opposite: the deterioration and escalation of relations with key partners, combined with a retreat from real confrontations with China and Russia. All of this leads to the conclusion that foreign policy can hardly be assessed as successful either.

As for Ukraine, Trump’s position is unlikely to change. Even despite the fact that support for Ukraine among ordinary Americans remains high and is even growing. Moreover, it is growing even among Republicans.

At the moment, Trump can allow himself to do whatever he wants, even if it leads to falling approval ratings. However, the current drop in his ratings is still a warning sign.

But in the end, he is nevertheless nervous about ratings.

After all, he understands that the midterm elections are approaching. They are already looming on the horizon. Recently, Trump stated at a meeting with the Republican caucus in Congress that he expects Democrats to immediately initiate impeachment proceedings against him after those elections.

Within the Republican Party, there is already concern about the midterms and about the possibility that the president could drag the party down with him. But I would not expect any kind of party "uprising" against Trump.

Against this background, the Democratic Party is rather drifting with the current. They still cannot choose a new strategy.

The Democratic Party still has no understanding of what to do next or how to overcome the current crisis.

If Trump decides to run for another term, it will be very difficult to persuade him to abandon that idea.