It seems like ever since President Donald Trump got back into office, the whole world’s been turned upside down. From legislation getting rid of the Department of Education to deporting U.S. born citizens without due process, if you asked us six months ago if any of this would happen in the first four months of 2025, we simply wouldn’t believe you. So now, The Root is taking a look back at all the crazy, unbelievable things that have happened right under our noses.
The president has outlined plans to eliminate the Department of Education (DOE). In preparation for four more MAGA years, Trump announced Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive, will head the DOE he vows to abolish. On March 20, Trump signed an executive order to officially begin closing the DOE. The department does not develop school curricula, set requirements for enrollment or graduation, or accredit schools and universities, as Trump and MAGA republicans have suggested. It does, however, handle the billions of dollars that fund education nationwide.
The president said he’s “bringing back” Columbus Day, the federal holiday honoring Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus, according to the Hill. This is a change of pace from previous administrations who decided to instead celebrate Indigenous People’s Day to honor Native Americans who were settled in the mainland way before Columbus arrived to the New World. Trump’s move is seen as a slap in the face to Indigenous groups who were murdered and destroyed as a result of Columbus’ “discovery.”
It didn’t take long for U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and several of the country’s top defense officials to be caught in a lie after the Editor-in-chief of the Atlantic was added to a group chat full of active military war plans. On March 26, Jeffrey Goldberg, dropped a bombshell publishing of the sensitive context he was granted access after Hegseth practically called his bluff. No one involved with the breech of protocol has faced any consequences.
If you thought one national security breech scandal was too much, then you were probably shocked when Secretary Hegseth got wrapped up in yet another Signal group chat mess. This time around, he was caught sending sensitive information in a group chat made up of his family members, friends and even his personal lawyer, according to the New York Times. Political leaders have since called for his resignation, but yup, you guessed it.... he still has his job.
It was reported this month that college students across the nation are losing their student visas, according to NBC News. So far, 800 students have had their visas revoked, and to make matters even worse, many of them are being deported without due process. Students like Mahmoud Khalil, from Columbia University and Rümeysa Öztürk of Tufts University were detained and held by ICE. Khalil’s detention was appealed in court, according to CNN. Öztürk is still in custody. None of the students who have been detained have criminal records or have been charged with any crimes.
According to recent reports, three U.S. born citizens have been deported without due process. BBC reported that all three victims were “young children,” with one being 2 years old and another 4-year-old reportedly having cancer. The children were deported as a result of their parents’ immigration status. “Having a US citizen child does not make you immune from our laws,” Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said. “What we did was remove children with their mothers who requested the children depart with them. There’s a parental decision.”
The Ivy League school became the first and only college to sue the president. In the suit, Harvard called out the administration’s ongoing attacks amid concerns of institutional oversight, independence and federal funding, according to CNN. In response to Harvard’s defiance, Trump continues to threaten to revoke federal funding from any college going against him. Harvard has the biggest endowment of any college in the U.S., so to be expected, they have more than enough funds to go toe to toe with the administration.
Trump celebrated his second term doing exactly what he promised he would do. Among a series of executive orders signed by the president on his first day in office, Trump most notably pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all roughly 1,500 people charged with crimes connected to the infamous Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, according to the White House. Since then, several of the rioters have been caught of in various legal jams. One man, Matthew Huttle, was shot dead by police during a traffic stop in February, according to NBC News.
Trump’s close alliance with Elon Musk has Americans scared, and they should be. Since Musk was named head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), 19 states have sued the Trump administration in order to protect Americans’ information. Protests have also erupted across the nation against Musk and DOGE. It’s worth noting since Musk stepped into the White House, stock in his Tesla company have dropped significantly.
In an executive order, Trump said the (MAAHC) located in Washington D.C. is “under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” Because of this, Trump wants to end funding to the African American Museum as well as other Smithsonian museums honoring the expansive history of the nation. This means the fate of Black history and culture is up in the air. When you target the Smithsonian, a global organization operating in a public-private partnership, you can expect immediate backlash. So far, several politicians, historians, and activists have denounced the administration’s attempt to regulate the Smithsonian.
Back in February, things got messy and down right embarrassing during a visit with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Zelenskyy, Secretary of State Mario Rubio and other officials met for a public discussion about U.S. assistance in the war between Russia and Ukraine. But after Zelenskyy started detailing the struggles of his people and how important American military help is to his country, the president flipped the script and called him “ungrateful.” The entire show was unbelievable, as no president in recent history has ever argued with an U.S. ally live from the White House.
We all knew this one was coming... Trump signed an order to end diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) programs in federal departments and agencies. His order also details plans to compile a list targeting all federal contractors and grantees with DEI programs, according to the White House. While many companies have since abided by Trump’s wishes, others like e.l.f and Costco doubled down on their commitment to diversity in the workplace.
It seems the president is making good of yet another one of his controversial campaign promises to perform mass deportations of undocumented immigrants across the nation. According to his executive order, Trump has enlisted “all available resources and authorities” to help detain unlawful immigrants and further secure the Mexico-U.S. border. During the second week of the president’s term, mass deportations have started, according to BBC. Thousands of undocumented immigrants — many without any criminal history — have already been detained and deported.
