(The Lion)–One year after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump is declaring victory, casting his second term’s opening chapter as historic and transformative.

“President Trump is going to go down in history as the most successful and consequential president in our lifetime,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to The Lion, when asked about the one-year anniversary of Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. “His successes on behalf of the American people will be imprinted upon the fabric of America and will be felt by every other White House that comes after him.”

Trump himself has been equally bullish about his record. “Under our administration, growth is exploding, productivity is soaring, investment is booming, incomes are rising, inflation is defeated, America is respected again like never before,” he said during remarks in Detroit last week, calling it the “greatest first year in history.”

But how do those sweeping claims measure up against the promises Trump made on the campaign trail? The Lion reviewed some of his top campaign commitments and where they stand one year into his second term.

Foreign policy

Trump’s campaign platform included promises to prevent World War III, restore peace abroad and strengthen America’s military might. The White House has become a hub of diplomatic and foreign activity, with foreign leaders making regular visits to Washington, D.C., along with Trump’s international trips.

Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett, a former Trump appointee to the State Department, told The Lion he would give Trump an “A minus” grade for his efforts abroad.

“Internationally, Trump’s fingerprints are already deeply embedded in the history books,” he said. “We’ve seen not just a significant effort of peace in the Middle East, but in other regional hot spots, a pronounced use of the military strike on Iran’s nuclear facility, while also showing some sort of restraint and openness to diplomacy.”

In the Western Hemisphere, he successfully removed Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, which could “absolutely usher in a new world order,” he added. There have also been “confrontations with China around global competition and trade,” and “dedicated efforts” to extinguish the war between Russia and Ukraine.

With a jam-packed 2025 under his belt, there’s no indication that Trump will be slowing down anytime soon. In recent days, he’s engaged in a flurry of foreign activity – from addressing the protests in Iran to declaring the U.S. will acquire Greenland, and announcing he will soon host Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

Economy

When it comes to Trump’s domestic goals, Bartlett gives him a “C” grade, largely due to concerns about affordability. Trump has seen some economic wins – including lower gas prices, passing his budget and tax cuts, and a “very high stock market, very low unemployment,” Bartlett noted.

Yet polling consistently shows voters remain worried about the cost of living, with a recent Wall Street Journal poll indicating that nearly 60% of Americans are unhappy with the economy under Trump.

“The same powerful force of politics that brought Republicans back to power still threatens them to this day, which is affordability,” Bartlett said. “To live, eat, breathe, work, sleep, much less raise a family in America, is incredibly expensive. There are pressures on the American individual and household like we’ve never seen. From housing to utilities, health care, groceries – it all continues to be a significant pain.”

Trump has embarked on a domestic affordability tour to highlight his successes heading into the midterm elections later this year. The White House, in a list of accomplishments provided to The Lion, touted lower egg prices, tax cuts that will increase Americans’ “take-home pay by as much as $13,300,” Trump’s rescissions package, which cut billions in foreign aid spending and funding for “biased news outlets NPR and PBS,” adding private sector jobs for American-born citizens, and higher wages.

Trump has also embraced more populist policy ideas, including capping credit card interest at 10% and preventing large investment groups from purchasing single-family homes.

Although 2026 kicked off with a flurry of foreign activity, Bartlett said Trump should take aim at domestic concerns as the midterm elections approach.

He should be “focusing on largely what brought him to power, focusing on American life, and what he’s doing to make your life better right now,” Bartlett said. “History books are significant, especially in the future, but right now, we’re going to the polls voting on today’s economy, today’s bill, today’s rent, today’s mortgage, and none of that seems to be getting easier.”

Immigration

A major promise of Trump’s campaign platform was to secure the border, end the “migrant invasion,” and conduct the “largest deportation operation in American history.”

The White House noted to The Lion that since Trump has cracked down on the border, there “hasn’t been a single illegal alien released into the U.S. over the past seven months.”

The administration has deported more than 600,000 illegal aliens, the White House added, and an additional 1.9 million have self-deported.

Executive order flurry

Trump has shattered his own record, issuing 225 executive orders in 2025 – more than during his entire first term.

The White House emphasized the orders to The Lion, noting how they have delivered on key promises, including “closing the border, ending child gender mutilation, removing men from women’s sports, unleashing American energy, stopping federal censorship, ending radical indoctrination of kids in K-12 schooling, terminating radical government DEI programs, unleashing AI to unlock new cures and treatments for pediatric cancer, restoring the U.S. Department of War, and reinvigorating American nuclear energy potential.”

Bartlett noted there’s “tremendous upside” to executive orders for quick relief in some areas, though they are not permanent, can be undone by future presidents, and don’t always address the “actual issues at play.”

Looking ahead

With three years left in his term, Trump shows no signs of slowing down. He departs for Switzerland Tuesday night, where he will address the World Economic Forum and continue his whirlwind foreign policy agenda.

As the administration looks ahead, so too are political observers, as the world watches for what comes next.

“Many of these issues can continue to be very complicated,” Bartlett said, “and it will just make for a very, very interesting midterm, and certainly second half of the president’s term.”

Photo credit: The White House