History of the United States (2016–present)

Foreign relations

War in Afghanistan (2016–2021)

Although the Obama administration originally intended to fully withdraw from Afghanistan, failing peace talks and the emergence of ISIS in the country caused the War in Afghanistan to continue on into the Trump Administration. On February 25, 2019, negotiations began between the Taliban and the United States in Qatar and resumed again in December of that year. On February 29, 2020, the United States and the Taliban signed a conditional peace deal in Doha, Qatar, that called for a prisoner exchange within ten days and was supposed to lead to US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.

On April 13, 2021, newly elected President Joe Biden announced his revised plan to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, this date being the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The date for US troops to withdraw from Afghanistan was moved forward to August 31. The withdrawal of US soldiers and other foreign soldiers coincided with the 2021 Taliban offensive, where the Taliban defeated the Afghan Armed Forces culminating with the fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021. On the same day, the president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani fled to Tajikistan and the Taliban declared victory and the war had ended. Following a massive airlift of more than 120,000 people, the US military mission in Afghanistan ended on August 30, 2021.

Wars in Iraq and Syria (2016–2024)

In September 2015, Russian forces launched their military intervention in Syria to support that country's ally Bashar al-Assad in the fight against the Islamic State. Although Moscow officially portrayed its intervention as an anti-IS campaign and publicly declared support for the "patriotic Syrian opposition", the vast majority of its bombings were focused on destroying bases of the Syrian opposition militias of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Southern Front. On the other hand, United States and its Western allies have been opposed to the Ba'athist regime for its purported state-sponsorship of terrorism, violent repression of Syrian revolution and extensive use of chemical weapons. The US-led coalition trained, equipped and supported secular Free Syrian and Kurdish militias opposed to the Assad government during its anti-IS campaign. In the months following the beginning of both air campaigns, IS began to lose ground in both Iraq and Syria. Civilian deaths from airstrikes began to mount in 2015 and 2016. In mid-2016, the US and Russia] planned to begin coordinating their airstrikes; however, this coordination did not materialize.

In August 2016, Turkey launched a multi-pronged invasion of northern Syria. Turkey helped establish the Syrian National Army (SNA) in 2017. The Islamic State was defeated in the Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor offensives, returning to a weakened insurgency in 2017. On December 9, 2017, Iraq declared victory in the fight against ISIL and stated that the War in Iraq was over. On March 23, 2019, IS was defeated territorially in Syria after losing the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani, after which the group was forced into an insurgency. IS's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, died during a US special operations raid in northern Syria in October 2019 and was succeeded by Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. The United Nations estimated in August 2020 that over 10,000 IS fighters remained in Syria and Iraq, mainly as sleeper cells. Between the March 2020 Idlib ceasefire and late 2024, front line fighting in Syria mostly subsided but there were regular clashes in Idlib Governate.

13 years after the start of the Syrian civil war, the Assad regime fell in 2024 after a series of rebel offensives.

Russo-Ukrainian War (2016–present)

The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 when after Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists who began fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas War. These first eight years of conflict also included naval incidents and cyberwarfare. By August 2014, both sides had implemented economic, financial, and diplomatic sanctions upon each other: virtually all Western countries, led by the US and European Union, imposed punitive measures on Russia, which introduced retaliatory measures.

Some political analysts argue that Russia's annexation of Crimea marked the beginning of a Second Cold War between Russia and the West or NATO. In 2014, notable figures such as USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned, against the backdrop of a confrontation between Russia and the West over the Russo-Ukrainian War, that the world was on the brink of a new cold war, or that it was already occurring. The American political scientist Robert Legvold also believes it started in 2013 during the Ukraine crisis. Others argued that the term did not accurately describe the nature of relations between Russia and the West. In October 2016, John Sawers, a former MI6 chief, said he thought the world was entering an era that was possibly "more dangerous" than the Cold War, as "we do not have that focus on a strategic relationship between Moscow and Washington". Similarly, Igor Zevelev, a fellow at the Wilson Center, said that "it's not a Cold War [but] a much more dangerous and unpredictable situation". CNN opined: "It's not a new Cold War. It's not even a deep chill. It's an outright conflict".

In January 2017, former US government adviser Molly K. McKew said at Politico that the US would win a new cold war. The New Republic editor Jeet Heer dismissed the possibility as "equally troubling[,] reckless threat inflation, wildly overstating the extent of Russian ambitions and power in support of a costly policy", and too centred on Russia while "ignoring the rise of powers like China and India". Heer also criticised McKew for suggesting the possibility. Jeremy Shapiro, a senior fellow in the Brookings Institution, wrote in his blog post at RealClearPolitics, referring to the US–Russia relations: "A drift into a new Cold War has seemed the inevitable result".

Speaking to the press in Berlin on November 8, 2019, a day before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned of the dangers posed by Russia and China and specifically accused Russia, "led by a former KGB officer once stationed in Dresden", of invading its neighbours and crushing dissent. Jonathan Marcus of the BBC opined that Pompeo's words "appeared to be declaring the outbreak of a second [Cold War]".

Beginning in 2021, there was a massive Russian military buildup near Ukraine's borders, including within neighbouring Belarus. Russian officials repeatedly denied plans to attack Ukraine. Russia's president Vladimir Putin voiced expansionist views and denied Ukraine had a right to exist. He demanded that Ukraine be barred from ever joining the NATO military alliance. In early 2022, Russia recognized the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic as independent states. While Russian troops surrounded Ukraine, its proxies stepped up attacks on Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.

On February 24, 2022, Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, claiming Russia had no plans to occupy the country. What followed was a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in which Russia began occupying more of the country. It was the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. The war has resulted in a refugee crisis and tens of thousands of deaths. The Russian invasion was internationally condemned; many countries imposed sanctions against Russia, and sent humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine.

In the face of fierce resistance, Russia abandoned an attempt to take Kyiv in early April. In August, Ukrainian forces began liberating territories in the north-east and south. In September, Russia declared the annexation of four partially-occupied provinces, which was internationally condemned. From then through 2023, Russian offensives and Ukrainian counteroffensives gained only small amounts of territory. The invasion has also led to attacks in Russia by Ukrainian and Ukrainian-backed forces, among them a cross-border offensive into Russia's Kursk region in August 2024. Russia has repeatedly carried out deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians far from the frontline. The International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into war crimes and issued arrest warrants for Putin and several other Russian officials. Since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces forcibly occupied many parts of Ukraine. Soon after, journalist H. D. S. Greenway cited the Russian invasion of Ukraine and February 4 joint statement between Russia and China (under Putin and Xi Jinping) as one of the signs that Cold War II had officially begun. In June 2022, journalist Gideon Rachman asserted the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the start of a second Cold War.

On February 28, 2025, US President Donald Trump, the president of the United States, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a highly contentious, bilateral meeting televised live in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. The meeting was to discuss continued U.S. support for Ukraine in repelling the ongoing Russian invasion of the country, and was expected to conclude with the signing of the Ukraine–United States Mineral Resources Agreement; but the meeting ended abruptly without a clear resolution. During the meeting, Trump and JD Vance, the vice president of the United States, repeatedly criticized Zelenskyy, at times drowning out his voice. The incident marked the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president openly verbally attacked a visiting head of state.

Leading up to the meeting, there were tensions between the Trump administration and Zelenskyy's government. Trump wanted Ukraine to make concessions to Russia to swiftly end the war. He had begun talks with Russia without involving Ukraine, implied Zelenskyy was to blame for the Russian invasion, and called Zelenskyy a "dictator" for not holding elections during the war, something that was not legally possible due to martial law. Zelenskyy wanted strong security guarantees against future Russian aggression. He believed that without these, Russia's president Vladimir Putin would break any agreement, as he had before.

The meeting was widely criticized for its fiery, confrontational, and antagonistic tone. Nearly all U.S. allies, along with other global figures, swiftly voiced their support for Zelenskyy following the confrontation, with many issuing statements that appeared to rebuke Trump's confrontational approach. In contrast, Russian officials praised the outcome of the meeting and directed criticism toward Zelenskyy while Russian media expressed shock. In the U.S., reactions were divided along partisan lines – members of Trump's party, the Republican Party, largely commended his conduct, with few exceptions, while members of the Democratic Party widely condemned it. Within a week of the meeting, the Trump administration suspended provision of intelligence and all military aid to Ukraine. On March 5, CIA director John Ratcliffe said that there was a "pause" on both "the military front and the intelligence front", while national security adviser Mike Waltz answered a media query regarding intelligence provision that the United States was "pausing, assessing, looking at everything across our security relationship". On March 8, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency under the Trump administration said that, in relation to "support to Ukraine", the agency has "suspended access to U.S. government-purchased commercial imagery", while satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies suspended Ukrainian access per the Trump administration's decision.

Gaza War (2023–present)

Following the October 7 attacks, the United States gave strong support for Israel as they prepared to launch an invasion of the Gaza Strip. This led to a proxy war between Iran and the United States, with Iran backing several organizations to launch attacks against the United States. Between October 2023 – December 2024, the United States was attacked 223 times by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian military, the Houthi movement in Yemen, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and various other Iranian proxies across Iraq, Jordan, and Syria, including the Popular Mobilization Forces. During the proxy war, the United States launched numerous retaliatory strikes against the Iranian-supported "Axis of Resistance" informal alliance.

China–United States relations

Trump transition and first presidency (2016–2021)

In 2016, China surpassed the United States as the world's largest economy by purchasing power parity (PPP). The first presidency of Donald Trump led to a negative shift in US relations with China. President-elect Trump's telephone conversation with the president of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen on December 2, 2016, was the first such contact with Taiwan by an American president-elect or president since 1979. It provoked Beijing to lodge a diplomatic protest ("stern representations"). Trump went on to clarify his move: "I fully understand the 'one China' policy, but I don't know why we have to be bound by a 'one China' policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade."

Trump repeatedly said during his presidential campaign that he considered China a threat, a stance that heightened speculation at the time of the possibility of a "new cold war with China". Claremont McKenna College professor Minxin Pei said Trump's election win and "ascent to the presidency" may increase chances of the possibility. In March 2017, a self-declared socialist magazine Monthly Review said, "With the rise of the Trump administration, the new Cold War with Russia has been put on hold", and also said that the Trump administration has planned to shift from Russia to China as its main competitor.

In July 2018, Michael Collins, deputy assistant director of the CIA's East Asia mission center, told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado that he believed China under paramount leader and general secretary Xi Jinping, while unwilling to go to war, was waging a "quiet kind of cold war" against the United States, seeking to replace the US as the leading global power. He further elaborated: "What they're waging against us is fundamentally a cold war — a cold war not like we saw during [the] Cold War (between the U.S. and the Soviet Union) but a cold war by definition". In October 2018, Hong Kong's Lingnan University professor Zhang Baohui told The New York Times that a speech by United States Vice-president Mike Pence at the Hudson Institute "will look like the declaration of a new Cold War".

In January 2019, Robert D. Kaplan of the Center for a New American Security wrote that "it is nothing less than a new cold war: The constant, interminable Chinese computer hacks of American warships' maintenance records, Pentagon personnel records, and so forth constitute war by other means. This situation will last decades and will only get worse".

In February 2019, Joshua Shifrinson, an associate professor from Boston University, said concerns over a new cold war was "overblown", saying US-China relations were different from that of US–Soviet Union relations during the original Cold War, and that ideology would play a less prominent role in their bilateral relationship.

In June 2019, academic Stephen Wertheim called President Trump a "xenophobe" and criticised Trump's foreign policy toward China for heightening risks of a new Cold War, which Wertheim wrote "could plunge the United States back into gruesome proxy wars around the world and risk a still deadlier war among the great powers."

In August 2019, Yuan Peng of the China Institute of International Studies said that the 2008 financial crisis "initiated a shift in the global order." Yuan predicted the possibility of the new cold war between both countries and their global power competition turning "from 'superpower vs. major power' to 'No. 1 vs. No. 2'." On the other hand, scholar Zhu Feng said that their "strategic competition" would not lead to the new Cold War. Zhu said that the US–China relations have progressed positively and remained "stable", despite disputes in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait and US President Trump's aggressive approaches toward China.

In January 2020, columnist and historian Niall Ferguson opined that China is one of the major players of this Cold War, whose powers are "economic rather than military", and that Russia's role is "quite small". Ferguson wrote: "[C]ompared with the 1950s, the roles have been reversed. China is now the giant, Russia the mean little sidekick. China under Xi remains strikingly faithful to the doctrine of Marx and Lenin. Russia under Putin has reverted to Tsarism." Ferguson wrote that this Cold War is different from the original Cold War because the US "is so intertwined with China" at the point where "decoupling" is as others argued "a delusion" and because "America's traditional allies are much less eager to align themselves with Washington and against Beijing." He further wrote that the new Cold War "shifted away from trade to technology" when both the US and China signed their Phase One trade deal.

In a February 2020 interview with The Japan Times, Ferguson suggested that, to "contain China", the US "work intelligently with its Asian and European allies", as the US had done in the original Cold War, rather than on its own and perform something more effective than "tariffs, which are a very blunt instrument." He also said that the US under Trump has been "rather poor" at making foreign relations.

On May 24, 2020, China Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that relations with the US were on the "brink of a new Cold War" after it was fueled by tensions over the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June 2020, Boston College political scientist Robert S. Ross wrote that the US and China "are destined to compete [but] not destined for violent conflict or a cold war." In July, Ross said that the Trump "administration would like to fully decouple from China. No trade, no cultural exchanges, no political exchanges, no cooperation on anything that resembles common interests."

In August 2020, a La Trobe University professor Nick Bisley wrote that the US–China rivalry "will be no Cold War" but rather will "be more complex, harder to manage, and last much longer." He further wrote that comparing the old Cold War to the ongoing rivalry "is a risky endeavour."

In September 2020, the UN Secretary General António Guterres warned that the increasing tensions between the US under Trump and China under Xi were leading to "a Great Fracture" which would become costly to the world. Xi Jinping replied by saying that "China has no intention to fight either a Cold War or a hot one with any country."

Biden presidency (2021–2025)

In March 2021, Columbia University professor Thomas J. Christensen wrote that the cold war between the US and China "is unlikely" in comparison to the original Cold War, citing China's prominence in the "global production chain" and absence of the authoritarianism vs. liberal democracy dynamic. Christensen further advised those concerned about the tensions between the two nations to research China's role in the global economy and its "foreign policy toward international conflicts and civil wars" between liberal and authoritarian forces.

In September 2021, former Portuguese defence and foreign minister Paulo Portas described the announcement of the AUKUS security pact and the ensuing unprecedented diplomatic crisis between the signatories (Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and France (which has several territories in the Indo-Pacific) as a possible formal starting point of a new Cold War.

On November 7, 2021, President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan stated that the US does not pursue system change in China anymore, marking a clear break from the China policy pursued by previous US administrations. Sullivan said that the US is not seeking a new Cold War with China, but is looking for a system of peaceful coexistence.

In November 2021, Hal Brands and Yale professor John Lewis Gaddis wrote in Foreign Affairs that while it was no longer debatable that the United States and China has been entering into their "own new cold war," it was not clear that the world has also been following suit and entering into a new cold war.

According to a poll done by Morning Consult, only 15 percent of US respondents and 16 percent of Chinese respondents think the countries are in a cold war, with most rather categorizing it as a competition.

In August 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement condemning US House speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. This statement demanded, among other things, that the US "not seek a 'new Cold War'".

Following a November 2022 meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Bali, Biden told reporters that "there need not be a new Cold War".

In a December 2022 editorial published just before being elected US House speaker, Kevin McCarthy wrote that "China and the US are locked in a cold war." The op-ed also announced the creation of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

In early 2023, Jorge Heine, former Chilean ambassador to China and professor of international relations at Boston University, said the looming new Cold War between the US and China has become apparent to "a growing consensus", and described the new Cold War as "more alike than [it is] different" from the one fought between the US and Soviet Union, and saying the presence of "ideological-military overtones is now widely accepted."

Second Trump presidency (2025–present)

In early May 2022, Hoover Institution senior fellow Niall Ferguson said at the Milken Institute Global Conference that "Cold War II began some time ago". In January 2025, Ferguson wrote that the US has had "a second cold war" with China for at least six years and that the war further intensified under the Biden administration. Ferguson drew comparisons between Trump and then-US President Ronald Reagan, like assassination attempts on them, but further suggested that Trump use the Reagan administration's past approach in foreign policy.

In early February 2025, Michael McFaul, a Stanford University political science professor and former US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, wrote via The Dispatch that Trump still viewed China as a major rival during his second term. McFaul criticised the second Trump administration for risking its chances to win "Cold War 2.0". He further criticised the administration's foreign policy decisions—for example, calling Canada a potential 51st state candidate, announcing attempts to pressure NATO ally Denmark to give up Greenland, and attempts to shut down United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—for giving China and its ally Russia more advantage and risking ties with longtime US allies. McFaul further wrote, "We will not be able to win Cold War 2.0 on our own." In 2025–26, the U.S. triggered the Greenland crisis.

Relations between the United States and Latin America

Venezuela

The United States and Venezuela had a negative relation from the presidency of Nicolás Maduro. The US declined to recognize President Maduro in January 2019 and tried to get him to leave office through diplomacy, economic and legal means.

During the second Trump administration warships were sent off the coast of Venezuela to what the United States said was part of an anti-drug effort. From September 2025 until the beginning of 2026, 35 boats were struck by US military forces and 115 were killed. The Trump administration bombed Caracas and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on January 3, 2026, booking the two under drug-trafficking charges. They pled not guilty.

2026 Iran War

The United States along with Israel launched a series of air strikes on Iran starting on February 28 where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. Iran retaliated by attacking Israel, US facilities and allies to the United States across the Middle East afterward. A two-week ceasefire was agreed to between the United States and Iran on April 8 which was extended indefinitely before later ending in July.

COVID-19 pandemic

On January 21, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Everett, Washington, and the first death occurring on February 6. By February 2, the Trump administration restricted travel to and from China. On March 11, the WHO declared the virus to be a pandemic. In March, many state and local governments imposed "stay at home" orders to slow the spread of the virus, with the goal of reducing patient overload in hospitals. By March 26, New York Times data showed the United States to have the highest number of known cases of any country. By March 27, the country had reported over 100,000 cases. On April 2, at President Trump's direction, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and CDC ordered additional preventive guidelines to the long-term care facility industry. On April 11, the U.S. death toll became the highest in the world when the number of deaths reached 20,000, surpassing that of Italy. On April 19, the CMS added new regulations requiring nursing homes to inform residents, their families and representatives, of COVID-19 cases in their facilities. On April 28, the total number of confirmed cases across the country surpassed 1 million. By May 2020, 100,000 Americans had died with COVID-19. This corresponded with a relaxing of lockdown restrictions, leading to a surge of cases in July.

National, state, and local elections were impacted as a result of the pandemic. Many primary elections scheduled in March and April were postponed and sometimes cancelled. Voting by mail was also widely used as an alternative, with restrictions initially being relaxed to support the influx of mail voters. Campaign events were also altered, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden suspending many in-person rallies. President Trump continued with in-person rallies, receiving widespread criticism. An outbreak at the White House resulted in at least 48 people testing positive including President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. This resulted in the cancellation of a scheduled presidential debate between Trump and Biden.

COVID-19 vaccines began to be developed quickly after the pandemic began. In December, the FDA granted emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, followed shortly after by the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. Booster doses were later approved for all 3 vaccines to improve immunity over time. Many companies, universities, and state governments began giving bonuses and rewards in mid-2021 to encourage higher vaccine rates. Localities such as New York City, private companies such as United Airlines, and organizations such as the US Army issued vaccine mandates. This was accompanied by an executive order by Biden to enforce a vaccine requirement for large companies, although this was later blocked by the Supreme Court.

From June 2021 to March 2022, United States had greatly suffered from the highly transmissible Delta cron hybrid variant that is combined with Delta and Omicron variant, also known as the recombination event, for example: COVID-19 Delta variant caused a surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, especially among all of those who are unvaccinated or fully vaccinated. By August of the same year, Delta variant accounted for 99% of all cases of COVID-19, with the country surpassing 35 million cases. On December 1, 2021, COVID-19 Omicron Variant has arrived in the United States. However, as of January 2022 as the country became widespread, the United States has now causing a massive increase in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, averaging over 1 million new cases daily.

By February and March 2022, all 50 states and many localities began to lift restrictions and mask mandates. In his 2022 State of the Union Address, President Biden announced a new national strategy against the pandemic, including an increased emphasis on antiviral pills and combating new variants. On April 18, 2022, the federal transportation mask mandate, which had been extended to May 3 by the Biden administration on the advice of the CDC, was ended nationwide by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida. As of May 13, 2022, United States has surpassed 1 million COVID-19-related deaths, which becoming the deadliest pandemic in American and our nations' history since two World Wars and Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 and 1920.

Cases and deaths decreased throughout 2022, leading to President Biden stating his belief in a September interview that the COVID-19 pandemic was "over" in the United States, a statement, which received backlash from many in the medical community.

On May 11, 2023, just six days after the W.H.O. ended its designation of the three-year period of the global COVID-19 emergency of international concern, which estimated report 20 million excess deaths, U.S. federal government ends COVID-19 state of emergency, which remains a public health priority.

Impact on economy and society

The impact of the pandemic was widespread across social and economic sectors. COVID-19 lockdowns contributed to mass changes in social behavior for Americans. COVID-19 also had immediate consequences for prison populations, public transport, and cultural events such as sports. School closures also contributed to a learning gap for students as well as a rise in mental health concerns. Nearly all schools and universities transitioned to a completely online or hybrid method of teaching in spring 2020. Racial disparities were also exasperated by the pandemic, with a disproportionate number of cases being observed amongst Black and Latino populations. These groups were also more likely to die from COVID-19 and less likely to have received a vaccine. Native American reservations were also hit particularly hard, with lack of access to vaccines contributing to higher cases. Anti-Asian racism and xenophobia was also widely reported due to perceived Chinese faulthood for the virus. The economy entered a recession following an initial stock market crash in February 2020. National unemployment rose to a high of 14.7% in April 2020. Long lasting economic effects continued throughout the early 2020s resulting in supply-chain issues and a period of inflation.

Democratic backsliding

During the 2020s, scholars and historians identified significant democratic backsliding in the United States. The V-Dem Democracy Indices's electoral democracy index score for the United States peaked in 2015 and declined sharply after 2016, for which year it was also downgraded to "flawed democracy" by the Economist Intelligence Unit in its annual Democracy Index report. Both V-Dem and Freedom House downgraded the United States in 2018. According to James Grumbach, beyond the national level, democratic backsliding has occurred in American states under unified Republican Party control while Democratic Party-controlled and divided states have become more democratic. Grumbach also states "policies are more varied across the states as red and blue party coalitions implement increasingly distinct agendas." This backsliding has been accompanied by legislation restricting the civil rights of gender and sexual minorities, abortion rights, and voting rights.

In the V-Dem Institute's democracy report published in 2026, which describes the year 2025, the U.S. was classified as an "electoral democracy" for the first time in over 50 years, losing its status as a liberal democracy.

Disasters

In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey became the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. It devastated Houston, Texas, causing extreme flooding, 83 confirmed deaths, and an estimated $70 billion to $200 billion in damage. Harvey's highest winds hit 130 mph.

In September, Hurricane Irma hit Florida, killing 102 people and causing over $62.87 billion in damage, making it unofficially the fourth-costliest hurricane on record. The size of the storm spanned across the entire Florida peninsula, and all 67 counties of Florida declared a state of emergency. Irma's highest winds were 185 mph. Later that month, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, a US territory, killing over 547 people and causing over $91.6 billion in damage, making it the third-costliest Atlantic hurricane on record. Maria's highest winds were 175 mph.

On September 14, 2018, Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina as a Category 1 Hurricane, causing major flooding. 39 deaths were counted and damage is estimated as $17 billion (2018 USD). Florence's highest winds were 140 mph. On October 10, Hurricane Michael struck the Florida Panhandle as a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds after undergoing rapid intensification just prior to landfall; it killed 45 people in the US and caused $15 billion in damage.

In November of that year, several wildfires devastated portions of California, most notably the Camp Fire in Butte County in Northern California, which burned over 150,000 acres and destroyed nearly 19,000 structures. With a death toll of 86 and damages up to $10 billion, it was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history and the deadliest US wildfire since 1918.

A series of earthquakes struck Southern California on July 4 and 5, 2019. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake, a foreshock, struck near the desert city of Ridgecrest, on July 4. On July 5, a 7.1 earthquake struck, the main shock, centered near the first. The latter was the largest earthquake to hit Southern California in 20 years. Relatively minor damage resulted from the initial foreshock, though some building fires were reported in Ridgecrest near the epicenter. Effects were felt across much of Southern California as well as parts of Arizona and Nevada, as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, and as far south as Baja California, Mexico. An estimated 20 million people experienced the foreshock, and approximately 30 million people experienced the mainshock.

In September 2022, Hurricane Ian struck Florida, causing $112 billion in damage, making Ian the third costliest weather disaster on record worldwide. Ian caused 161 deaths, making it the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, and the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Michael in 2018. The cities of Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Naples were particularly hit hard, leaving millions without power in the storm's wake and numerous inhabitants forced to take refuge on their roofs. Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, and Pine Island bore the brunt of Ian's powerful winds and its accompanying storm surge at landfall, which leveled thousands of standing structures in the region and collapsed the Sanibel Causeway and the Pine Island Causeway to Pine Island, entrapping those left on the islands for several days. The destruction led to the United States Congress holding a televised investigative hearing regarding the federal government's response to and overall recovery efforts from Ian. The hearing discovered numerous issues with how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) responded to the aftermath of Ian.

In early August 2023, a series of wildfires broke out in the U.S. state of Hawaii, predominantly on the island of Maui. The wind-driven fires prompted evacuations, caused $5.5 billion in damages, killing at least 100 people and leaving at least 31 others missing in the town of Lahaina, Hawaii.

On March 26, 2024, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland collapsed after colliding with the container ship Dali. The bridge collapse resulted in the deaths of 6 people, as well as the closure of the Port of Baltimore, which sees significant automobile imports and coal exports. The collapse is estimated to cost $1.7 billion in supply chain disruptions.

In September and October 2024, Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit the Southeastern United States, killing 297 people and causing a combined damage total of $113.1 billion. Helene caused devastating damage in Florida and over $7 billion in damage to Georgia before causing extreme flooding across North Carolina, the hardest impacted state by Helene. Milton became the most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico, with one-minute sustained winds of 180 mph (285 km/h), a measured wind gust of approximatelly 200 miles per hour (320 km/h), and a pressure of 895 millibars (26.43 inHg), making it the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, tying the pressure record in the Gulf of Mexico with Hurricane Rita of 2005. After weaking to Category 3 strength, Milton struck Florida causing major devastation as well as a historic tornado outbreak. Between November 2024 – March 2025, the United States Congress held four televised investigative hearings on the federal government's response to, overall recovery efforts from, and criminal events following Helene and Milton. These hearings heavily focused on actions done by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including failures in FEMA's response as well as political discrimination and criminal actions by FEMA employees.

A series of destructive wildfires began in the Greater Los Angeles area in early January 2025, including the Palisades, Eaton, and Hughes fires. Exacerbated by drought conditions and the high-speed Santa Ana winds, they collectively burned over 50,000 acres of land and damaged more than 17,000 structures, resulting in at least 28 deaths and the evacuations of 200,000 people.

In early July 2025, significant rainfall led to flooding in Central Texas. Over 135 deaths occurred, with most of the casualties occurring in Kerr County, including multiple youth campers at a summer camp. The flooding demonstrated extreme challenges in early warning systems regarding floods.

Growing economic inequality

Observers have called this era of history the Second Gilded Age due to an increase in wealth inequality after deregulation stemming from the Reagan era, inequality which only grew during the Great Recession. The Gilded Age was a time of rampant political corruption, and many authors have compared it to the corruption of the modern day. "Bailout billionaires" have been accused of purchasing politicians, using dark money and super PACs as vehicles for buying elections. According to Henry Giroux, the United States has entered a Second Gilded Age "more savage and anti-democratic than its predecessor" as a result of the implementation of neoliberalism and contemporary market fundamentalism.

Many authors draw comparisons between the obscene fortunes of Gilded Age figures such as William Randolph Hearst and Second Gilded Age figures such as Elon Musk, both men who took control of media empires to push political agendas. Where Hearst took control of newspapers, Musk took control of the platform formerly known as Twitter. Hearst and Musk have both been criticized for using their newly acquired empires to spread misinformation and antisemitism.

According to The New Hampshire Gazette, the response from more radical elements of the general public to the excesses of the First Gilded Age are similar to what is emerging in the Second Gilded Age with the Killing of Brian Thompson, in particular the anarchist tradition of propaganda of the deed.

In his farewell address, U.S. President Joe Biden warned that an emerging American oligarchy and tech–industrial complex posed risks to America in what Politico described as "echoing Roosevelt's language in calling out the 'robber barons' of a new dystopian Gilded Age". These comments were made in the context of several tech billionaires who made large donations to the 2024 presidential campaign of Donald Trump and his second inauguration. It also came in the context of surging stock prices of "The Magnificent Seven", seven tech companies whose combined value rose 46% in 2024, vastly beating the S&P 500 share index.

Race

The mid-2010s saw the return of racial unrest in the country, as well as the continued growth of racial polarization and a deterioration of race relations in the US. A significant white backlash followed the election of Barack Obama as the first Black US President in 2008. Many observers saw the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016 as an example of white backlash, or "whitelash".

Some authors have pointed out comparisons between the loss of civil rights after the Reconstruction Era and the stripping of civil rights in the modern day. The Supreme Court gutted the Civil Rights Act of 1866 in 1883, just as they gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 2013, in both cases helping to strip Black Americans of the right to vote. While the legal discrimination of Jim Crow has been overturned, still today, a de facto racist criminal justice system still overlooks or enables police racial discrimination.

Xenophobia continued to gain legal protections in the First Gilded Age, finally culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, fully banning immigration from most of East and South Asia until being overturned during the civil rights era. This approach has been compared with Obama, Trump, and Biden era policies on immigration through the US-Mexico border such as Remain in Mexico. Trump further instituted travel bans from 15 countries, until they were overturned by Biden.

Black Lives Matter

Anti-racist protests erupted in the wake of the July 5, 2016 shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the July 6 shooting of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. On July 7, towards the end of one of these protests in Dallas, Texas, Micah Xavier Johnson ambushed and fired upon a group of police officers, killing five officers and injuring nine others. Two civilians were also wounded. Johnson was an Army Reserve Afghan War veteran who was reportedly angry over police shootings of Black men and stated that he wanted to kill white people, especially white police officers. Following the shooting, Johnson fled inside a building on the campus of El Centro College. Police followed him there, and a standoff ensued. In the early hours of July 8, police killed Johnson with a bomb attached to a remote control bomb disposal robot. It was the first time US law enforcement used a robot to kill a suspect. The shooting was the deadliest incident for US law enforcement officers since the September 11 attacks in 2001 and saw a massive uprising of public support for US police officers in the form of the Blue Lives Matter movement.

The George Floyd protests and riots against police brutality began as local protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota before spreading throughout the United States and then worldwide. The protests began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, following the murder of George Floyd during an arrest the previous day. Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes, asphyxiating him, with the help of three other police. Floyd had been handcuffed and pinned to the ground. Protests quickly spread across the United States and internationally in support of Black Lives Matter. At least twelve major cities declared a curfew on the evening of Saturday, May 30, and as of June 2, governors in 24 states and Washington, D.C. had called in the National Guard, with over 17,000 troops activated.

Unite the Right rally

On August 13, 2017, Trump condemned violence "on many sides" after a gathering of hundreds of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, the previous day (August 12) turned deadly. A white supremacist drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman, Heather Heyer, and injuring 19 others. According to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that action met the definition of domestic terrorism. During the rally there had been other violence, as some counter-protesters charged at the white nationalists with swinging clubs and mace, throwing bottles, rocks, and paint. Trump did not expressly mention Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, or the alt-right movement in his remarks on August 13, but the following day (August 14) he did denounce white supremacists as he had done as a candidate the previous year. He condemned "the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups". Then the next day (August 15), he again blamed "both sides".

Many Republican and Democratic elected officials condemned the violence and hatred of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and alt-right activists. Trump came under criticism from world leaders and politicians, as well as a variety of religious groups and anti-hate organizations for his remarks, which were seen as muted and equivocal. The New York Times reported that Trump "was the only national political figure to spread blame for the 'hatred, bigotry and violence' that resulted in the death of one person to 'many sides'", and said that Trump had "buoyed the white nationalist movement on Tuesday as no president has done in generations". White nationalist groups felt "emboldened" after the rally and planned additional demonstrations.

The End Domestic Terrorism rally (sometimes referred to by the slogan "Better dead than red") was a Proud Boys demonstration held in Portland, Oregon, on August 17, 2019. The event received national attention.

Societal trends

Demographics

In the 2020 United States census the official resident population count of every state in the US including the District of Columbia was 331,449,281. Puerto Rico had a population of 3,285,874 people. For the other island territories of the US the respective populations of each were: American Samoa at 49,710, Guam at 138,836, Northern Mariana Islands at 47,329, US Virgin Islands at 87,146.

Language

English was still the most commonly spoken language but the number and percentage of the population that spoke a language apart from English grew from previous decades. President Trump during his second administration would sign an executive order designating English to be the official language of the United States. The usage of emojis was also a popular means of communication.

In 2023 78% percent of people who were 5 and older said they spoke solely English at home with 22% saying they spoke a "Language other than English" with the most common being Spanish. The next languages after Spanish are Mandarin (5.2%), Tagolog (2.6%), Vietnamese (2.3%), and Arabic (1.9%).

Religion

The percentage of people unaffiliated with any particular religion grew during this period. The Public Religion Research Institute in 2020 conducted a nationwide poll covering data at the county level reporting that 67% percent were Christian, 18% irreligious (3% were atheist and another 3% agnostic), 1% Muslim, 1% Jewish, 1% Buddhist, 1% being Hindu and 1% belonging to other religions. Another poll conducted in 2023 reported that 66% were Christian, 27% unaffiliated (5% stating they were atheist and the same percentage saying they were agnostic while the rest said nothing in general), 2% Jewish, %1 Muslim, %1 Hindu, %1 Buddhist, 0.5% were Unitarian Universalists and 2% came from other non-Christian faiths.

A November 2022 survey from YouGov reported 51% of respondents as saying religious diversity was a good thing, 28% "Neither good nor bad", 11% said they were not sure and 10% thought it was a bad thing.

Science and technology

There was a decline in television viewership during this period. A Pew Research Center poll from 2021 reported that in 2015, 76% of American adults received TV via satellite or cable while in 2021 this had declined to 56%. This decline in cable and satellite TV viewership has been attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and the growth of internet streaming platforms. One medium of information that grew in terms of listenership were podcasts.

Computing

During this period there was dramatic growth in Artificial Intelligence or AI. There was growth in terms of awareness and how much of the public in the United States interacted with it especially with chatbots. An observable disconnect has been seen between how AI experts and the general public perceive AI with experts perceiving it more positively while the general public perceives it more negatively.

Space exploration

The United States began efforts to send humans back to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972 through the Artemis program. The uncrewed Artemis I was launched to lunar orbit in November 2022 and returned to Earth in December 2022. The Artemis II flyby of the Moon in April 2026 was the first crewed mission near the Moon since 1972. It became the furthest human spaceflight and sent the first woman, African American, oldest person, and Canadian, beyond low Earth orbit.

The Ingenuity helicopter probe was launched in 2020 and arrived on Mars in 2021. It made the first powered flight on another celestial body and did 72 flights on Mars until 2024 when its propeller blades were damaged to the point where the probe could not fly anymore.

Travel and transportation

The 2020 US Census Bureau Community Survey found 91.5% of households had access to at least one car which was a gain from 90.982% in 2015. Electric cars became more common during this period with sales growing.

During the 2010s the number of passengers grew on US airlines on both domestic and international flights consecutively. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic decline in the number of airline passengers going from its peak during this period of 926.44 million passengers in 2019 to a low of 369.69 million in 2020. In the following years the number of passengers on US airlines began to recover. International travel would end up fully recovering from the downturn in international travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2023 with peak numbers being reached by July of that year. Most Americans visited at least one country in their lives during this period according to a 2023 Pew Research Survey.

Public transportation ridership declined sharply with the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic and has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The first private passenger rail line in a century, Brightline opened in Florida in January 2018 going from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale and later expanded to Miami that year in May. The network was later expanded to Orlando in September 2023.

Honolulu opened the Skyline metro system in 2023, making it the first metro system in Hawaii.

Energy

During the 2010s and 2020s the United States would see sizeable changes in the country's sources of electricity. Coal as a power source declined in the 2010s going from the top source of electricity to the 4th by 2024. The decline of coal came with the growth of natural gas as a fuel source along with the solar and wind. Solar and wind became the 3rd largest source of electricity for the first time surpassing nuclear in 2023.

The United States also became energy independent for the first time ever since the late 1950s in 2019; meaning that the country produced more energy than it consumed.

Family

Throughout the 2010s, the national divorce rate continued to decline steadily and the marriage rate initially grew slightly before slightly decreasing during the 2010s; however between 2021 and 2022 the marriage rate did increase. The teen pregnancy rate among those 15–19 fell continuing an overall trend that had been going for many decades prior.

A July 2022 Pew Research Center survey reported that 69% of Americans were in some type of romantic relationship with 51% being married, 11% living with a partner and 8% being in a "committed romantic relationship". 30% were reported as being single and 1% did not give an answer. Online dating was and is popular; the Pew Research Center reported in 2023 that most people (53%) said they had a positive experience with 47% saying they had a negative experience. However harassment from online dating is an issue. A 2024 YouGov survey of adults who were U.S. citizens reported that 11% had been in a polyamorous relationship while 85% had not and 4% said they were not sure.

Recreation and leisure

Sports along with video games were popular during this period. The number of people who played video games did increase during the COVID-19 Pandemic before it later fell after lockdowns were removed. A ban on states allowing sports betting which was implemented in 1992 was lifted in 2018 by the US Supreme Court.

The youth scouting movement, which was once more prominent in the country, continued its decline during this period in terms of members of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, especially during the pandemic. Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy in 2020 after thousands of former boy scouts sued in court for being abused with a settlement being reached and the organization later leaving bankruptcy. The Boy Scouts of America would later rename themselves to Scouting America in 2025 and the group saw a small growth in the number of members in 2024.

Sports

Although the United States did not host any Olympic Games in the 2010s and into the mid 2020s, it still participated and came in first place for total medal count in the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2020 Summer Olympics, and the 2024 Summer Olympics. The United States is scheduled to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The United States governmental officials boycotted the 2022 Winter Olympics to protest poor treatment of its Uyghur population and "anti-democratic crackdown in Hong Kong", though American athletic teams still participated.

The country hosted the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama in 2022; it was initially scheduled for 2021 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup was hosted jointly between the United States, Mexico and Canada in different cities throughout the three countries. Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan made their debut appearances at the World Cup that year.

Crime and violence

The crime rate overall in the United States during the 2010s and 2020s continued to decline following a trend which had been occurring since the early 1990s and it was lower compared to previous decades. Violent and nonviolent crime both fell. Yet there was a rise in property crimes particularly car thefts which has been attributed to a trend on TikTok about stealing Kia and Hyundai cars regarding a security vulnerability in them which they responded by doing software upgrades. The number of law enforcement officers increased in the United States every year from 2016 onward with the exception of 2021.

Continuing the increase in high-profile mass school shootings seen in the late 1990s and 2000s, additional school shootings shocked the country in the 2010s and 2020s, the deadliest of which were the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (2012), the Parkland high school shooting (2018), and the Uvalde school shooting (2022). These shootings heightened the debate over gun politics and continued the public dialogue about improving mental health care and school safety.

On June 12, 2016, the Orlando nightclub shooting became the deadliest mass shooting in American history at the time, with 49 people killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. On October 1, 2017, the Orlando incident was surpassed by the 2017 Las Vegas shooting as the deadliest mass shooting in American history when a gunman fired from his 32nd-floor hotel room of the Mandalay Bay onto a crowd of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, killing 58 and injuring 869 others before committing suicide. This shooting led to increased dialogue and debate over gun control, particularly the use of bump stocks which allowed the shooter to fire his semi-automatic rifle at a rate similar to a fully automatic weapon. Concerns about public event safety and hotel security also became a focus of public dialogue in the wake of this event. In addition, the investigation was the focus of intense scrutiny, particularly as the official reports and timelines changed several times throughout the investigation. This also led to a number of conspiracy theories.

The following month on November 5, a former USAF soldier killed 26 churchgoers at the First Baptist Church in the Sutherland Springs church shooting. It was the worst mass shooting that occurred in both the State of Texas and at an American place of worship in modern history, surpassing the Charleston church shooting of 2015 and the Waddell Buddhist temple shooting of 1991 respectively. The Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting of 2018 also led to major debates on weapon control and brought attention to gaps in reporting to the federal background-check system intended to ban convicted domestic abusers.

Hate crimes

After a decrease and legislation toughening laws in the 2000s, the late 2010s saw a rise in hate crimes. Hate crimes became the motive of many mass shootings, with race, sexual orientation, and religion becoming prominent targets.

On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and himself at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in what was classified as a terrorist attack and a hate crime against the LGBTQ community. It was the deadliest mass shooting in American history at the time, surpassing the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. A rise in attacks and killings of transgender individuals also occurred, with attention on underreporting in both statistics and media attention. The 2018 murder of Anthony Avalos and a 2022 mass shooting in Colorado Springs have continually brought renewed attention to attacks against the LGBTQ community.

On October 27, 2018, a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life synagogue during Shabbat morning services, killing 11 people and injuring six more. The attack was the deadliest ever against the Jewish community in America; many of those killed had been Holocaust survivors. The shooting brought awareness to an increase in American antisemitism.

Hate crimes based on race continued to be the leading motive. White supremacist attacks against Black Americans garnered significant public attention, as did increasing attacks on Americans of Mexican descent and Americans of Asian descent. Examples include the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting, 2022 Buffalo shooting, and an increase in Anti-Asian attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Domestic terrorism and political violence

Concurrently to the rise in mass shootings, the late 2010s saw a sharp increase in domestic terror incidents. Several studies attributed this rise to an increase in attacks from groups with links to far right-wing extremism, religious extremism, and white supremacy.

In late October 2018, 16 packages containing pipe bombs were mailed via the US Postal Service to several prominent critics of US President Donald Trump, including leading Democratic Party politicians such as former US President Barack Obama, former US Vice President Joe Biden, and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as CNN offices in New York City. On March 21, 2019, Cesar Sayoc, 57, pleaded guilty to 65 felony charges related to the bombing, including using weapons of mass destruction and domestic terrorism.

2020 was marked by a rise in domestic terrorist threats and widespread conspiracy theories around mail-in voting and COVID-19. The QAnon conspiracy theory, a fringe far-right political movement among conservatives, gained publicity. Multiple major cities were hit by rioting and brawls between far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and left-leaning counter-protestors, such as those affiliated with the left-wing political movement Antifa. In March 2021, FBI director Christopher Wray confirmed an October 2020 report from the Department of Homeland Security that said white supremacists posed the top domestic terrorism threat. Wray noted that the threat from these groups had been elevated to the same level as ISIS. The January 6 United States Capitol attack was considered by many to be a domestic terror attack. The 2022 elections saw continued attempts of intimidation, and concern for attacks, at voting stations and election offices around the country.

Overall, political violence, perpetrated by all sides of the political spectrum, has become more common throughout the 2010s and 2020s. In 2017, a mass shooting targeted a practice session for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, injuring then U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. In 2020, the FBI announced the arrest of 13 people over a plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. In 2022, Paul Pelosi, spouse to then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, was attacked with a hammer. The attack was motivated by various far-right conspiracy theories. During the 2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump faced numerous failed assassination attempts, including one in July near Butler, Pennsylvania and another in September in Florida. In December 2024, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in New York City, sparking debate over the American healthcare system. 2025 saw an attempted arson attack on the Pennsylvania Governor's Residence and the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers. In September 2025, conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University. Trump faced another assassination attempt in 2026 at the 2026 White House Correspondents Dinner, which he survived. Also present at the shooting were numerous lawmakers, cabinet members, and political figures.

Deployment of federal forces

During the Second Trump Administration, Trump has ordered the deployment of federal law enforcement and the National Guard to U.S. cities under various reasons, including crackdowns on crime, protests, and undocumented immigrants. In response to protests against mass deportations in Los Angeles, Trump federalized the California National Guard and deployed U.S. Marines to the city. Trump then used dubious claims of crime in the District of Columbia to invoke the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allowed him to take over the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department and deploy federal forces to the District. In November 2025, two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot during their deployment in the District. These deployments often come against the wishes of local elected officials, who have pursued legal action against the Trump administration.

The United States Department of Homeland Security has conducted large-scale operations and raids in cities to apprehend undocumented immigrants. In September 2025, Operation Midway Blitz saw the deployment of agents to the Chicago, Illinois area. Operation Metro Surge saw the deployment of ICE, Border Patrol, and CBP agents to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. This operation caused widespread unrest in Minnesota as well as the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal law enforcement: Renée Good and Alex Pretti. These killings have spawned anti-ICE demonstrations and a general strike in Minnesota.

2025–26 fiscal crises

Starting on October 1, the government entered a government shutdown after failing to pass the annual funding bill in the Senate. The shutdown, which lasted until November 12, was finally ended after President Donald Trump signed into effect the funding bill. A second partial government shutdown went into effect on February 13 after US lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on the extension of the previous funding bill. This shutdown lasted until April 30, lasting 76 days, which surpassed the previous one as the longest government shutdown in US history.

In April 2026, the price of eggs had risen 3.2% since the start of President Trump's term, and the price of oil had risen 61%, the latter of which was caused by the Iranian blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, which was caused by the 2026 US-Iranian conflict.