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In the2016 U.S. presidential election, theRepublican Party ticket ofDonald Trump andMike Pence, using apopulist message, defeatedDemocratic Party ticket ofHillary Clinton andTim Kaine.Barack Obama finished hispresidency by completinga withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and declassifying alleged significantRussian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
Duringhis first presidency, which began in 2017, Trumpenacted tax cuts,increased immigration restrictions, and expanded theMexico–United States border wall. Trump promoted an"America First" foreign policy that included atrade war with China. In December 2019, Trump wasimpeached for his alleged role in ascandal involving theRusso-Ukrainian War, for which he was subsequentlyacquitted. In 2020, Trump oversaw the federal government response to theCOVID-19 pandemic andsubsequent recession as he ran for reelection against Obama's vice presidentJoe Biden. The Democratic ticket of Biden andKamala Harris beat Trump and Pence in the2020 presidential election. Trump, along with his supporters, made multipleattempts to overturn the presidential election withfalse claims of fraud, which culminated with theJanuary 6, 2021 attack on theU.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop thepeaceful transfer of power. The attack and Trump's involvement led tohis second impeachment and acquittal.
Thepresidency of Joe Biden, which began in 2021, included major legislation such as theAmerican Rescue Plan Act,Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,CHIPS and Science Act, and theInflation Reduction Act.Biden's foreign policy oversaw thecomplete withdrawal of U.S. troops that ended thewar in Afghanistan, leading tothe Taliban retaking control from the collapsed Afghan government. Biden kept tariffs from Trump's trade war with China. Bidenresponded to theRussian invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022 by imposingsanctions on Russia and authorizingcivilian and military aid to Ukraine. Biden strongly supportedIsrael's military efforts during theGaza war that began in 2023 before adoptinga ceasefire proposal at the end of his term. Biden abandoned his 2024 reelection campaign and endorsed Harris, who lost to the Republican ticket of Trump andJD Vance in the2024 United States presidential election.
Trump beganhis second presidency, which began in 2025, bypardoning around 1,500 January 6 rioters, initiatingmass layoffs of the federal workforce, signing theLaken Riley Act, and startinga trade war with Mexico and Canada while escalating the trade war with China. Trump's administration suspended the provision of intelligence andmilitary aid to Ukraine, offered concessions to Russia, requested half of Ukraine's oil and minerals as payment for U.S. support, and said that Ukraine bore partial responsibility for the invasion. These moves have been criticized by most of the United States' allies and by many international organizations. Trump's broad and extensiveuse of executive orders has drawnnumerous lawsuits challenging their legality.
This period has been called theSecond Cold War due to a return togreat power rivalry between the United States,China, andRussia, as well as part of aSecond Gilded Age, due toincreasing wealth inequality. It has also been described as the beginning of theSeventh Party System, due to recent shifts indemographics andvoting patterns.
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In 2016, following severalcybersecurity incidents, the Obama administration formally accusedRussia of engaging in acampaign to undermine the 2016 election, and the administration imposed sanctions on some Russian-linked people and organizations.[1][2]
Several candidates ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election that was won byDonald Trump, who prominentlyquestioned Obama's place of birth during Obama's first term. The Democratic Party had fewer potential candidates to choose from, and the campaign early on centered onHillary Clinton, former Secretary of State, United States Senator from New York, and First Lady of the United States. A surprise challenger to Clinton appeared in 74-year-old Vermont SenatorBernie Sanders, a self-identifieddemocratic socialist and the one of only two independents in the Senate. Despite attracting a large, enthusiastic following among mostly young voters, Sanders was unable to secure the nomination. When the primary season finished in the spring, Clinton secured the Democratic nomination. By the spring of 2016, most GOP candidates had dropped out of the running aside from Trump,Ted Cruz, andJohn Kasich. Cruz and Kasich ended their campaigns in May while Sanders conceded the Democratic nomination in July, endorsing the presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.
The 2016 elections took place on November 8. Obama was term-limited in 2016 due to the22nd Amendment. In June 2016, with theDemocratic primaries nearly complete, Obama endorsed former secretary of stateHillary Clinton as his successor.[3] However, according to Glenn Thrush ofPolitico, Obama had long supported Clinton as his preferred successor, and Obama dissuaded Vice President Biden from running against Clinton.[4] Obama spoke in favor of Clinton at the2016 Democratic National Convention, and he continued to campaign for Clinton and other Democrats in the months leading up to Election Day.[5]
As the primaries gave way to the general election, Hillary Clinton faced numerous controversies over her tenure as Secretary of State, namely anemail server scandal. Polls and surveys showed that both Clinton and Trump had an overall negative image among voters. Meanwhile, Donald Trump chose as his running mate Indiana GovernorMike Pence. Pence, a staunch conservative Christian, was seen as a way of winning over heartland conservatives, many of whom were Ted Cruz supporters wary of Trump's attitude on social issues. Clinton chose as her running mate Virginia SenatorTim Kaine, seen as a way of connecting with blue collar white voters, Trump's base of support.[6] During the general election, controversies over remarks Donald Trump had made over the years seen as demeaning to women emerged in the press, including a beauty pageant he had been a judge on in the 1990s where he had criticized the appearance of a contestant, as well as aleaked 2005 audio tape in which he made vulgar statements about the treatment of women.[7] Hillary Clinton, however, continued to be embroiled in controversies of her own, the biggest being the revelation that she had used an unsecured private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State, leaving the possibility of having mismanaged or compromised classified documents. In addition,John Podesta, Clinton's campaign manager, had his private email account hacked, releasing over 20,000 campaign emails in October and November 2016 byWikiLeaks.[8]
OnElection Day, November 8, Trump carried 306 electoral votes against Clinton's 232. He made considerable inroads into the oldRust Belt, carrying states such asMichigan,Wisconsin andPennsylvania that had beensafe Democratic territory since 1988. However, Donald Trump did not win the popular vote. This was the fifth time in American history that the outcome of the Electoral College did not match the outcome of the popular vote, the others happening in1824,1876,1888, and2000. The GOP also retained control a majority in both theHouse of Representatives and theSenate, controlling allbranches of government. Allegations ofRussian interference on behalf ofTrump's candidacy in the 2016 election caused controversy during and after the election.[9][8]
Trump and Obama frequently communicated during thetransition period, and Trump stated that he sought Obama's advice regarding presidential appointments.[10] However, President-elect Trump also criticized some of Obama's actions, including Obama's refusal to veto a UN Resolution condemning Israel settlements.[11] In hisfarewell address, Obama expressed concerns about a divisive political environment, economic inequality, and racism, but remained optimistic about the future.[12][13] Obama left office with roughly 8,400 US soldiers remaining in Afghanistan.[14]
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On January 20, 2017,Trump took the oath of office as the 45th US president in the face of large-scale demonstrations from protesters unhappy with the outcome of the election and of the incoming president. On his first day in office, he undertook a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling the Affordable Care Act andTrans-Pacific Partnership, and also moved to pass atemporary ban on refugees from several Middle Eastern states. This last action met with widespread criticism, and the9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed it as unconstitutional. On June 26, the Supreme Court overturned the 9th Circuit's decision, ruling that part of President Trump's executive order is constitutional. One of Trump's major accomplishments was nominatingAssociate JusticeNeil Gorsuch to theSupreme Court. On April 10, Gorsuch was sworn in. In 2018, President Trump nominatedBrett Kavanaugh to replace the departingAssociate JusticeAnthony Kennedy. Thenomination process soon became contentious after several women, most notablyPalo Alto University psychology professorChristine Blasey Ford, accused Kavanaugh of past instances ofsexual assault. After a series of hearings, the US Senate voted to confirm Kavanaugh despite the controversy.[15]
In 2017,Robert Mueller was appointed asspecial counsel to investigate Russian's involvement in the 2016 election, includingallegations of conspiracy or coordination between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia.[16] TheMueller Report, released in 2019, concludes that Russia undertook a sustained social media campaign and cyberhacking operation to bolster the Trump campaign.[17] The report did not reach a conclusion on allegations that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, but, according to Mueller, his investigation did not find evidence "sufficient to charge any member of the [Trump] campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy."[18]
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In December 2017, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law theTax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The Act amended theInternal Revenue Code of 1986 based on tax reform advocated by congressionalRepublicans and theTrump administration. Major elements include reducing tax rates for businesses and individuals; a personal tax simplification by increasing thestandard deduction and family tax credits, but eliminatingpersonal exemptions and making it less beneficial to itemize deductions; limiting deductions for state and local income taxes (SALT) andproperty taxes; further limiting themortgage interest deduction; reducing thealternative minimum tax for individuals and eliminating it for corporations; reducing the number of estates impacted by theestate tax; and repealing theindividual shared responsibility provision of theAffordable Care Act (ACA).[19] The nonpartisanCongressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that, under the Act, individuals andpass-through entities like partnerships andS corporations would receive about $1,125 billion in net benefits (i.e. net tax cuts offset by reduced healthcare subsidies) over 10 years, whilecorporations would receive around $320 billion in benefits. The individual and pass-through tax cuts fade over time and become net tax increases starting in 2027 while the corporate tax cuts are permanent. This enabled the Senate to pass the bill with only 51 votes, without the need to defeat afilibuster, under thebudget reconciliation process.[20] Tax cuts were reflected in individual worker paychecks as early as February 2018 and with the corporate tax rate being reduced from 35% to 21%, numerous major American corporations announced across-the-board pay raises and bonuses for their workers, expanded benefits and programs, and investments in capital improvements.[21][22][23]
Trump announced plans towithdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement in June 2017. The agreement prevented any country from leaving less than three years after it began, so the United States had to wait until November 4, 2019, to officially startthe withdrawal process. After a mandatory one-year waiting period, the country left on November 4, 2020.[24]
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On May 9, 2018, the Trump Administrationwithdrew from theJoint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) (also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal) with Iran, and other Great Powers, over alleged violations of the agreement by the Iranians in regards toward their nuclear program.[25]
The effects of the tax cuts resulted in theUS economy stabilizing for a short period between early 2018 and September 2019. During that time, the2018 midterm elections took place. The elections had the highest voter turnout of any midterm election since 1914; theDemocratic Party regained majority control of the House of Representatives and theRepublican Party expanded their majority in the Senate even though they received a minority of the popular vote.
In October 2019, theFederal Reserve announced that it would conduct arepurchase agreement operation to provide funds in the repo markets after the overnight lending rates spiked well above the Fed's target rate during the week of September 16.[26]
At that time, the United States began to feel the effects of a global synchronized economic slowdown that began after global growth peaked in 2017 and industrial output started to decline in 2018. TheInternational Monetary Fund blamed 'heightened trade and geopolitical tensions' as the main reason for the slowdown, citingBrexit and theChina–United States trade war as primary reasons for slowdown in 2019, while other economists blamed liquidity issues.[27][28]
On December 18, 2019, the House of Representatives brought forth twoarticles ofimpeachment (abuse of power andobstruction of Congress) against President Trump.[29] Both articles were passed,impeaching Trump.[30] Trump became the third president inAmerican history to be impeached, afterAndrew Johnson andBill Clinton.
On December 20, 2019, Trump signed the2020 National Defense Authorization Act, establishing theUnited States Space Force as the sixth armed service branch, with Air Force GeneralJohn "Jay" Raymond, the head ofAir Force Space Command andUS Space Command, becoming the firstChief of Space Operations.[31]
On January 3, 2020, President Trump responded to anattack on theUS Embassy in Baghdad by ordering adrone strike against theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's commanding generalQasem Soleimani and thePopular Mobilization Forces leaderAbu Mahdi al-Muhandis atBaghdad International Airport. The incident sharply escalated a period of already strong tensions with Iran and lead tomissile strikes on US military forces in Iraq on January 8, 2020. At the same time, Iranian military forces mistakenly shot downUkraine International Airlines Flight 752, leading todomestic unrest and international condemnation.[32]
In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration's order to rescindDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), saying the administration had not provided adequate reasoning under theAdministrative Procedure Act. DACA is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action fromdeportation and become eligible for awork permit in the US. To be eligible for the program, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. Unlike the proposedDREAM Act, DACA does not provide a path to citizenship for recipients.
In September 2020, thedeath ofAssociate JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg prompted President Trump tonominateAmy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. Barrett's nomination was controversial because of its proximity to the2020 presidential election. The Senate voted to confirm Barrett in a partisan vote.[33]
President Trump lost the2020 presidential election toJoe Biden, who previously served asVice President underPresident Barack Obama. He became the first president to lose the popular vote in both elections contested, as well as the first president sinceGeorge H. W. Bush'sloss in 1992 to be defeated after his single term. Biden himself became the oldest person to win a United States presidential election and was theoldest president uponhis inauguration. The election also sawKamala Harris become the first woman, as well as first person ofAfrican-American andAsian-American ancestry, to be elected as Vice President.[34]
In the aftermath of the election, Trump and numerous other Republicans repeatedly madefalse claims that widespreadelectoral fraud had occurred and that only he had legitimately won the election.[a] Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr and officials in each of the 50 states found no evidence of fraud (widespread or otherwise) or irregularities in the election.[37][38] Although most resulting lawsuits were either dismissed or ruled against by numerous courts,[b] Trump nonethelessconspired[35]: 33–53 with hiscampaign team tosubmit documents in several states (all of which had been won by Biden) whichfalsely claimed to be legitimate electoral votes for President Trump and Vice PresidentMike Pence.[c] After the submission of these documents, the Trump campaign intended that thepresiding officer of the United States Senate, eitherPresident of the Senate Pence orPresident pro temporeChuck Grassley, would claim to have the unilateral power to rejectelectors during theJanuary 6, 2021 vote counting session; the presiding officer would reject all electors from the several states in which the Trump campaign had submitted false documents, leaving 232 votes for Trump and 222 votes for Biden, therebyoverturning the election results in favour of Trump.[d] The plans for January 6 failed to come to fruition after Pence refused to follow the campaign's proposals.[e] Trump nevertheless urged his supporters on January 6, 2021, to march to theCapitol while the joint session of Congress was assembled there to count electoral votes and formalize Biden's victory, leading tohundreds storming the building and interrupting the electoral vote count;[36]: 637–669 as a result, the Houseimpeached Trump forincitement of insurrection on January 13, 2021,[56] making him the only federal officeholder in American history to be impeached twice. The Senate would lateracquit him for the second time on February 13, 2021, after he had already left office.[57] On January 7, Trump acknowledged the incoming administration without mentioning Biden's name.[58] Trump was laterindicted in August 2023 over his role, as well as for other criminal proceedings including hismishandling of classified documents andhush money payments.[59][60][61]
Joe Biden wasinaugurated on January 20, 2021. He was theoldest president at his inauguration at 78 years old beating his predecessor Donald Trump's record of 70, but a new record was set by Trump again in 2025 after he won re-election. His vice president,Kamala Harris, was elected alongside Biden and is the first female vice president in American history.
On the first day of his presidency, Biden made an effort to revert President Trump's energy policy by restoring U.S. participation in theParis Agreement and revoking the permit for theKeystone XL pipeline. He also halted funding for theMexico–United States border wall.[62] On his second day, he issued a series of executive orders to reduce the impact ofCOVID-19, including invoking theDefense Production Act of 1950, and set an early goal of achieving one hundred millionCOVID-19 vaccinations in theUnited States in hisfirst 100 days.[63]
Biden signed into law theAmerican Rescue Plan Act of 2021; a $1.9 trillionstimulus bill that temporarily established expanded unemployment insurance and sent $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans in response to continued economic pressure from COVID-19.[64] He signed the bipartisanInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; a ten-year plan brokered by Biden alongside Democrats and Republicans in Congress, to invest in American roads, bridges, public transit, ports and broadband access.[65] He appointedKetanji Brown Jackson to theU.S. Supreme Court—the firstBlack woman to serve the court. Biden proposed a significant expansion of the U.S. social safety net through theBuild Back Better Act, but those efforts, along withvoting rights legislation, failed in Congress. However, in August 2022, Biden signed theInflation Reduction Act of 2022, a domestic appropriations bill that included some of the provisions of the Build Back Better Act after the entire bill failed to pass. It included significant federal investment in climate and domestic clean energy production, tax credits for solar panels, electric cars and other home energy programs as well as a three-year extension ofAffordable Care Act subsidies. From June 2022 until the loss of Democratic control of the House following the2022 midterm elections, Biden went on a string of legislative achievements including: theBipartisan Safer Communities Act; theCHIPS and Science Act, a massive investment in thesemiconductor industry and manufacturing;Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, expansion of veterans healthcare; and theRespect for Marriage Act, repealing theDefense of Marriage Act and codifyingsame-sex andinterracial marriage.[66][67][68] Republican control of the House following the 2022 midterm elections led to the 118th Congress being described by commentators as the least productive Congress in decades.[69] Following a record longelection for speaker in January 2023, House SpeakerKevin McCarthy (R-CA)was ousted from his position on October 3, 2023, marking the first time a Speaker of the House in US history had been voted out.[70][71] A new Speaker,Mike Johnson (R-LA)was elected on October 25.[72]
In foreign policy, Biden completed thewithdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, declaring an end tonation-building efforts and shifting U.S. foreign policy toward strategic competition with China and, to a lesser extent, Russia.[73][74][75] However, during the withdrawal, theAfghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control, leading to Biden receiving bipartisan criticism.[76] He responded to theRussian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 by imposingsanctions on Russia as well as providing Ukraine with over $100 billion incombined military, economic, and humanitarian aid.[77][78] Biden also approved a raid which led to the death ofAbu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the leader of theIslamic State, and approved a drone strike whichkilled Ayman Al Zawahiri, leader of Al-Qaeda.[79][80] Biden called for the expansion ofNATO with the addition ofFinland andSweden, and rallied NATO allies in support ofUkraine.[81]
After theOctober 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas on Israel, President Biden promised Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu that he would support Israel[82] and the United States gave Israel military aid.[83] A number of Americans were among those taken as hostages by Hamas during the attack and a number of Americans also died.[84] However, Biden did criticize Israeli forces bombing the Gaza Strip because of the civilian presence there saying Israeli actions should be done with trying to prevent the possibility of "'...innocent Palestinian civilians...'" from being either "'...hurt, murdered, killed, lost'".[85] After a number ofships were attacked in the Red Sea by the YemeniHouthis,Operation Prosperity Guardian; an international force led by the US to protect ships in the Red Sea was created in December to counteract these attacks.[86] In response to further attacks on shipping a series of airstrikes were done in Yemen upon them in January 2024[87] and later in February also.[88] The United States gave humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas War and built a floating pier on May 17 to help deliver aid as land borders into it were often closed.[89] Later that month Biden proposed a ceasefire under the conditions of: an Israeli withdrawal from "densely populated areas in Gaza, swapping prisoners along with hostages and allowing for humanitarian assistance.[90] A series of controversialprotests at university campuses happened across the country as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.[91]
In the2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump announced his intention to run on November 22, 2022 while Joe Biden announced his intent to run for re-election on April 25, 2023.[92][93] Both President Biden and Donald Trump became the presumptive nominees for their respective parties on March 12, 2024.[94][95] During the campaign, Trump was foundguilty in court of falsifying 34 counts of business records relating tohis 2016 campaign on May 31 making him the first former US President to be convicted of a felony crime.[96] Later on the campaign trail on July 13 Trump was subjected to anassassination attempt.[97] Trump selected US SenatorJD Vance as his running mate on July 15.[98] Apresidential debate was held between both President Biden and former President Trump on June 27, 2024 making it the earliest held presidential debate until that point.[99] As a result of widespread Democratic concern,Biden dropped out of the race the next month.[100] With President Biden announcing his withdrawal, Vice PresidentKamala Harris announced that same day she would be running for president, with Biden immediately endorsing her.[101] Harris selected Minnesota GovernorTim Walz as her running mate on August 6.[102] Harris became the presumptive nominee on August 2[103] before later on becoming the official one when sheaccepted the Democratic presidential nomination on August 22.[104] Trump and Harris participatedin one presidential debate together on September 10 while Vance and Walz had a debate on October 1.[105]
Donald Trump was reelected in the 2024 presidential election to a second non-consecutive term and Vice President Harris conceded to and congratulated Donald Trump on November 6 after his victory in the election.[106] Donald Trump became the second nonconsecutive elected president being the first sinceGrover Cleveland was reelected to a second term in1892.[107] This time, Donald Trump won both the electoral college and popular vote as opposed to2016 where he won the electoral college but not the popular vote.[108]Trump wasinaugurated for a second time on January 20, 2025 with the ceremony being held inside the US Capitol building rotunda as it was deemed to be too cold to host it outside making it the first one to be held indoors since thesecond inauguration of Ronald Reagan in 1985.[109] He is the oldest president at his inauguration at 78 years old, beating his predecessor Joe Biden's record by several months.[110] His vice president,JD Vance, was elected alongside Trump.
On the day Donald Trump became president he renamed theUnited States Digital Service to theDepartment of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which was headed byElon Musk, a strong ally of the president,[111] and froze all foreign assistance money via an executive order.[112] Elon Musk said his goal with the Department was to reduce the federal workforce and the US national debt along with eliminating what is deemed as waste.[113][114] Elon would later leave DOGE in April 2025 after Tesla's profits fell.[115] Also on inauguration day, Trump would sign an executive order renaming Mount Denali to Mount McKinley and theGulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America".[116] President Trump signed 10 executive orders regarding immigration on the day he took office.[117] Despite intense media coverage during Trump's first 98 days the average number of daily immigration arrests and removals was close to that of the 2024 Fiscal Year under President Biden according to TRAC Reports;[118] the number of unauthorized border crossings in the southwest declined dramatically continuing an already existing trend of them declining.[119]
During President Trump's first 100 days in office during his second term he would sign a record 217 executive orders surpassing a record held by PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt who signed 99 in his first 100 days in office.[120][121] Executive orders have been met with controversy regarding their legality.[122]
In March 2025 Donald Trump placed a 25% tariff on most Mexican and Canadian imports[123] along with increasing tariffs from 10% to 20% on Chinese exports during February.[124] Trump attempted to negotiate a peace deal involving Russia and Ukraine.[125] Protests broke out in Los Angeles overImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids targeting illegal immigrants starting on June 6. President Trump responded by authorizing 2,000California National Guard soldiers on June 7 be sent to Los Angeles; despite the objections of the mayor and California governor Gavin Newsom toward President Trump doing so. This was the first time a state National Guard was federalized since 1965 without the approval of a state governor beforehand.[126][127] US Marines were also deployed to Los Angeles in response.[128] 2,000 more National Guard soldiers were announced to be sent into Los Angeles on June on June 17.[129] Federal troops were largely withdrawn (all US Marines deployed were withdrawn) in July with the remaining going to protect federal buildings and do firefighting; with 2,000 National Guard soldiers being withdrawn on July 12 and another 1,350 on July 30.[130][131] Also in June, President Trump held a military parade inWashington, D.C. to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army andNo Kings protests were held throughout the country protesting against Donald Trump with several million participating in the protests.[132] During the Iran-Israel War in June 2025 President Trump responded by conducting an air strike alongside Israel on suspected nuclear sites[133] and later helped with negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.[134]
A bill called the One Big Beautiful Bill containing much of President Trump's political agenda was signed by him on July 4.[135] Features of the One Big Beautiful Bill include but were not limited to: reducing spending forMedicaid and adding a work requirement, increases funding for immigration and border control, increases military spending and eliminates taxes on tips along with taxes on overtime.[136] Starting in July the Trump Administration faced controversy regarding the release offiles pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein.[137][138] Later that month on July 18 another bill was signed by President Trump, theGENIUS ACT. The GENIUS ACT which is the first law to regulate cryptocurrency with the act regulatingstablecoins.[139][140] After a DOGE staffer was beaten during a carjacking attempt on his car in Washington, D.C. President Trump activated the National Guard in Washington and took control of the city's police force. Under the District of Columbia's home rule system the US president can take control of the municipal police force for 30 days if the US President deems it necessary.[141][142][143]
During the fall a variety of events would happen. On September 10thCharlie Kirk was assassinated.[144] The Trump administration would also deploy the National Guard to several other cities including Memphis with President Trump citing crime in the city for the reason troops were being deployed and that the city has a higher crime rate than the national average.[145] Trump also deployed the National Guard to Chicago in October.[146] Another round of No Kings protests also happened in October.[147]
Although the Obama administration originally intended to fully withdraw from Afghanistan, failing peace talks and the emergence ofISIS in the country caused theWar in Afghanistan to continue on into the Trump Administration.[148][149][150] On February 25, 2019,negotiations began between the Taliban and the United States in Qatar[151] and resumed again in December of that year.[152] On February 29, 2020, the United States and the Talibansigned a conditional peace deal inDoha, Qatar,[153] that called for a prisoner exchange within ten days and was supposed to lead to US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.[154]
On April 13, 2021, newly elected PresidentJoe Biden announced his revised plan to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, this date being the twentieth anniversary of theSeptember 11 Attacks. The date forUS troops to withdraw from Afghanistan was moved forward to August 31.[155] The withdrawal of US soldiers and other foreign soldiers coincided with the2021 Taliban offensive, where the Taliban defeated theAfghan Armed Forces culminating with thefall of Kabul on August 15, 2021. On the same day, the president of AfghanistanAshraf Ghani fled toTajikistan and the Taliban declared victory and the war had ended.[156][157] Following a massive airlift of more than 120,000 people, the US military mission in Afghanistan ended on August 30, 2021.[158]
In September 2015,Russian forces launched theirmilitary intervention in Syria to support that country's allyBashar al-Assad in the fight against theIslamic State. Although Moscow officially portrayed its intervention as an anti-IS campaign and publicly declared support for the "patrioticSyrian opposition", the vast majority of its bombings were focused on destroying bases of the Syrian opposition militias of theFree Syrian Army (FSA) andSouthern Front.[159] On the other hand, United States and its Western allies have been opposed to theBa'athist regime for its purportedstate-sponsorship of terrorism, violent repression ofSyrian revolution and extensiveuse of chemical weapons. TheUS-led coalition trained, equipped and supported secularFree Syrian andKurdish militias opposed to the Assad government during its anti-IS campaign.[160] In the months following the beginning of both air campaigns, IS began to lose ground in bothIraq andSyria.[161] Civilian deaths from airstrikes began to mount in 2015 and 2016.[162][163] In mid-2016, the US and Russia] planned to begin coordinating their airstrikes; however, this coordination did not materialize.[164][165]
In August 2016, Turkey launcheda multi-pronged invasion ofnorthern Syria. Turkey helped establish theSyrian National Army (SNA) in 2017. The Islamic State was defeated in theRaqqa andDeir ez-Zor offensives, returning to a weakened insurgency in 2017.[166][167][168] On 9 December 2017, Iraq declared victory in the fight against ISIL and stated that theWar in Iraq was over.[169][170] On 23 March 2019, IS was defeated territorially inSyria after losing theBattle of Baghuz Fawqani, after which the group was forced into aninsurgency.[171] IS's leader,Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, died during a USspecial operations raid in northern Syria in October 2019[172] and was succeeded byAbu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. TheUnited Nations estimated in August 2020 that over 10,000 IS fighters remained inSyria andIraq, mainly assleeper cells.[173] Between the March 2020Idlib ceasefire and late 2024, front line fighting in Syria mostly subsided but there wereregular clashes in Idlib Governate.
13 years after the start of the Syrian civil war, theAssad regime fell in 2024 after a series ofrebel offensives.[174]
TheRusso-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 when after Ukraine'sRevolution of Dignity,Russiaoccupied andannexed Crimea from Ukraine and supportedpro-Russian separatists who began fighting the Ukrainian military in theDonbas War. These first eight years of conflict also includednaval incidents andcyberwarfare. 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, imposedpunitive measures on Russia, which introducedretaliatory measures.[175][176]
Some political analysts argue that Russia's annexation of Crimea marked the beginning of aSecond Cold War between Russia and the West or NATO.[177] In 2014, notable figures such asUSSR leaderMikhail Gorbachev warned, against the backdrop of a confrontation between Russia and the West over the Russo-Ukrainian War,[178][179][180] that the world was on the brink of a new cold war, or that it was already occurring.[181][182] The American political scientistRobert Legvold also believes it started in 2013 during the Ukraine crisis.[183][184] Others argued that the term did not accurately describe the nature of relations between Russia and the West.[185][186] In October 2016,John Sawers, a formerMI6 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".[187] Similarly,Igor Zevelev, a fellow at theWilson Center, said that "it's not a Cold War [but] a much more dangerous and unpredictable situation".[188]CNN opined: "It's not a new Cold War. It's not even a deep chill. It's an outright conflict".[188]
In January 2017, former US government adviser Molly K. McKew said atPolitico that the US would win a new cold war.[189]The New Republic editorJeet 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.[190]Jeremy Shapiro, a senior fellow in theBrookings Institution, wrote in his blog post atRealClearPolitics, referring to the US–Russia relations: "A drift into a new Cold War has seemed the inevitable result".[191]
Speaking to the press inBerlin on 8 November 2019, a day before the 30th anniversary of thefall of the Berlin Wall, US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo warned of the dangers posed by Russia and China and specifically accused Russia, "led by a formerKGB officer once stationed inDresden", of invading its neighbours and crushing dissent. Jonathan Marcus of theBBC opined that Pompeo's words "appeared to be declaring the outbreak of a second [Cold War]".[192]
Beginning in 2021, there was a massiveRussian military buildup near Ukraine's borders, including within neighbouringBelarus. Russian officials repeatedly denied plans to attack Ukraine. Russia's presidentVladimir Putin voicedexpansionist views and denied Ukraine had aright to exist. He demanded that Ukraine bebarred from ever joining theNATO military alliance. In early 2022, Russiarecognized theDonetsk People's Republic andLuhansk People's Republic as independent states. While Russian troops surrounded Ukraine,its proxies stepped up attacks on Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.
On 24 February 2022, Putinannounced a "special military operation" to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, claiming Russia had no plans to occupy the country. What followed was afull-scale invasion of Ukraine in which Russia beganoccupying more of the country. It was the biggest conflict in Europe sinceWorld War II. The war has resulted in arefugee crisis and tens of thousands of deaths. The Russian invasion wasinternationally condemned; many countriesimposed sanctions against Russia, and senthumanitarian andmilitary aid to Ukraine.
In the face of fierce resistance, Russia abandoned anattempt to take Kyiv in early April. In August, Ukrainian forces began liberating territories in thenorth-east andsouth. In September, Russia declared theannexation of four partially-occupied provinces, which wasinternationally condemned. From then through 2023, Russian offensives and Ukrainian counteroffensives gained only small amounts of territory. The invasion has also led toattacks in Russia by Ukrainian and Ukrainian-backed forces, among them a cross-borderoffensive into Russia's Kursk region in August 2024. Russia has repeatedly carried out deliberate and indiscriminateattacks on civilians far from the frontline.[193][194][195] TheInternational Criminal Court (ICC) openedan investigation intowar crimes and issuedarrest warrants for Putin and several other Russian officials.Since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces forcibly occupied many parts of Ukraine.[196][197][198] Soon after, journalistH. D. S. Greenway cited the Russian invasion of Ukraine and 4 February joint statement betweenRussia and China (under Putin andXi Jinping) as one of the signs that Cold War II had officially begun.[199] In June 2022, journalistGideon Rachman asserted the Russian invasion of Ukraine as the start of a second Cold War.[200]
On February 28, 2025, US PresidentDonald Trump, thepresident of the United States, and Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy helda highly contentious, bilateral meeting televised live in theOval Office at theWhite House in Washington, D.C.[201] The meeting was to discuss continuedU.S. support for Ukraine in repelling theongoing Russian invasion of the country, and was expected to conclude with the signing of theUkraine–United States Mineral Resources Agreement; but the meeting ended abruptly without a clear resolution.[202][203] During the meeting, Trump andJD Vance, thevice 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.[204]
Leading up to the meeting, there were tensions between the Trump administration and Zelenskyy's government. Trump wanted Ukraine to make concessions toRussia 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" fornot holding elections during the war, something that was not legally possible due tomartial law. Zelenskyy wanted strong security guarantees against future Russian aggression. He believed that without these, Russia's presidentVladimir Putin would break any agreement, as he had before.[205][29][206]
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.[207] 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, theRepublican Party, largely commended his conduct, with few exceptions, while members of theDemocratic Party widely condemned it.[208][209] Within a week of the meeting, the Trump administration suspended provision of intelligence and all military aid to Ukraine.[210] On March 5, CIA directorJohn Ratcliffe said that there was a "pause" on both "the military front and the intelligence front", while national security adviserMike Waltz answered a media query regarding intelligence provision that the United States was "pausing, assessing, looking at everything across our security relationship".[211] On March 8, theNational 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 companyMaxar Technologies suspended Ukrainian access per the Trump administration's decision.[212][213]
Following theOctober 7 attacks, theUnited States gave strong support for Israel as they prepared tolaunch an invasion of the Gaza Strip. This led to aproxy 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[214] by theIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian military, theHouthi movement inYemen, theIslamic Resistance in Iraq and various other Iranian proxies acrossIraq,Jordan, andSyria, including thePopular Mobilization Forces. During the proxy war, the United States launched numerous retaliatory strikes against the Iranian-supported "Axis of Resistance" informal alliance.[citation needed]
In 2016, China surpassed the United States as theworld's largest economy bypurchasing power parity (PPP).[note 1] The first presidency ofDonald Trump led to a negative shift in US relations with China.[215] President-elect Trump's telephone conversation with the president of TaiwanTsai Ing-wen on 2 December 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").[216] 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."[217]
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".[218][219][220]Claremont McKenna College professorMinxin Pei said Trump'selection win and "ascent to the presidency" may increase chances of the possibility.[221] In March 2017, a self-declared socialist magazineMonthly 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.[222]
| External videos | |
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 "Vice President Mike Pence's Remarks on the Administration's Policy Towards China" |
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 underparamount leader andgeneral secretaryXi 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".[223] In October 2018, Hong Kong'sLingnan University professor Zhang Baohui toldThe New York Times that a speech by United States Vice-presidentMike Pence at theHudson Institute "will look like the declaration of a new Cold War".[224]
In January 2019,Robert D. Kaplan of theCenter 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".[225]
In February 2019, Joshua Shifrinson, an associate professor fromBoston 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.[226]
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."[227][228]
In August 2019, Yuan Peng of theChina Institute of International Studies said that the2008 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", despitedisputes in the South China Sea andTaiwan Strait and US President Trump's aggressive approaches toward China.[229]
In January 2020, columnist and historianNiall 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".[230] 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 toTsarism."[230] 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 Chinasigned their Phase One trade deal.[230]
In a February 2020 interview withThe 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 veryblunt instrument." He also said that the US under Trump has been "rather poor" at makingforeign relations.[231]
On 24 May 2020, China Foreign MinisterWang Yi said that relations with the US were on the "brink of a new Cold War" after it was fueled by tensions over theCOVID-19 pandemic.[232]
In June 2020, Boston College political scientistRobert S. Ross wrote that the US and China "are destined to compete [but] not destined for violent conflict or a cold war."[233] 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."[234]
In August 2020, aLa 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."[235]
In September 2020, the UN Secretary GeneralAntónio 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."[236]
In March 2021,Columbia University professorThomas 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.[237]
In September 2021, former Portuguese defence and foreign ministerPaulo Portas described the announcement of theAUKUS 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.[238]
On 7 November 2021, President Joe Biden's national security adviserJake Sullivan stated that the US does not pursuesystem change in China anymore,[239] marking a clear break from theChina 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.[240]
In November 2021,Hal Brands and Yale professorJohn Lewis Gaddis wrote inForeign 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.[241]
According to a poll done byMorning 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.[242]
In August 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement condemningUS House speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. This statement demanded, among other things, that the US "not seek a 'new Cold War'".[243]
Following a November 2022 meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping at theG20 summit inBali, Biden told reporters that "there need not be a new Cold War".[244][245]
In a December 2022 editorial published just before being electedUS House speaker,Kevin McCarthy wrote that "China and the US are locked in a cold war." Theop-ed also announced the creation of theHouse Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.[246]
In early 2023,Jorge Heine, former Chilean ambassador to China and professor of international relations atBoston 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."[247]
In early May 2022,Hoover Institution senior fellowNiall Ferguson said at theMilken Institute Global Conference that "Cold War II began some time ago".[230] 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 PresidentRonald Reagan, like assassination attempts on them, but further suggested that Trump use the Reagan administration's past approach inforeign policy.[248]
In early February 2025,Michael McFaul, aStanford University political science professor and former US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, wrote viaThe 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 potential51st state candidate, announcing possibility of obtainingGreenland from a NATO allyDenmark by either sale or military force, and attempts to shut downUnited 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."[249]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: Relations between the United States and Cuba. You can help byadding to it.(September 2025) |
The United States and Venezuela had a negative relation which continued on from the presidency of Nicolás Maduro who took over after the death of Hugo Chávez who was the president from 1999 to 2013. He was reelected in a close election in 2013 and reelected again in 2018. Venezuela would experience hyperinflation among the worst in the world leading to over 7 million Venezuelans leaving the country. The United States under the Trump Administration responded to the reelection of Maduro by not recognizing President Maduro in January 2019 and tried to get President Maduro to leave office through a variety of methods such as: diplomacy, economic and legal means. The United States has responded to the situation by also sending humanitarian aid.[250]
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. A boat was hit by US military forces in Caribbean Sea which the United States said was part of the anti-drug effort and that the boat was going to the United States.[251]
On January 21, 2020, the first case ofCOVID-19 was detected inEverett, Washington, and the first death occurring on February 6.[252] By February 2, the Trump administration restricted travel to and from China.[253] On March 11, theWHO declared the virus to be a pandemic.[254] In March, manystate 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.[255] By March 27, the country had reported over 100,000 cases.[256] On April 2, at President Trump's direction, theCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and CDC ordered additional preventive guidelines to the long-term care facility industry.[257] On April 11, the U.S. death toll became the highest in the world when the number of deaths reached 20,000, surpassing that ofItaly.[258] 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.[259] On April 28, the total number of confirmed cases across the country surpassed 1 million.[260] By May 2020, 100,000 Americans had died with COVID-19.[261] This corresponded with a relaxing oflockdown restrictions, leading to a surge of cases in July.[262][263][264]
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.[265]Voting by mail was also widely used as an alternative, with restrictions initially being relaxed to support the influx of mail voters.[266] 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.[267][266][268]An outbreak at the White House resulted in at least 48 people testing positive including President Trump and First LadyMelania Trump.[269][270][271] This resulted in the cancellation of a scheduledpresidential 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 thePfizer-BioNTech vaccine and theModerna vaccine, followed shortly after by theJanssen COVID-19 vaccine.[272][273]Booster doses were later approved for all 3 vaccines to improve immunity over time.[274] Many companies, universities, and state governments began giving bonuses and rewards in mid-2021 to encourage higher vaccine rates.[275][276] Localities such as New York City, private companies such asUnited Airlines, and organizations such as theUS Army issuedvaccine mandates.[277] 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.[278]
From June 2021 to March 2022, United States had greatly suffered from the highly transmissibleDeltacron 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.[279][280] By August of the same year, Delta variant accounted for 99% of all cases of COVID-19, with the country surpassing 35 million cases.[281][279] 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.[282][283]
By February and March 2022, all 50 states and many localities began to lift restrictions and mask mandates.[284] In his2022 State of the Union Address, President Biden announced anew national strategy against the pandemic, including an increased emphasis onantiviral pills and combating newvariants.[285][286] 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 JudgeKathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida.[287][288] As of May 13, 2022, United States has surpassed 1 million COVID-19-related deaths, which becoming thedeadliest pandemic in American and our nations' history since two World Wars andSpanish flu pandemic in 1918 and 1920.[289][290]
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.[291]
On May 11, 2023, just six days after theW.H.O. ended its designation of the three-year period of theglobal COVID-19 emergency of international concern,[292] which estimated report 20 million excess deaths, U.S. federal government ends COVID-19 state of emergency, which remains a public health priority.
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The impact of the pandemic was widespread across social and economic sectors.COVID-19 lockdowns contributed tomass changes in social behavior for Americans.[293] COVID-19 also had immediate consequences forprison populations,public transport, and cultural events such assports.School closures also contributed to a learning gap for students as well as a rise in mental health concerns.[294][295][296] Nearly all schools and universities transitioned to a completely online or hybrid method of teaching in spring 2020.[297]Racial disparities were also exasperated by the pandemic, with a disproportionate number of cases being observed amongst Black and Latino populations.[298][299][300] These groups were also more likely to die from COVID-19 and less likely to have received a vaccine.[301][302]Native American reservations were also hit particularly hard, with lack of access to vaccines contributing to higher cases.[303]Anti-Asian racism and xenophobia was also widely reported due to perceived Chinese faulthood for the virus.[304][305] The economy entered arecession following an initialstock market crash in February 2020.[306][307] National unemployment rose to a high of 14.7% in April 2020.[308][309]Long lasting economic effects continued throughout the early2020s resulting insupply-chain issues and aperiod of inflation.[310][311]
During the 2020s, scholars and historians of democracy identified ademocratic backsliding in theUnited States.[312] TheV-Dem Democracy indices's electoral democracy index score for the United States peaked in 2015 and declined sharply after 2016,[313] for which year it was also downgraded to "flawed democracy" by the Economist Intelligence Unit in its annualDemocracy Index report.[314] Both V-Dem andFreedom House downgraded the United States in 2018.[312] According to James Grumbach, beyond the national level, democratic backsliding has occurred in American states under unifiedRepublican Party control whileDemocratic Party-controlled anddivided states have become more democratic.[315] Grumbach also states "policies are more varied across the states as red and blue party coalitions implement increasingly distinct agendas."[316] This backsliding has been accompanied bylegislation restricting the civil rights ofgender and sexual minorities,abortion rights, andvoting rights.
In August 2017,Hurricane Harvey became the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States sinceHurricane Wilma in 2005. It devastatedHouston, 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 hitFlorida, 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 hitPuerto 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 hitNorth Carolina as a Category 1 Hurricane, causing major flooding. 39 deaths were counted and damage is estimated as $17 billion (2018USD). Florence's highest winds were 140 mph. On October 10,Hurricane Michael struck theFlorida 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 ofCalifornia, most notably theCamp Fire inButte County inNorthern 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 inCalifornia history and the deadliest US wildfire since 1918.
A series of earthquakes struckSouthern California on July 4 and 5, 2019. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake, aforeshock, struck near the desert city ofRidgecrest, 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 theSan Francisco Bay Area andSacramento, and as far south asBaja California, Mexico. An estimated 20 million people experienced the foreshock, and approximately 30 million people experienced the mainshock.[317]
In September 2022,Hurricane Ian struck Florida, causing $112 billion in damage, making Ian the third costliestweather disaster on record worldwide. Ian caused 161 deaths, making it the deadliest hurricane to strike the state ofFlorida since the1935 Labor Day hurricane, and the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida sinceMichael in 2018.[318][319] The cities ofFort Myers,Cape Coral, andNaples 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, andPine 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 theSanibel Causeway and thePine Island Causeway to Pine Island, entrapping those left on the islands for several days. The destruction led to theUnited States Congress holdinga televised investigative hearing regarding the federal government's response to and overall recovery efforts from Ian. The hearing discovered numerous issues with how theFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) responded to the aftermath of Ian.[320][321][322][323]
In early August 2023, aseries of wildfires broke out in the U.S. state ofHawaii, 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 ofLahaina, Hawaii.[324]
On March 26, 2024, theFrancis Scott Key Bridge inBaltimore, Marylandcollapsed after colliding with the container shipDali.[325] The bridge collapse resulted in the deaths of 6 people,[326] as well as the closure of thePort of Baltimore, which sees significantautomobile imports andcoal exports.[327] The collapse is estimated to cost $1.7 billion in supply chain disruptions.[328]
In September and October 2024, HurricanesHelene andMilton hit theSoutheastern United States, killing 297 people and causing a combined damage total of $113.1 billion. Helenecaused devastating damage in Florida and over $7 billion indamage to Georgia before causingextreme flooding across North Carolina, the hardest impacted state by Helene.[329][330] Milton became the most intenseAtlantic hurricane ever recorded over theGulf 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 withHurricane Rita of 2005.[331] After weaking to Category 3 strength, Milton struck Florida causing major devastation as well asa historic tornado outbreak.[332] These two hurricanessparked widespread misinformation and political turmoil to the point where Helene was described as the "flashpoint" for the2024 presidential election.[333][334][335] Between November 2024–March 2025, theUnited States Congress heldfour 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 theFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including failures in FEMA's response as well as political discrimination and criminal actions by FEMA employees.[336][337][338]
A series of destructive wildfires began in theGreater Los Angeles area in early January 2025, including thePalisades,Eaton, andHughes fires. Exacerbated by drought conditions and the high-speedSanta 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.[339][340]
In early July 2025, significant rainfall led toflooding inCentral Texas.[341] Over 135 deaths occurred,[342] with most of the casualties occurring inKerr County,[343] including multiple youth campers at a summer camp.[344] The flooding demonstrated extreme challenges in early warning systems regarding floods.[345]
Observers have called this era of history theSecond Gilded Age due to an increase in wealth inequality afterderegulation stemming from the Reagan era, inequality which only grew during theGreat 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, usingdark money andsuper PACs as vehicles for buying elections.[346] According toHenry Giroux, the United States has entered a Second Gilded Age "more savage and anti-democratic than its predecessor" as a result of the implementation ofneoliberalism and contemporarymarket fundamentalism.[347]
Many authors draw comparisons between the obscene fortunes of Gilded Age figures such asWilliam Randolph Hearst and Second Gilded Age figures such asElon Musk, both men who took control of media empires in order to push political agendas. Where Hearst took control of newspapers, Musk took control of the platform formerly known asTwitter. Hearst and Musk have both been criticized for using their newly acquired empires to spread misinformation andantisemitism.[348]
According toThe 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 theKilling of Brian Thompson, in particular theanarchist tradition ofpropaganda of the deed.[349]
In his farewell address, U.S. PresidentJoe Biden warned that an emerging Americanoligarchy andtech–industrial complex posed risks to America in whatPolitico described as "echoingRoosevelt's language in calling out the 'robber barons' of a new dystopian Gilded Age".[350][351] These comments were made in the context of several tech billionaires who made large donations to the2024 presidential campaign of Donald Trump and hissecond 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 theS&P 500 share index.[352]
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.[353] A significantwhite backlash followed theelection of Barack Obama as the first BlackUS President in 2008.[354] Many observers saw the election ofDonald Trump as president in 2016 as an example of white backlash, or "whitelash".[355][356]
Some authors have pointed out comparisons between the loss of civil rights after theReconstruction Era and the stripping of civil rights in the modern day. TheSupreme Court gutted theCivil Rights Act of 1866 in 1883, just as they gutted theVoting 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.[357]
Xenophobia continued to gain legal protections in the First Gilded Age, finally culminating in theChinese Exclusion Act in 1882, fully banning immigration from most ofEast andSouth 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 asRemain in Mexico. Trump further institutedtravel bans from 15 countries, until they were overturned by Biden.[358]
Anti-racist protests erupted in the wake of the July 5, 2016shooting of Alton Sterling inBaton Rouge,Louisiana, and the July 6shooting of Philando Castile inFalcon Heights, Minnesota. On July 7, towards the end of one of these protests inDallas,Texas, Micah Xavier Johnsonambushed and fired upon a group of police officers, killing five officers and injuring nine others. Two civilians were also wounded. Johnson was anArmy ReserveAfghan War veteran who was reportedly angry over police shootings of Black men and stated that he wanted to killwhite people, especially white police officers. Following the shooting, Johnson fled inside a building on the campus ofEl Centro College. Police followed him there, and a standoff ensued. In the early hours of July 8, police killed Johnson with abomb attached to a remote controlbomb disposal robot. It was the first timeUS law enforcement used arobot to kill a suspect. The shooting was the deadliest incident for US law enforcement officers since theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001 and saw a massive uprising of public support for US police officers in the form of theBlue Lives Matter movement.[359][360]
TheGeorge Floyd protests and riots against police brutality began aslocal protests in theMinneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area ofMinnesota before spreading throughout the United States and then worldwide. The protests began inMinneapolis on May 26, 2020, following themurder of George Floyd during an arrest the previous day.Minneapolis Police Department officerDerek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck forover 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 theNational Guard, with over 17,000 troops activated.
On August 13, 2017, Trump condemned violence "on many sides" aftera gathering of hundreds ofwhite nationalists inCharlottesville, Virginia, the previous day (August 12) turned deadly. A white supremacistdrove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman,Heather Heyer, and injuring 19 others.[361] According toAttorney GeneralJeff Sessions, that action met the definition of domestic terrorism.[362] 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.[363][364][365] Trump did not expressly mentionNeo-Nazis,white supremacists, or thealt-right movement in his remarks on August 13,[366] but the following day (August 14) he did denounce white supremacists as he had done as a candidate the previous year.[367][368] He condemned "theKKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and otherhate groups".[369] Then the next day (August 15), he again blamed "both sides".[370]
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[371] and politicians,[372][366] as well as a variety of religious groups[373] and anti-hate organizations[374] for his remarks, which were seen as muted and equivocal.[372]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'",[372] and said that Trump had "buoyed the white nationalist movement on Tuesday as no president has done in generations".[375] White nationalist groups felt "emboldened" after the rally and planned additional demonstrations.[362]
TheEnd Domestic Terrorism rally (sometimes referred to by the slogan "Better Dead Than Red")[376] was aProud Boys demonstration held inPortland, Oregon, on August 17, 2019. The event received national attention.[377][378]
In the2020 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.[379] 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.[380]
| Year | Total population |
|---|---|
| 2016 (5-year ACS estimate)[381] | 318,558,162 |
| 2017 (5-year ACS estimate)[382] | 321,004,407 |
| 2018 (5-year ACS estimate)[383] | 322,903,030 |
| 2019 (5-year ACS estimate)[384] | 324,697,795 |
| 2020 (5-year ACS estimate)[385] | 326,569,308 |
| 2021 (5-year ACS estimate)[386] | 329,725,481 |
| 2022 (5-year ACS estimate)[387] | 331,097,593 |
| 2023 (5-year ACS estimate)[388] | 332,387,540 |
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.[389][390] President Trump during his second administration would sign an executive order designating English to be the official language of the United States.[391] The usage of emojis was also a popular means of communication.[392]
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.[390]
The percentage of peopleunaffiliated with any particular religion grew during this period.[393] ThePublic Religion Research Institute in 2020 conducted a nationwide poll covering data at the county level reporting that 67% percent were Christian, 18% irreligious (3% wereatheist and another 3% agnostic), 1%Muslim, 1%Jewish, 1%Buddhist, 1% beingHindu and 1% belonging to other religions.[393] 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% wereUnitarian Universalists and 2% came from other non-Christian faiths.[394]
A November 2022 survey fromYouGov 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.[395]
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.[396] One medium of information that grew in terms of listenership were podcasts.[397]
The United States continued its exploration of Mars and began efforts to send humans back to the Moon for the first time since 1972 which was done by the Apollo missions through the Artemis program.Artemis I which was uncrewed was launched in November 2022 and returned to Earth in December.Artemis II is scheduled to be launched in 2026 this time sending a crew to orbit the Moon.[398][399] TheIngenuity helicopter probe was launched in 2020 and arrived on Mars in 2021. It made the first powered flight and did 72 flights on Mars until 2024[400] after its propellor blades were damaged to the point where the probe could not fly anymore.[401][402]
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.[403] Electric cars became more common during this period with sales growing.[404][405]
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.[406] 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.[407] Most Americans visited at least one country in their lives during this period according to a 2023 Pew Research Survey.[408]
Public transportation ridership declined sharply with the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic and has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.[409] The first private passenger rail line in a century,Brightline opened in Florida in January 2018 going fromWest Palm Beach toFort Lauderdale[410][411] and later expanded toMiami that year in May.[412] The network was later expanded to Orlando in September 2023.[413]
Honolulu openedthe Skyline metro system in 2023, making it the first metro system in Hawaii.[414]
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.[415]
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.[416][417]
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.[418] The teen pregnancy rate among those 15-19 fell continuing an overall trend that had been going for many decades prior.[419]
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.[420] 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.[421] 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.[422]
Sports along with video games were popular during this period.[423][424] The number of people who played video games did increase during the COVID-19 Pandemic before it later fell after lockdowns were removed.[425] A ban on states allowing sports betting which was implemented in 1992 was lifted in 2018 by the US Supreme Court.[426]
The youth scouting movement which was once more prominent in the country continued its declined during this period in terms of members of the Boy Scouts andGirl Scouts especially during the pandemic. Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy in 2020 after thousands of former boy scouts sued in court for beingabused[427] with asettlement being reached and the organization later leaving bankruptcy. The Boy Scouts of America would later rename themselves toScouting America in 2025 and the group saw a small growth in the number of members in 2024.[428]
Although the United States did not host any Olympic Games in the 2010s and into the mid 2020s,[429] it still participated and came in first place for total medal count in the2016 Summer Olympics,[430]2020 Summer Olympics,[431][432] and the2024 Summer Olympics.[433] The United States is scheduled to host the2028 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles, and the2034 Winter Olympics inSalt Lake City.[434] The United States governmental officials boycotted the2022 Winter Olympics to protestpoor treatment of its Uyghur population and "anti-democratic crackdown in Hong Kong", though American athletic teams still participated.[435]
The country hosted theWorld Games in Birmingham, Alabama in 2022; it was initially scheduled for 2021 but was delayed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[436]
| Year | Violent crime (total) | Property/nonviolent crime (total) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1,235,256 | 6,270,553 | 7,505,809 |
| 2022 | 1,266,052 | 6,359,580 | 7,625,632 |
| 2021 | 931,599 | 4,551,120 | 5,482,719 |
| 2020 | 1,272,597 | 6,231,850 | 7,504,447 |
| 2019 | 1,213,775 | 6,717,891 | 7,931,666 |
| 2018 | 1,239,076 | 7,103,920 | 8,342,996 |
| 2017 | 1,261,786 | 7,525,626 | 8,787,412 |
| 2016 | 1,262,062 | 7,795,949 | 9,058,011 |
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.[438] Violent and nonviolent crime both fell.[437][439][440] Yet there was a rise in property crimes particularly car thefts[441] which has been attributed to a trend on TikTok about stealing Kia and Hyundai cars regarding a security vulnerability in them[442] which they responded by doing software upgrades.[443] The number of law enforcement officers increased in the United States every year from 2016 onward with the exception of 2021.[444]
Continuing the increase in high-profile massschool shootings seen in the late 1990s and 2000s, additional school shootings shocked the country in the 2010s and 2020s, the deadliest of which were theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting (2012), theParkland high school shooting (2018), and theUvalde school shooting (2022).[445][446] These shootings heightened the debate overgun politics and continued the public dialogue about improving mental health care and school safety.
On June 12, 2016, theOrlando nightclub shooting became the deadliest mass shooting in American history at the time, with 49 people killed at thePulse nightclub inOrlando, Florida. On October 1, 2017, the Orlando incident was surpassed by the2017 Las Vegas shooting as the deadliest mass shooting in American history when a gunman fired from his 32nd-floor hotel room of theMandalay Bay onto a crowd of concertgoers at theRoute 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 ofbump 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 theSutherland Springs church shooting. It was the worst mass shooting that occurred in both theState of Texas and at an American place of worship in modern history, surpassing theCharleston church shooting of 2015 and theWaddell Buddhist temple shooting of 1991 respectively. ThePittsburgh 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 convicteddomestic abusers.
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.[447][448][449]
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 aterrorist attack and ahate crime against the LGBTQ community. It was the deadliest mass shooting in American history at the time, surpassing the 2007Virginia Tech shooting. A rise in attacks and killings oftransgender individuals also occurred, with attention on underreporting in both statistics and media attention.[449] The 2018murder of Anthony Avalos and a2022 mass shooting in Colorado Springs have continually brought renewed attention to attacks against the LGBTQ community.
On October 27, 2018, a gunmanopened fire at theTree of Life synagogue duringShabbatmorning services, killing 11 people and injuring six more. The attack was the deadliest ever againstthe Jewish community in America; many of those killed had beenHolocaust survivors. The shooting brought awareness to an increase inAmerican antisemitism.[448]
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 onAmericans of Mexican descent andAmericans of Asian descent. Examples include the2019 El Paso Walmart shooting,2022 Buffalo shooting, and anincrease in Anti-Asian attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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, andwhite supremacy.[450][451][452][453]
In late October 2018,16 packages containing pipe bombs were mailed via theUS 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 asCNN 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.[454]
2020 was marked by a rise in domestic terrorist threats and widespread conspiracy theories around mail-in voting and COVID-19.[455][456] TheQAnon 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 theProud Boys and left-leaning counter-protestors, such as those affiliated with the left-wing political movementAntifa.[457][458][459] In March 2021, FBI directorChristopher Wray confirmed an October 2020 report from theDepartment of Homeland Security that saidwhite supremacists posed the top domestic terrorism threat. Wray noted that the threat from these groups had been elevated to the same level asISIS.[453][460][461] TheJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack was considered by many to be a domestic terror attack.[citation needed] The2022 elections saw continued attempts of intimidation, and concern for attacks, at voting stations and election offices around the country.[462]
Overall,political violence, perpetrated by all sides of the political spectrum,[463] has become more common throughout the 2010s and 2020s.[464] In 2017, amass shooting targeted a practice session for the annualCongressional Baseball Game, injuring thenU.S. House Majority WhipSteve Scalise.[465] In 2020, theFBI announced the arrest of 13 people over aplot to kidnapMichigan governorGretchen Whitmer.[466] In 2022,Paul Pelosi, spouse to thenSpeaker of the HouseNancy Pelosi, wasattacked with a hammer.[467] The attack was motivated by variousfar-rightconspiracy theories.[468] During the2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump faced numerous failed assassination attempts, includingone in July nearButler, Pennsylvania andanother in September in Florida.[469][470] In December 2024, Brian Thompson, the CEO ofUnitedHealthcare, wasshot and killed inNew York City, sparking debate over theAmerican healthcare system.[471] 2025 saw an attemptedarson attack on thePennsylvania Governor's Residence and theshootings of twoMinnesota lawmakers.[472][473] In September 2025, conservative political activistCharlie Kirk wasassassinated at aTurning Point USA event atUtah Valley University.[474]
_Dec_2024.jpg){kind=icon}
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Trump on Inauguration Day issued an executive order directing a freeze of foreign assistance funding and a review of all U.S. aid and development work abroad, charging that much of foreign assistance was wasteful and advanced a liberal agenda.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Turkish occupation "is an existential threat to the Assad government's ability to reclaim the entirety of its territory, which is a key argument that regime loyalists make in their support of Bashar al-Assad's government," Heras said.
You can't mistake the front line between the Syrian army and Turkey's occupation force east of Aleppo.
... If the collapse of the USSR was sudden and largely bloodless, growing strains between its two largest successors would develop into limited fighting in the Donbas in 2014 and then into all-out warfare in 2022, causing death, destruction, and a refugee crisis on a scale not seen in Europe since the Second World War.
... However, the scale of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is unprecedented in modern history and, in terms of human costs, is Moscow's largest military intervention in the post-1945 period. ...
... . Russia had done the unthinkable, deliberately starting the biggest war in Europe since World War II. ...
The alternative is a new Cold War—one that renders all talk of global norms obsolete.
... effective February 2.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Any 19th century anarchist would immediately recognize Brian Thompson's killing as a case of what's called "propaganda of the deed." These were violent acts meant to show the broader public that, while the prevailing political and economic systems might have been powerful and omnipresent, they were not omnipotent.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)According to the [US Extremist Crime Database], activities of far left wing violent extremist groups did not result in any fatalities during this period.
US History at Wikibooks
Postwar United States travel guide from Wikivoyage
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