By Frank F Islam & Ed Crego, January 6th, 2026 (Image credits: Tom de Boor, JNCGPT51)

Wrecking ball. That is our word of the year for 2025.

We chose wrecking ball because Donald Trump and his allies used it as their primary tool throughout the year. The most visible evidence of their employing a wrecking ball was in the demolition of the East Wing of the White House.

The destruction of the East Wing was not an isolated incident, however. It was representative of the Trumpian approach to governing this time around.

As Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times noted:

Both fans and foes of President Trump see his presidency as something of a wrecking ball. Fans praise him for tearing down broken systems — like the federal bureaucracy or global trade — to build them anew. Foes see him as simply breaking things — like NATO or vital political norms. Then, this week, as if to drive the point home, he literally tore down part of the White House.

And, political analyst and author Jonathan Alter observed:

It’s not the worst thing that he’s done but there’s a perfect alignment between the visual image and the major theme of the Trump second term. Early on with Elon Musk it was a chainsaw. Now it’s a wrecking ball and that’s been their attitude. They’ve taken a wrecking ball to the rule of law.

It was not just the rule of law that was struck by a wrecking ball in this past year. In 2025, the Trump wrecking ball swung far and wide, up and down, and every which way.

Among other things, the wrecking ball was used on: the Constitution, the Cabinet, Congress, federal government agencies and employees, federal policies and programs, departments such as justice, education, and health and human services, diversity, equity and inclusion programs, American civics and history, museums, libraries, the middle class and poor, immigrants, the traditional media, the military, the Democratic party, higher education, large law firms, blue states, sanctuary cities, perceived enemies of the president, and the truth.

The list of those on the presidential wrecking ball hit list could go on and on. It proves a point Trump made in his inaugural address when he proclaimed,

I stand before you now as proof, you should never believe that something is impossible to do. In America, the impossible is what we do best.

President Trump was correct. We should never believe that something is impossible to do.

During his second term in office, Trump has demonstrated: It is not impossible to use a wrecking ball to harm whatever or whoever is your target. It is not impossible to do your best at taking unnecessary or undesirable actions. It is not impossible to put a democracy at risk by weakening its foundations.

Fortunately, it is also not impossible for there to be a price to be paid for using a wrecking ball inappropriately, illegitimately, or in manner that is contrary to the best interest of the American people. It is also not impossible to be held accountable, eventually, for using a wrecking ball in a manner contrary to one’s espoused agenda.

In his inaugural address, Donald Trump stated, “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier.”

After nearly one year in office wielding the wrecking ball, there are few who would see Trump as either a “peacemaker or unifier” or that as his “legacy.” As we wrote in an earlier blog, under Trump in 2025, America was nation at war with itself. And Trump was the warrior-in-charge.

Various public opinion polls show that there was increasing disapproval for the Trump wrecking ball approach throughout the year. The results of the off-year elections indicate that Trump’s bombastic and bombarding style benefitted the Democrats and not the Republicans in the few states in which votes were cast on November 4, 2025.

In spite of that, nationwide elections won’t be held until November of this year. So in early January, it is far too early to say whether Trump and his minions will suffer consequences in the electoral arena in 2026 for the damage that has been wrought in 2025.

What can be said is for that to happen, it will require concerned citizens to speak out, as Bruce Springsteen advised us in his song, Wrecking Ball,

Bring on your wrecking ball
Bring on your wrecking ball
C’mon and take your best shot
Let me see what you got
Bring on your wrecking ball

It will also require those citizens to come together, as Emmylou Harris advised in her song, Wrecking Ball:

Meet me at the wrecking ball
Wrecking ball
I’ll wear something pretty and white
And we’ll go dancing tonight

Speaking out and coming together are starting points to protest against the Trump wrecking ball. Winning the important elections in November in order to limit its future impact, and to begin the process of reconstructing and revitalizing our nation will require proper planning, organizing, and mobilizing. We will provide our thoughts in this regard in our next blog.

Till then, happy new year! May this new year be one of Reconstruction and Revitalization.

Image Credits: Tom de Boor, JNCPT51