As we approach the New Year and the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, we’re sure to see plenty of legacy news reports gaslighting us about how Trump has destroyed the country. That’s why it may be worth it now to start processing just how transformative Trump’s first year of his second term has been.
One of the things he has done has been to connect with the vast majority of Americans on every important issue, relegating his critics and opponents to the less popular side of the issue.
We’ve called these “80/20” issues because it’s a rule of thumb in public communication and politics that 80% of the people typically feel one way about an important issue, while 20% hold the minority view. I’ve seen this in my own work over decades of polling, surveying, and the use of focus groups, and it’s amazing how consistent this dynamic is.
In reality, an 80/20 issue can be anything from a 60/40 issue to a 90/10 one. But in most cases, the public is rarely evenly split. That’s why it’s kind of curious to assume that the country’s current polarization, based on the popular electoral votes during presidential years, is down the middle at 50/50. It’s probably not, and given these public opinion patterns, it wouldn’t surprise me if there is a 10-20% discrepancy on how many living-and-breathing American citizens are actually voting for Democrats.
With this in mind, Trump has dominated the narrative throughout 2025 by winning on nearly every major 80/20 issue.
Illegal Immigration
Let’s start at the southern border. According to a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll released in June, “80% — support or strongly support the U.S. government deporting immigrants without permanent legal status who have been convicted of a violent crime.”
The poll results include over 90% of Republicans, 81% of independents, and 75% of Democrats.
What this means is that all the noise the left has been making about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions has been largely for effect. Real Americans actively support the deportation of criminal illegal aliens, and since 100% of illegals did break the law, it’s a very safe assumption that the majority of Americans aren’t losing any sleep when they hear that workers down at the neighborhood Mexican restaurant are being sent home.
No case illustrates that, while the legal hurdles for the Trump administration are real and significant, public opinion is on his side in situations like “Maryland man.” You may remember that this was the media narrative at the time when the Trump administration deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to his home country of El Salvador. He had been taken into federal custody and detained on criminal charges related to human smuggling per a 2022 traffic stop. The federal government has alleged that the little darling is a member of MS-13.
Abrego-Garcia was busted driving 8 men without any IDs across the country for a confirmed illegal human smuggler
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 2, 2025
Cop: "He's hauling them for money"
There goes the narrative… pic.twitter.com/9M8DFogPma
Most Americans, when presented with all of the information, are most likely to side with the Trump administration on this case, regardless of what activist judges try to do to obstruct the enforcement of immigration law.
Driven by Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) and a severe case of leftist tribalism, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, literally traveled to El Salvador to go on a bro-date with Garcia and advocate for the alleged gang member to be brought back to the U.S.
Senator Chris Van Hollen is now claiming he was set up by the El Salvadorian government.
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) April 19, 2025
The margaritas were surreptitiously planted between him and wife beating MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. pic.twitter.com/uVgdr4CNjf
Van Hollen was clearly in the minority when compared to the American public, but TDS can do funny things.
Child Mutilation
On Jan. 28, 2025, the president signed Executive Order 14187, which says the federal government will not “fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support ‘gender transition’ medical care for children under age 19, including surgeries and puberty blockers.” The White House framed all of this as “chemical and surgical mutilation.”
In December, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued two major proposed rules that would bar federal Medicaid/CHIP funding from covering “gender-affirming care” (i.e. sex changes) for individuals under 18 (and 19 for CHIP). They would also prohibit hospitals that provide these procedures from participating in Medicare/Medicaid, effectively cutting off federal support if they perform puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries for minors.
The public opinion polling supports the Trump administration on this issue even when the poll is conducted by left-leaning pollsters.
In February of 2025, the Pew Research Center found that most people favor a ban on providers who treat minors to facilitate sex change. It found that “56% of U.S. adults favor laws that ban health care professionals from providing care related to gender transitions for minors, while a majority oppose insurance covering such care.”
If research entities would use pronouns, Pew would be one of them, so take these findings into consideration.
Gallup, another left-leaning pollster on issues like this, still found that 60% of Americans opposed “gender affirming care” for minors. In 2024, during the presidential campaign, Gallup found “about six in 10 Americans oppose laws banning gender-affirming care for minors, saying “changing gender is morally wrong.”
The whole issue of transgenderism, particularly among minors, has been galvanizing for Democrat opponents.
WOMEN’S SPORTS: The male who won a girls’ race at the California Masters meet last weekend to silence, while the girl who finished second was met with loud cheers. Other athletes refused to take the podium. pic.twitter.com/RmfYZDclRV
— @amuse (@amuse) May 31, 2025
Any time you read poll results, it’s important to look at two things on certain types of issues: First, how were the questions phrased? Most pollsters will frame the question to get the desired outcome. Case in point: Does the question use the term “gender-affirming care” or does it use “sex-change surgery”? In most of these polls, the researchers use language to soften the realities involved, leading participants to favor the positions of the researchers themselves. Still, as you can see from both of these polls, common sense wins, and so does Trump.
Drug Traffickers
By now you probably have come across video from the U.S. Department of War (DOW) in which you see an obvious cartel speedboat full of illicit drugs blown to smithereens by a missile fired by a U.S. drone.
🚨🇻🇪🚤 THREAD: No, there were not "innocent fishermen" on that boat
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) September 7, 2025
On Sept 2, a U.S. strike destroyed a go-fast leaving San Juan de Unare, Sucre. Some on social media are pushing the "poor fishermen" line. This thread unpacks why that narrative doesn't hold water (no pun… pic.twitter.com/14UnOU4fT9
A Reagan National Defense Survey has found that “62% of Americans strongly or somewhat approve of using military force against suspected drug traffickers (in Latin America/Caribbean waters).”
The Trump administration has justified the attacks by declaring war against the cartels, which are the primary smugglers of drugs like fentanyl that are killing countless Americans each year.
Nearly EVERY SINGLE House Democrat voted to force the U.S. military to stand down against designated TERRORIST organizations.
— Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) December 17, 2025
Let that sink in. When given the choice between America and terrorists, Democrats made theirs. https://t.co/oGcIPe53cE pic.twitter.com/WznxvFQZF7
True to form, the left has taken the side of the murderous cartels, offering up any number of excuses for the boats and their operators, and giving reasons not to destroy them. Everything from “these are just fishing boats" to “due process.”
🚨BREAKING: Sen. Tammy Duckworth TORCHES Trump’s illegal strike on a Venezuelan boat:
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) September 8, 2025
“There’s a thing called due process in this country. The fact that it happened in international waters actually opens Americans to a similar action by our adversaries.” This is wrong. https://t.co/PtTxqaBklV pic.twitter.com/VgssuEpyju
How much due process does a foreign invader with the intent to sell deadly drugs to unsuspecting American citizens deserve?
What are Yours?
These are just three instances where Trump has owned the left in 2025, but there are more. Which ones come to mind for you?
The beauty of Trump’s strategy is how he leverages TDS and the left’s own tribalism against it. Consistently, Trump frames his opposition as so far left, taking it to the most extreme leftists in the Democrat party, that he almost forces all of the moderates and others in the party to defend their most extreme positions and people. The only Democrat so far who has been immune to this has been Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, but he’s an outlier who some of the powers in his party have vowed to primary next time around.
As a result, no Democrat will now dare to oppose transgender men in women’s sports or the deportation of violent illegal aliens. They’ll defend rioters and common criminals. When Trump brought in the National Guard to high-crime, Democrat-run cities, the left even defended high crime rates.
Trump has consistently owned the libs because he uses their own nature against them, and they have no answer to that.
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