Listening to the usual suspects of the legacy media, one might think that 2025 was some kind of apocalyptic wasteland: an authoritarian fever dream sparked by Donald J. Trump's return to the Oval Office. The reality seemed very different. Last year was, in many ways, quite good and enlightening. Let's take stock of what happened when our government remembered who it serves, as well as the unfinished business that remains as we turn the calendar.
First, the obvious: Political sanity was restored to the nation's capital. After years of chaos fueled by leftist elites (open borders, hypervengeful laws, irresponsibility on the world stage, and more), the nation has begun to return to first principles: national sovereignty, law and order, and strong leadership abroad. Under Trump, the United States has returned to acting as a true nation-state pursuing its true interests, not as a non-governmental organization with a lingering guilt complex.
That reorientation has paid enormous dividends. On immigration, the Biden-era invasion of the southern border has reduced by more than 90%. In energy, a renewed embrace of domestic production has led to average domestic gas prices being the lowest in the world. almost five years. Violent crime, thanks to Trump's police operations and innovative use of the National Guardhas dropped dramatically: Murders decreased nearly 20% from 2024, and robberies and thefts also saw double-digit percentage declines. Abroad, allies and adversaries alike have recalibrated to the reality that the White House once again means what it says.
Still, the work always remains. Here, then, is my wish list for 2026.
Peace in Eastern Europe
The war between Russia and Ukraine has gone on for too long, too long. The Trump administration has expended a tremendous diplomatic effort trying to orchestrate a peace agreement, which remains elusive. A lasting peace—one that stops the senseless killing on both sides, respects Ukrainian sovereignty, takes into account Russia's legitimate concerns, and avoids a broader conflagration between the great powers—should be a primary goal of the Trump administration's foreign policy in 2026. Russia is the invader and Vladimir Putin is the biggest obstacle to a lasting peace, but both sides must make painful, if frustratingly also painfully obvious, concessions.
Victory over birthright citizenship
At home, there is now a major legal battle before the US Supreme Court: the Trump administration's righteous challenge to the wrong practice of constitutionally “required” birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens born in the United States. The idea that the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, was intended to constitutionalize a global magnet for human trafficking, granting automatic citizenship to all children born here, including those whose parents entered the country illegally, is indefensible as a matter of simple constitutional text, congressional history in the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and basic common sense. In fact, birthright citizenship has been nothing short of ruinous for the United States. A Trump administration victory would restore Congress' legitimate authority to circumscribe citizenship and eliminate a long-standing incentive for illegal immigration.
Improving housing affordability and costs
Legal victories mean relatively little if ordinary Americans continue they feel like they are being squeezed. Improving affordability must take center stage in 2026, from the federal level to states and localities. The cost of living is not an economic abstraction; It affects rent, food, childcare, and the difficulty of buying a first home. Housing, in particular, demands attention. Housing policy should reward supply, not stifle it: reduce bureaucracy and onerous construction fees, reform zoning incentives, and reduce inflationary spending that puts upward pressure on mortgage rates. A nation where young families cannot afford to put down roots is a nation courting decline—the very antithesis of the Trumpian restoration.
Justice for Minnesota fraud scandal
He growing fraud scandal about state and federal funding for child care in Minnesota, even in companies run by Somali Americans — surprising in scale – has become a test case for whether the rule of law still applies when politics feels uncomfortable. Justice means following the facts wherever they lead: recovering stolen taxpayer money and holding wrongdoers and accomplices legally accountable without fear or favor. To wit, on the issue of accomplices: What did Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), Atty. Gen. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and other prominent Minnesota politicians know this, and when did they know it? Plus, what did Kamala Harris, who picked Walz as her 2024 presidential running mate, know and when did she know it? The Biden administration and the Walz administration began investigating these fraud allegations years ago, and the American people deserve answers to all of these questions.
tamed communist china
Finally, no wish list can be complete without confronting the central geopolitical challenge of our time: that of communist China. In short, Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party, who has just presided over his The largest military exercises with live fire. around Taiwan, must be significantly deterred in the Indo-Pacific. That means maintaining a combative tariff stance, implementing as much economic decoupling as possible, and emboldening key regional allies – like Japan – who share the United States' interest in freedom of maritime navigation and diminishing Chinese hegemony. Decades from now, Trump's presidential legacy will be partially defined by how he handled the China Challenge. Now it is it's not the time to take your foot off the accelerator.
The past year has shown what is possible when Washington rejects the policy of controlled decline and embraces the best of American tradition and way of life. Let's hope to see more – much more – of that same success in this new year.
Josh Hammer's latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Fate of the West.”.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. UNKNOWN: @josh_hammer
