November 2025 Presidential Recap

*The last update on this article was November 23rd, 2025.

President Donald Trump was presented with a variety of issues and topics that shaped November 2025 into one of the more chaotic months of the second Trump Administration. 

At the start of November, the 2025 elections were held, and this began to test Donald Trump and his administration in their first months in office. Democrats would go on to win a vast majority of elections held, including the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, along with the mayoral race in New York City that gained extensive attention from media outlets and the White House as well. Republicans ended up having a poor performance on Election Day and were unable to win many races held, sending a message of drastic disapproval of the second Trump Administration. Although most elections had no impact on a nationwide scale, they do hint at a Democratic takeover in the 2026 midterms, which could go on to have a nationwide impact if Democrats gain control of the House or the Senate.

Following the elections, President Trump met with NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani. After months of insults and fights between Trump and Mamdani, both appeared very friendly and warm with each other. Trump went on to praise Mamdani and defend him, even at one point saying that he (Trump) believes that Mamdani will surprise many Republicans and do well as mayor. After months of insults and fights on social media, Trump and Mamdani seemed to be in good relations after their meeting and ready to deliver on Mamdani’s campaign promises centered around making NYC affordable.    

Additionally, the Government shutdown concluded after spanning 43 days, the longest in our nation's history. The end of the shutdown comes after eight Democrats, including Minority Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, stood up with Republicans to reopen the government and refund government programs that went unfunded during the shutdown. A vast majority of Democrats were angered and unhappy with senators like Schumer since they “gave up” fighting for health care and additional assistance that would be cut or underfunded in the new spending bill. Although the bill was seen to have many flaws and problems in the eyes of Democrats, the government was reopened and ended a key issue for many Americans who went unpaid or without food during the shutdown. 

In foreign policy, efforts were made by the White House to build up international relations and end conflicts between other countries. In Ukraine and Russia, a 28-point peace plan was recently made to end the battle between the two countries. The plan however would result in Ukraine shrinking its land and military, giving room for improvement in the deal. In regards to Saudi Arabia, when Saudi Arabian Prince Al Saud came to the White House, Al Saud agreed to invest one trillion dollars into the U.S. economy and also agreed to a new strategic defense bill, overall strengthening relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. 

Also evolving recently, the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files has been confirmed and passed through Congress after months of failure to be forced into immediate release. President Trump has been cited in the files and was a close friend of Epstein, therefore causing the prevention of opening the Epstein files. However, after 218 signatures were reached in the House to demand the release of the files, the House went on to vote in favor of the release of the files 427-1. The Senate would go on to vote unanimously to release the files, sending the proposal to the White House. If Trump does sign legislation to release the files, he could be held liable for serious federal crimes if it turns out he was in close relation to Epstein. No matter what, if the files do become released as they should, it’s a good thing that celebrities and creeps are being brought to justice for the heinous crimes and actions they’ve committed. 

The release of the Epstein files did come with turmoil in the Republican Party and caused the split of Trump and one of his former allies in Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. After Greene began to extensively demand the release of the files, Trump took to Truth Social to withdraw his endorsement of Greene as she runs in her district for office in 2026. Greene shortly thereafter retaliated against Trump with some support but would eventually resign from office with the plan to leave Congress on January 5th, 2026. In a lengthy speech posted, she stated her resignation was influenced by Trump’s extensive denial of releasing the Epstein files and that she wouldn’t want to face a hurtful primary against a Trump-endorsed candidate. Greene’s resignation from office signifies a possible split in the MAGA movement, which began and resulted in Trump losing a close ally who was fully committed to him.

Between the 2025 elections, Trump’s meeting with Mamdani, the end to the government shutdown, a variety of foreign policy, the lack of transparency in regards to the Epstein files, and the eventual split between Trump and one of his closest allies, Rep. Greene, a chaotic and wild month of politics has ensued, resulting in plummeting poll numbers for the Trump Administration, leaving a lot of issues in politics at the moment.