Amina Taylor | 2025 was a political roller coaster year

If you ever wanted to experience ALL the political seasons in one year, then 2025 was the perfect opportunity to get on that political roller coaster of chaos and mayhem. It’s been terrifying enough to make you wish you never got on the ride in the first place.

I’ve been a journalist for over two decades now and this is one of the most tumultuous periods on record where history wasn’t being made over a matter of years. No, historical events were being played out overnight. In fact, you could break for lunch and return to some new piece of ‘unprecedented’ news.

In the world of hyperbole, hype and Machiavellian-like manoeuvrings, allow me to introduce you to my political year that was.

TRUMP 2.0

For those of us who thought the Donald Trump presidency of 2017–2021 was a fever dream that we would surely wake up from, then his return after victory in the 2024 elections was enough to remind us that it can be politically dangerous to exist in your individual bubble.

The very notion that tens of millions of Americans could have voted in a return to this bombastic, unhinged style of leadership was perhaps, unimaginable.

It seems the global community was shocked that the majority of American voters still choose to accept a non-qualified, failed businessman with dozens of convictions over an infinitely more qualified candidate. We should not have been. 2025 MAGA would be a quintessential lesson in underestimating the power of hate as inspiration.

In his second term, Trump has repeatedly burnt the political rulebook in front of our very eyes. We’ve barely managed to catch our collective breaths over the political dog whistle that was the Elon Musk helmed DOGE and its drive to wipe out DEI (Diversity Equality and Inclusion). There’s a certain irony being lectured by an administration whose senior leadership includes second-tier Fox News hosts, failed beauty pageant contestants and an assortment of – quite frankly – bat sh*t crazy odds and sods from across the United States.

Their credentials might be laughable but the damage they’ve done to America’s political reputation abroad and the obvious hardships faced by its own people is not quite as funny. America now positions itself on the verge of a very real war with Venezuela. There’s been very little progress in its push for peace between Russia and Ukraine. The situation in the Middle East has been made more unstable by Donald Trump‘s lack of political vision on very complex matters.

We can now see with extreme clarity that black and brown people are in the crosshairs of this Christian nationalist/white supremacist White House. The president said as much in a recent address where he essentially said immigration will be barred for those from “shithole countries” and gave Somalia as an example but would welcome “better immigrants” and gave a special shout out to Norway and Denmark.

They do say when America sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold, but this virus could quickly morph into a nuclear winter because it seems the normal rules of engagement no longer apply.

With ICE agents on the rampage, diplomacy at an all-time low and the rest of the world struggling to find the best way to placate an administration they must privately consider full of loons behind the scenes, America’s unspoken Maxim of “might is right” will continue to win the day and the rest of us need to just buckle in and hope the chaos begins to subside in 2026.

SQUARING UP IN THE UK

In any other political era, the bare-fisted ugliness in some quarters of British politics would’ve been globally newsworthy. Now it’s standard fare, just the way things are done on the political stage in this new-look UK politics.

Keir Starmer has been Britain’s PM for just over a year but he’s already enduring whispers of a potential leadership challenge and has seen some pushback on flagship policies. Meanwhile across the aisle on the Conservative benches, Kemi Badenoch continues to throw potential policies at the electoral wall in the hope that something will reignite her fledgling leadership.

The Greens under new leader Zack Polanski seem to have a real sense of mission and purpose. Jeremy Corbyn‘s Your Party might have fumbled the political bag in its shaky start, but there might now be genuine alternatives to the Big Two (Labour and Tories).

However, we’d be remiss if we talked about the impact for 2025 without mentioning the rise of Reform. Clearly 2025 was the year there was a glitch in the Matrix and we’ve ended up in the middle of a 1970s political time warp where Nigel Farage has managed to make formerly grotesque political points about immigration the defining topic of British political discourse.

With very few exceptions, leading political voices seem incapable of pushing the narrative in a direction that might require bold, forward-facing politics. No one has been confident enough to recognise that these political grifters don’t cope well when you fight fire with fire. Racists count on your sense of fair play and decorum to remain as they continue to push their poison.

2026 may well be the year that we see the true fallout from allowing far-right liars set and drive the political agenda.

MOTHER NATURE REMAINS UNDEFEATED

Watching from afar as Category Five Hurricane Melissa wreaked havoc across the Caribbean – specifically parts of Jamaica – reminded us that the climate crisis is still very much a political matter. Governments with a population at risk from the elements need to ensure their own firm footing in adverse weather conditions.

Lives are literally at stake if Mother Nature’s wrath comes up against poor infrastructure and limited planning. People power pulling together was beautiful to witness but it’s no substitute for climate security.

PALESTINE-ISRAEL

Events unfolding in West Asia can feel like its unrelated and ‘not our problem’ but the global fallout from the 77+ year conflict will have ramifications for generations to come. Whilst a tenuous ceasefire remains in place since late 2025, this is the first truly 4K conflict that dominated the global political discourse.

The public consciousness has been awoken with conversations surrounding other volatile geopolitical arenas taking place. Without due care and diplomacy, a flare-up could see 2026 once more dominated by this hot button topic.

One thing you do know; the next 12 months will bring us more political jump-scares. I would usually recommend grabbing your popcorns and watching the drama unfold but we can no longer afford being passive by-standers. Come into the New Year armed with knowledge. Let that be your political armour.

- Amina Taylor is a journalist and broadcaster. She is the former editor of Pride Magazine and works as a producer, presenter and correspondent with Press TV in London. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com