There’s been nothing softly, softly about Trump 2.0. Since his return to the White House in January, Donald Trump quickly set his sights on his critics, the media and marginalised people. First up were the slew of executive orders, which led to transgender references being removed from the Stonewall monument on the National Parks service website and to the banning of hundreds of other words and phrases from government websites and documents. Next, he took on the universities, attempting to defund colleges due to his perception of their ideologies. Then he weaponised ICE against protesters, literally picking people off the streets, the most famous of course being pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil.
Did the people push back? Absolutely. Democracy isn’t dead in America, yet. Did he push back harder still? Yes. In the summer he deployed National Guard troops in Democrat-led states to clamp down on protesters and journalists alike.
Let’s also spare a thought for the media, famously labelled “the enemies of the people” during Trump 1.0. He’s throttled Voice of America, directed insults towards individual journalists (“ugly”, “piggy”, “stupid” being just three choice words he’s used) and taken out a slew of mega-dollar law suits. And then this: in December the White House opened a “Media offender of the week” leaderboard, naming and shaming journalists that it claims are biased. Isn’t Trump the media offender of the week though, every week? Offender, tyrant – you choose.
To cast your vote, click on your chosen tyrant's face below and then click on the Vote button. And if you want the winner delivered straight to you in early January, sign up to our newsletter – you’ll then be the first to know who claims the crown no one wants.
The closing date is Monday 5 January 2026.
To view the other contenders for Tyrant of the Year, click here.
