The first year of Donald Trump’s second term in office was marked by the rapid implementation of his far-right program. From ICE to DOGE, from anti-DEI to anti-antifa, and from bombing boats to $400 million bribes, Trump’s regime has turned out even more extreme than feared after he was elected to a second term in November 2024. His words and actions as president have been covered extensively over the past year, as have those of a number of internal advisers and outside confidants, like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon. However, the grassroots far right, and its influence over the administration, has received far less attention.

One of Trump’s first acts of his second term was to pardon the hundreds of people who were arrested, and in many cases convicted, for their role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Once pardoned, many of these individuals wasted no time in calling for retribution against the FBI and prosecutors and trying to sue the government. Several have been subsequently arrested for crimes including kidnapping and child molestation.

But the most important event for the far right in 2025 was the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Head of the right-wing Turning Point USA, or TPUSA, a political action group focused on young people, Kirk was an anti-trans and racist propagandist known for debating liberals on college campuses. After his death, he was made into a Christian martyr and Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Many people who made critical comments about him were fired or suspended, the most prominent of whom was late-night host Jimmy Kimmel—although public outcry forced his return.

Trump has also created an environment where far-right terrorists are well positioned to commit attacks, as federal monitoring of far-right groups is being dismantled. Law enforcement training, tracking studies, and prevention programs have all been cut over the past year, along with reviews of the military’s anti-extremism initiatives.

The influence of conspiracy theories on federal officials has also increased dramatically. The most visible are the anti-vax views of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but the most outlandish was Trump’s Truth Social post promoting “MedBeds”—which Kelly Weil describes as “a fabled medical instrument that does everything from reversing aging to regrowing missing limbs.”

These conspiracy theories have only been amplified as far-right influencers have been given special access to the administration. In October, the Pentagon banned reporters from its press pool unless they pledged to only publish official statements, which no major outlet agreed to, including right-leaning ones like Fox News. They were replaced by friendly influencers and conspiracy theorists such as Laura Loomer, who also wields unprecedented influence over the president and has directly prompted Trump’s firing of national security officials.

Starting a decade ago, the alt-right created a distinct aesthetic, and these images and slogans have filtered up into the social media of the Department of Homeland........

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