Donald Trump’s craziest moments from 12 months of utter chaos back in White House

Since being re-elected, Trump has invaded one country, threatened another, nicked a gold medal that wasn’t his and caused a row with his closest allies… and that’s just this month!

Giant Orange Manbaby Donald Trump became the 47th President of the USA a year ago today… and celebrated by doing a load of bonkers stuff.

He said he was “saved by God” from death to bring a “golden age of America” as he returned to the White House for the second time.

Here, your Daily Star looks at his maddest moments in an unprecedented year of chaos, which has seen him threaten to invade a Nato ally, slap huge tariffs on anyone who disagrees and nick the Nobel peace prize from its rightful winner. And that was just this week!

Jan 6 rioters pardoned

Within hours of taking office, Trump pardoned 1,500 people convicted for their part in the US Capitol riot in 2021, when his supporters stormed the iconic building as lawmakers met to rubberstamp Joe Biden’s election victory.

Fourteen members of far-right groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were among those whose sentences were quashed on Trump’s first day in office. He declared: “These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon, full pardon. This is a big one.

“These people have been destroyed,” he added. “What they’ve done to these people is outrageous. There’s rarely been anything like it in the history of our country.”

Putin’s war dog attacks Ukrainian President

In February, Trump was branded Putin’s poodle by your Daily Star after he launched a scathing attack on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, branding him a “dictator” and falsely claimed Ukraine had started the war with Russia, ignoring Mad Vlad’s invasion in 2022.

Just over a week later, things got even weirder when Trump clashed with Ukraine’s President during an angry meeting at the White House, telling him to be more “thankful” for US support and accusing him of “gambling with World War Three.

The world watched on in horror as Trump and his Vice President JD Vance ganged up on Ukraine’s wartime leader, before a bizarre exchange with a pro-Maga mouthpiece who asked Zelenskyy why he didn’t wear a suit.

On-off bromance with Elon Musk (and that Nazi salute)

Trump was endorsed by a number of “tech bro” billionaires during his campaign, but none were more prominent than madcap car salesman Elon Musk, who event spoke on stage during last January’s inauguration.

The space cadet – who has been promising to “put man on mars within 10 years” for decades – captured headlines when he twice delivered a Nazi salute to the crowd. Despite the row, Trump cosied up to the X owner and he was often pictured in the White House.

But the pair fell out in the summer and Musk sensationally claimed Trump featured in the Jeffrey Epstein files and that was the reason they have not been released at that time. He later deleted his posts and the pair seem to be on good terms again. For now.

Don’t believe your eyes

As the world was shocked by the death of Renee Nicole Good – fatally shot by an ICE agent during an altercation earlier this month in Minneapolis – Trump and mouthpieces tried to portray her as a “domestic terrorist”.

Despite extensive footage of the incident showing she was clearly turning her steering wheel to avoid an ICE agent in the road, Trump’s administration claimed he had shot “in self defence” and feared for his life.

Commentators compared the charade to George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, with US journalist Molly Jong-Fast summing it up by saying: “We can see the vide (s) with our own eyes. Are we no longer supposed to trust our own eyes?”

Dancing with the devil

Trump spent the last few months of 2025 building up a huge military presence in the Caribbean sea, but repeatedly denied he planned to invade Venezuela.

But in dramatic scenes earlier this month, US forces seized Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife in Caracas and flew them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, sparking one of the most iconic photos in recent history.

Things took an even stranger twist when it was reported Maduro sealed his fate by taunting the notoriously thin-skinned US President Donald Trump with cheeky YMCA-style dance moves in a viral video.

Peace taker

Donald Trump spent much of 2025 campaigning to win the Nobel peace prize and flew into a rage when he did not win it.

After capturing Maduro, he then gleefully took the 18carat gold medal from his opposition leader Maria Corina Machado last week. She is widely considered to have won 2024 elections, which were rejected by Maduro.

But instead of installing her as leader of the country, Trump has declared himself as acting President of Venezuela, while Maduro’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez leads the country on an “interim basis”.

Green with envy

In a bizarre rant, Trump said he no longer feels obliged to “think only of peace” after he was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year – in a letter to the Norwegian PM who had nothing to do with the voting process.

And he In the same message to Jonas Gahr Støre, Trump insisted the US needed “Complete and Total Control of Greenland”, the semi autonomous Danish territory. Asked later if he planned to use force to seize it, he replied “no comment”.

After European countries rebuked Trump’s plans to capture the island, he threatened to slap huge tariffs on a slew of Nato allies, including the UK.

Don Terry

Donald Trump “did a John Terry” and gatecrashed Chelsea’s Club World Cup trophy lift after ignoring FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, who asked him to move aside after he handed the trophy to captain Reece James after they beat PSG 3-0 in New Jersey.

But Trump remained alongside James and goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, and applauded as James lifted the trophy – staying in position for a few seconds before he and Infantino left at the rear of the stag.

He then added insult to injury by claiming Chelsea will get a ­replica as he has the ­original ­trophy – and he’s keeping it.

The bizarre moment echoed the antics of Chelsea legend Terry, who famously wore his full kit to collect the 2012 Champions League trophy,­ ­despite not playing in the final victory over Bayern Munich. Oh – and he was given the FIFA peace prize in December.

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