Our Top 10 columns of 2025 had one thing in common: Trump | Opinion

Trump, Trump and more Trump. There's no way around it: This past year was dominated by the country's 47th president, from Inauguration Day to Christmas and every news cycle in between.

Sure, 2025 was also the year we got a new "Superman" movie, a Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce engagement and far too much of Elon Musk. We endured the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, late night host Stephen Colbert got canceled, Jimmy Kimmel was suspended for comments he made after the killing of Charlie Kirk, Sydney Sweeney's jeans ad sent shockwaves through social media, and pop star Katy Perry went to space (sort of).

We wrote about all of that, too – but almost all the columns you read the most shared the same five-letter name in every headline.

Check out USA TODAY Opinion's Top 10 Most Read Columns of 2025 below. What do you want to bet next year brings more of the same?

What topic rounded out our Top 10? We'll give you one guess.

10. Trump can't run again. It's Republicans who have to answer for him with voters.

"Despite the Republicans' trolling about a third term, President Donald Trump’s behavior seems to indicate he is content with this being his last," columnist Dace Potas wrote in October.

"He is acting aggressively and with impunity, as if he and his allies know he has nothing to lose politically.

"Republican politicians, though, have attached themselves to this aggressive variant of Trump without seemingly giving a second thought to what that will mean for them as we head into the 2026 midterm elections."

9. Trump, Musk and MAGA douse California wildfires with conspiracies, hate and lies

"While wildfires rage across Los Angeles, President-elect Donald Trump, weirdo presidential wingman Elon Musk and other disreputable characters in the MAGA extended universe are doing all they can to make things worse," wrote columnist Rex Huppke back in January.

8. Nobody knows what Trump is talking about anymore and no one seems to care

"I'm going to Russia!" Trump declared ahead of an August summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The summit was very much not in Russia and very much in Alaska, as columnist Rex Huppke pointed out in his column – but the president's gaffe wasn't the most concerning part.

"The Fox News folks and the right-wing radio squawkers and the Republicans who called the former president a dithering old fool need to start worrying about the competency of the current president.

"You know, the one who’s going to Alaska and thinks he’s going to Russia. The one who answers a question about sending the National Guard to U.S. cities by babbling about water, fires and federal building permits. The one who has clearly gone, as critics of Biden’s mental acuity would call it, 'full Sleepy Joe.' "

7. I'm tired of being mocked and hated because I'm a conservative woman

"I'm tired of being the butt of jokes and scorn because I'm a conservative woman and a mother," columnist Nicole Russell declared in March. "I'm sick of legacy media acting like women such as (Karoline) Leavitt, (Usha) Vance and me are an anomaly.

"And I'm done with seeing progressives in politics and journalism spew hate at women for embracing conservative political and social values."

6. Trump's mental decline is on vivid display as he rages about Epstein, windmills

"It was nice of Donald Trump to travel to Scotland and show our European allies firsthand that the United States is led by a self-absorbed and deeply weird man in obvious mental decline," Rex Huppke wrote in July.

5. Chelsea Clinton: Trump is wrecking the People's House 

The former first daughter wrote this exclusive column for USA TODAY after the president's decision to demolish the East Room of the White House to make way for a new, gilded ballroom.

"The White House will always be a home I was lucky enough to live in for a while. Even more important, it is a mirror of our democracy, resilient when we honor its foundations but fragile when we take them for granted. What was dismantled today isn’t just marble or plaster; it is a reflection of how easily history can be erased when power forgets purpose."

Read the full column here.

4. I can't stop thinking about the interview Elon Musk's estranged daughter gave 

"There are plenty of words I could use to describe Elon Musk: power-hungry, transphobic and dangerous are a few that come to mind. But no one can describe him better than his daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson, who put her estranged father on blast in a special issue of Teen Vogue," wrote columnist Sara Pequeño back in March.

"Wilson, a 20-year-old college student studying in Tokyo, has used her social media platform to combat her father’s depiction of her and give voice to her own leftist politics.

"The entire interview – Wilson’s second ever – is pure gold. ...

"'Honey, we're going to call a fig a fig, and we're going to call a Nazi salute what it was,' Wilson said. 'That s--- was definitely a Nazi salute.'"

3. Trump didn't wait to be sworn in to start breaking his campaign promises to you 

"American voters usually have to wait for politicians to get into office before they start breaking campaign promises. But not with Trump. He's already out there, shrugging off his past assurances like debts he never intended to pay," columnist Chris Brennan wrote the day before Inauguration Day. ...

"Keeping campaign promises is hard for any politician. Breaking them comes easy to Trump."

2. From massive protests to a puny parade, America really let Donald Trump down

"Well, Americans, I hope you’re happy with yourselves. You really let President Donald Trump down June 14," admonished columnist Rex Huppke in our second most read piece.

"All he wanted was to celebrate his 79th birthday with a massive military parade that made him look powerful, scary and beloved. Instead, thanks to millions of Americans and their stupid First Amendment rights, he got a derpy, dull parade overshadowed by massive nationwide protests denouncing him."

Read the full column here.

1. Is Trump in mental decline? He sounds far worse than Biden ever did.

Given this is the third time the topic has made our list, it should come as no surprise this was our top column of 2025. You can read Rex Huppke's full take here, but we'll leave you with this exchange he cited, in the president's own words from a Time magazine interview:

Time: “Mr. President, you were showing us the new paintings you have behind us. You put all these new portraits. One of them includes John Adams. John Adams said we’re a government ruled by laws, not by men. Do you agree with that?”

Trump: “John Adams said that? Where was the painting?”

Time: “It’s right here.”

... And then this, from the same interview:

Trump: "If this were Biden, well, first of all, he wouldn't do an interview because he was grossly incompetent.”

Time: “We spoke to him last year, Mr. President.”

Trump: “Huh?”

Time: “We spoke to him a year ago.”

Trump: “How did he do?”

Time: “You can read the interview yourself.”

Trump: “Not too good. I did read the interview. He didn't do well.”

Clearly, Trump didn’t read the interview.