Shawn Thew / EPA
US President Donald Trump
Trump’s second term is a year old, but it was not celebrated in New York. Support on the streets was directed towards NATO allies and the Greenlanders.
Hundreds of New Yorkers demonstrated this Tuesday in front of Trump Tower, in Manhattan, against what they classify as the “growing fascist threat” in the country and demanded the impeachment of the North American President.
On the day that marks one year since Donald Trump’s return to the White House for a second term, dozens of posters were erected on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan with phrases such as “’Impeachment now’, “When will this end?”, “Abolition of ICE [agência federal de imigração e Alfândega] now!”, “Trump is diabolical”, “I am with our NATO allies” or “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders”.
The multiplicity of themes covered in the posters displayed by the protesters mirrors the turbulent and unprecedented year that Donald Trump promoted, with the aim of imposing a new international order and shaping North American internal dynamics.
“I come here today because I am horrified by the monstrosities that this President has done. I’m already old, but I’m worried about the future of my grandchildren,” said May, 84 years old.
Asked by Lusa about what shocked her most about Trump’s return to power, the octogenarian from New York pointed out “the 50-year setback in civil rights”, the “humiliating treatment given to immigrants who contribute so much to the United States” and .
“We are so far from what we should be as a country. I just hope people wake up in time,” May added.
Despite the low temperatures that hit the region, with the thermal sensation surrounding the Minus 15 degrees in New Yorkthe protesters did not move for about an hour. After that, the elderly started abandoning the protest. “Today is very cold, but I had to come. I am terrified by the state of this country. What they are doing to immigrants is inhumane”, said Marge, 82 years old.
“The decision to annex Greenland is shocking. It is turning our backs on our allies”, he further criticized.
Tom, 30, was another of the New Yorkers who joined the protest at Trump Tower against the “growing fascism in the country”which he attributes directly to Donald Trump.
“After Trump’s first term, I thought nothing surprised me anymore, but the attack on Greenland is something I wasn’t expecting,” admitted the young man.
Trump: “we are not getting the message across”
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, lamented that his economic message is not resonating with Americans, in a press conference dedicated to highlighting his achievements in the first year of his second term.
“We inherited a mess. The numbers we inherited were on the rise, and now we have managed to reduce them, almost all of them, considerably”, declared the North American President at the White House, referring specifically to the inflation.
Trump presented what he considers to be his achievements during a press conference that international agencies described as confusing, in which he criticized his communications advisers for failing to get his message across to Americans.
“I mean, I don’t understand… Maybe my communications team isn’t very good, we’re not getting the message across”he admitted, while White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt remained impassive.
Over the course of 80 minutes, in an unusually low tone of voice, Trump listed the main successes he claims for his administration, insisting that the country is experiencing “a very low inflation“. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last quarter of 2025, he continued, “is on track to surpass, perhaps by a large margin, the 5% growth”, a forecast that should be analyzed as optimistic.
Trump also highlighted the positive effect of tariffs which it implemented against United States partners, noting that they reduced the trade deficit and forced companies from other countries to invest in factories in North American territory.
“They come here because they can’t pay the tariffs,” commented the White House leader, who last weekend threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries that sent troops to Greenland and did not support his plan to annex the autonomous Danish territory.
The US President began his speech in the White House press room by displaying photos of “unbalanced killers” who he said had been detained by Immigration and Customs Services (ICE) and deported, in particular from Minnesota, the scene of protests against the actions of that federal entity. Minneapolis, the state’s largest city, has been in a tense climate since an attack on January 7 by an ICE agent.
Trump once again attacked his predecessor, Joe Biden, as the “worst president in history on immigration”, accusing him of implementing an open borders policy, which he said had already been reversed.
“No one came in,” argued the Republican politician, adding that he did not understand the criticism of ICE’s controversial operations against immigrants.
The US President reiterated his threat against so-called “sanctuary cities”, which limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and will stop receiving funding from Washington from February 1st, if they do not begin to collaborate with ICE and other agencies.
In his long press conference, Trump also joked about his attempt to designate the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America upon his return to the White House a year ago.
“I was going to call it Gulf Trump, but I thought they would kill me if I did. I wanted to do it. (…) Gulf Trump sounds good anyway, maybe we can do that. We still have time”, he suggested.
