In 2020, the word “unprecedented” was named the People’s Choice 2020 Word of the Year by Dictionary.com after receiving the most user submissions. A 2024 article by Wired concluded “unprecedented times” are becoming a new normal. 

Given the first two weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, the word may be on its way to a second Word of the Year title. But how unprecedented are the times we’re living in? 

So far, Trump has signed an executive order to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government, offered federal workers a buyout to resign to downsize the federal government, and instructed the Department of Defense and Homeland Security to prepare the U.S. military camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba to detain migrants, among other actions. 

While social media and global news coverage allow people to collectively agonize about news from the other side of the globe in real time, the political trends and movements themselves are nothing new. However, that doesn’t make the recent actions of the Trump administration any less jarring. 

William Jones, a history professor at the University of Minnesota, said the speed at which Trump issued executive orders is notable and unprecedented. 

“People need to pay attention to that because I think it’s sort of overwhelming to the point that it’s hard to respond to,” Jones said. “The most brazen of those is the suggestion that birthright citizenship doesn’t apply, which is, I think, a pretty clear violation of the 14th Amendment.”

Trump issued an executive order last week aimed at eliminating birthright citizenship, a constitutional right in the U.S. under the 14th Amendment. The order was temporarily blocked by a federal judge. 

“There’s a very long history of policies that are similar to what the Trump administration is promoting, the sort of ideological purges,” Jones said. “This is something that we saw in the 1950s, the McCarthy era. We don’t have to look to other countries for these examples.”

Many of the Trump administration’s actions and goals are disturbing, but they present a reality we must face. Discrimination and violence toward migrants and various minority groups are deeply rooted in our nation’s history. 

“Trump has pointed to the mass arrest and deportation of migrants during the 1950s under the Eisenhower administration as a model for his, and we should look at that,” Jones said. “Large numbers of American citizens were arrested and deported largely because they were Latinos. There was certain racial profiling.”

We can’t hide from this history. We must face it if we want to alter our path forward. 

Larry Jacobs, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University, said the actions of the Trump administration are illustrating just how much elections matter. 

“It’s one thing to be thinking about it, it’s another to see it happen and see the people who are affected,” Jacobs said. “The broad attack on diversity, it’s gonna strike a chord all over the country, including here at the University of Minnesota, where I think faculty and students and staff are really gonna be slapped upside the face when they come to realize what’s been proposed and what’s gonna happen.” 

Trump also faces a lot of opposition and barriers from the division within the Republican Party, Jacobs said. The Supreme Court, despite being a conservative-appointed court, has overturned Trump more than any modern president, making it less likely that Trump will be able to enact legislation that will withstand the other branches of government. 

“Donald Trump’s use of executive orders is a last resort because he’s so vulnerable,” Jacobs said. “He’s unable to pass a lot of legislation that he would like to.”

Beyond the administration’s specific actions or inability to get things done, Trump presents a unique contradiction by appealing to working-class voters but favoring some of the richest men in the world. 

“You can’t be both an ally of the working class and of the billionaires and the richest people in the world,” Jacobs said. “I think that’s gonna become a tension and it may well eat away at the legitimacy of Donald Trump.”

These first two weeks should be a wake-up call for students who don’t like what they’re seeing to get involved and use their voices as citizens, Jacobs said. 

“You have a voice, use it,” Jacobs said. “Donald Trump is vulnerable. His actions are not from a position of power.” 

Elon Musk also captured attention last week by performing a straight-arm salute, which closely mimicked a Nazi salute during a speech celebrating Trump’s victory. 

While Musk’s salute and expressed support of Germany’s far-right party is alarming, Trump’s administration draws a stronger parallel to authoritarian regimes, according to Jones. Trump and those around him have shown admiration for the current regime in Hungary but have also pointed to past U.S. administrations for guidance. 

“In some cases, I think it’s useful to look to fascism,” Jones said, “But I think there’s a lot more to be learned from looking at our own history and looking at the history of the models that the administration is actually citing as its templates.”

Jones said the U.S. has an extensive history of discrimination and violence toward migrants, racial profiling and homophobia that is important to learn from when trying to make sense of our current reality. 

“None of this is foreign to our own history,” Jones said. 

While this is part of our history and who we are as a nation, how we respond is also a part of who we are. We have also seen generations fight back against discrimination and violence and we can do so again when we don’t like what we’re becoming. 

“We should also look to the really rich history of pushing back against that type of behavior and of people organizing and asserting their rights in ways that have worked before,” Jones said. “I think we need to look to the history to understand how it will work again today.”

Regardless of your political beliefs, this is not a time to let chaos deter you from staying informed and engaged in politics. 

“I hope that people who are feeling scared and vulnerable will understand that they’re not alone in feeling that and that they will reach out to friends and people around them who are in similar situations and figure out ways to support each other and to try to work toward a future in which they don’t feel that way,” Jones said.