My friends, as we close the chapter on 2025, I wanted to do something different — not a year-in-review, not a highlight reel, and certainly not a list of talking points. Instead, I wanted to focus on the stories that truly matter — the ones whose impact won’t be fully felt until months or even years from now.
In today’s episode, I walk through what I believe are the most consequential stories of 2025. These aren’t just headlines that dominated the news cycle for a few days. These are developments that will shape elections, influence policy, affect the economy, redefine law and order, and ultimately determine the direction of the country long after the calendar flips to 2026.
The most important stories aren’t always the loudest — they’re the ones still shaping the future long after the headlines fade.
We talk about redistricting battles that will quietly but profoundly affect the 2026 midterms. We look at an economy that has rebounded faster than many predicted — and why confidence, leadership, and policy matter more than pundits want to admit. We examine border security and immigration enforcement, not as abstract debates, but as real-world issues affecting lives, safety, and the rule of law.
And we address the reality that none of this happens in a vacuum. Leadership matters. The return of Donald Trump to the White House reset the national agenda in ways that continue to ripple outward for the better. But beyond politics, there was a cultural moment in 2025 that shook many Americans to their core — one that forced people to confront the cost of speaking truth and the power of conviction.
Conservative, not bitter.
Todd
🎧 Listen to today’s Toddcast here.
Key Highlights from Today’s Toddcast
⚖️ The biggest stories aren’t always loud—they often shape the future quietly
🗳️ Redistricting decides elections long before ballots are cast
📈 Leadership restored confidence—and the economy followed
🚧 Enforcing border law saves lives and restores order
🏛️ Power struggles inside government will define what comes next
🇺🇸 Trump’s return reset the nation’s direction
🔥 Tragedy can awaken conviction and strengthen a movement
Listen here.
Quote of the Day
What you intended for evil, God used for good.
Todd Talk: If You Can’t Speak English, You Can’t Lead a City
My friends, how can you lead an American city if you can’t speak English?
The city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, elected Brian De Peña as mayor, yet his English is reportedly so limited that he required a translator to communicate with English speakers during a court hearing on Friday. A translator. To speak English.
Even when the Left does speak English, their ideas often don’t make sense — but at least we can understand the words.
It is reasonable to expect elected officials to speak English. This isn’t racist or xenophobic. It’s logical. It’s absolutely not a problem that he speaks Spanish, but it matters if he only speaks Spanish. What matters is whether a mayor can clearly communicate with the people he serves.
This is basic competence — and the fact that this is a true story is absolutely ridiculous.
The Most Consequential Stories of 2025
If you’re waiting for historians to tell you whether 2025 mattered, you weren’t paying attention. This was a year of fireworks—political, cultural, economic, and even acts of violence. Fireworks that led to the redrawing of political maps, the reordering of priorities, and the acceleration of forces that will shape this country for years to come.
Some of these developments were long overdue. Some were unavoidable. Some were heartbreaking. All of them were consequential.
Here are the top five stories that will impact America and the world well beyond 2025.
Before we get to the top five, several developments deserve acknowledgment.
Honorable Mention
The administrative state escalating its conflict with the executive branch.
High-stakes battles over the authority and limits of the courts.
Major foreign policy resets aimed at ending wars and protecting American interests.
New York City’s hard-left turn with the election of communist Zohran Mamdani.
The push to restore law and order in our nation’s capital.
Each of these helped shape the year, but five stood above the rest
5. Redistricting and the Fight for Political Power
Mid-decade redistricting fights erupted across multiple states, sometimes quietly and sometimes dramatically, reshaping the political battlefield.
These were not academic disputes. They were raw power struggles with long-term consequences for Congress, statehouses, and the balance of power itself. Maps do not just reflect politics. They decide it.
4. The Economy
In 2025, productive steps were finally taken to repair a disastrous economy. Under the leadership of President Donald Trump, inflation came down, growth accelerated, and confidence began to return.
By November, GDP had climbed to 4.3 percent, a clear signal that the economy was stabilizing and strengthening. Tariffs generated substantial revenue, prompting discussions about returning a portion of that money directly to the American taxpayer.
The economy did not just improve. It laid the groundwork for what could become a booming 2026.
3. Border Security and Immigration Enforcement
2025 marked a decisive shift in border security and immigration enforcement. For the first time in four years, the federal government enforced American sovereignty and the rule of law along the southern border.
The results were immediate and dramatic. The impact of securing the border and enforcing immigration law will have profoundly positive effects economically, socially, and culturally in 2026 and beyond.
2. The Return of Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s return to the White House did not come quietly, and it did not come timidly. His second term has been more aggressive, more focused, and more deliberate than the first.
The administration moved to confront waste, fraud, and abuse, restructure a bloated bureaucratic state, and bring the administrative apparatus back under executive control.
At the same time, it pursued peace abroad while facing long-ignored geopolitical threats head-on. The result has been a political reset that will reshape the landscape for years to come.
1. The Assassination of Charlie Kirk
No event in 2025 had a more profound impact on this great nation than the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk. His murder at Utah Valley University in September was a political assassination with far-reaching consequences, but this tragedy also led to something the evildoers never anticipated.
It captured the attention of millions of Americans who had never fully understood the message of conservatism or biblical Christianity. It drove them to finally listen to what Charlie had been saying for years.
His courage inspired countless Americans to engage more deeply in the political and cultural battle we are in, to speak more boldly, act more decisively, and stand more firmly in the cause of freedom.
What they intended for evil, God used for good.
And I believe He will continue to do so for many years to come.