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January 18, 2026 / 9:17 AM EST
/ CBS News
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Since President Trump took office a year ago, the news has never let up. Just consider recent weeks: An attack in Venezuela; talk of acquiring Greenland (via what Mr. Trump described as "the easy way" or "the hard way"); a criminal investigation of the Federal Reserve chair; and the fatal shooting of an American woman in Minneapolis by a federal immigration agent.Now, as we enter the second year of the second Trump presidency, we also enter the 250th year of our republic. Time to take a deep breath – and take stock. Historian Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, says that right now, America is at a turning point. "Most republics in history don't last 300 years, and it's because it's a really hard thing to do," she said. "It's a nation that is based on an idea rather than a shared ethnic or religious background. And that means it's going to be messy." "I alone can fix this"
