By SUZANNE DOWNING
Not even a year has passed since a new, pro-Alaska administration took office in Washington, DC, and already it feels like Alaska has traveled a thousand miles from the swamp we were stuck in just 12 months ago.
First things first – let’s start with the military: A year ago, many military members in uniform didn’t feel valued. Recruitment was falling behind. Morale was fragile. Enlistments were down as DEI was causing a military culture that warriors just didn’t want. Military families were watching inflation eat away at housing allowances while politicians talked past them.
This Christmas season? It looks vastly different.
Enlistments are up sharply across the services. I wrote this week about Air National Guard setting a new recruitment record. Troops are getting a housing allowance boost of about 4.2%.
Air National Guard records its strongest recruiting year on record
National Guard surpasses 2025 recruiting goals
And for the first time in memory, the federal government is sending a very explicit thank-you. This month, nearly 1.5 million eligible service members are receiving a one-time, tax-free “Warrior Dividend” of $1,776. It’s a supplement to Basic Allowance for Housing and purposefully timed for the holidays.
President Donald Trump announced that payment last week, describing it as both a Christmas bonus and a nod to 1776, the year this country was founded, some 250 years ago. It’s equal across ranks and applies broadly to active-duty troops and qualifying Guard and Reserve members. What a boost for the holidays!
Then there’s the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized a 3.8% pay raise for troops, nearly $300 million in military construction projects in Alaska, and strengthened missile defense, an area where Alaska’s geography makes it indispensable to national security.
Sen. Sullivan secures hundreds of millions for Alaska in 2026 National Defense Authorization Act
For Alaska, with our heavy military footprint and communities built around service, these changes signal something deeper: People who defend the country are once again being treated like they are respected.
The cultural shift has been just as striking.
A year ago, many Americans, especially young white men, were quietly wondering whether there was still a place for them in their own country.
This week, Vice President J.D. Vance stood on a national stage at AmericaFest in Phoenix and said something that would have been politically unthinkable from the Biden Administration: “In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.” He added, “We don’t treat anybody different because of their race or their sex.”
Can you imagine former Vice President Kamala Harris uttering such words?
Vance was talking about real equality – equality that comes without DEI qualifiers or ideological footnotes. It marked a clear departure from a politics that sorted Americans by identity rather than shared citizenship.
For Alaska, the policy wins in 2025 have been substantial and concrete.
Several major pieces of legislation passed by the 119th Congress and signed into law in 2025 directly reshaped the state’s economic and strategic outlook. Two ANCSA reform bills, introduced by Rep. Nick Begich, addressed long-standing Alaska Native land issues, including restoring municipal lands to villages and fixing settlement gaps that had lingered for decades.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed this summer by President Donald Trump, delivered broad tax relief, economic development incentives, and program reforms that disproportionately benefit this state with our high costs, long distances, and resource-driven employment.
The tax side of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act may end up touching more Alaskans than anything else. No tips on taxes? That is going to be worth up to $25,000 per return. Overtime pay is also no longer taxed, starting with 2025 income. The law permanently locks in the lower individual income tax rates and wider brackets first enacted under the Trump tax cuts, preventing a sharp snap-back to higher pre-2017 rates.
The OBBBA keeps the doubled standard deduction that was about to expire in place: $32,200 for married couples, $16,100 for singles, and $24,150 for heads of household in 2026. This will shield thousands of working families from an automatic tax hike. People may even see tax refunds this year, since their deductions were based on a different withholding assumption.
Senior citizens will receive an additional $6,000 deduction on top of the standard deduction through 2028, while families benefit from an expanded child tax credit.
Other provisions raise the cap on state and local tax deductions, temporarily eliminate taxes on car loan interest, expand Health Savings Account access, and boost employer childcare credits.
Congress also acted to reverse federal land-use restrictions that had frozen opportunity. Two joint resolutions repealed Biden-era BLM rules and a Central Yukon resource plan, reopening more than 13 million acres for responsible development. More Nick Begich bills.
Then there were the executive actions on Day One.
President Trump signed an order explicitly focused on Alaska, directing agencies to expedite permitting and unlock the state’s extraordinary resource potential. It has led to approval of the Ambler Road project, reopening of ANWR’s coastal plain to leasing, and the upholding of Cook Inlet oil leases after environmental review.
Energy. Minerals. Jobs. Revenue. National security. Alaska was back on the map in 2025.
It’s easy to forget how much has happened because our brains aren’t wired to hold it all at once. Psychologists say we can comfortably track maybe five to eight major things before the rest start slipping away. And this year has delivered far more than that. Alaskans can’t even count up all the great benefits that have come from a change in Administrations.
For Alaska, 2025 has felt like one long Cake-of-the-Month Club, with policy wins arriving steadily, sometimes unexpectedly.
With less than a year of a Republican Congress and President Trump back in the White House, Alaska has moved farther and faster, than many thought possible. Probably faster than any other state.
This Christmas season is a good moment to pause and recognize it. It’s a great time to appreciate the delegation we have in Washington that fought for the state, and the Trump Administration that understood Alaska’s value.
Christmas came early this year. It started back in January and just got better as the months went by. And for Alaska, it came with a golden key to unlocking our state’s future.
Suzanne Downing is editor of The Alaska Story. More articles about the historic year for Alaska that have appeared in The Alaska Story in the past few weeks are here:
2 thoughts on “Trump’s return to office has been like the cake-of-the-month club for Alaska”
All this while we are losing our fish. Fish is a cultural aspect of our lives, stretching across of us…..we rely on healthy fish stocks, and now, we are in question on losing 50% of our halibut. My confidence in our federal officials is all but gone…..55 year Alaskan
Only for those of us who supported Trump
The other Americans think Trump is the death to America. They hold difference of priorities and principles.
I’m thankful. I pray Alaskans can one day be smart and wise enough that one day our legislature, our community councils, our Assemblies will be like Trump. Which means some AK Republican members today will lose wealth and power because you can’t have prosperous and innovative State of Alaska with government dependent people or workforce