It’s a year since the US put Donald Trump back in the White House and I’ve spent this anniversary week in Florida and in Pennsylvania – two worlds in one country where I found two such contrasting snapshots of Trump’s America.

There are many ways to reflect on the successes and failures of the past year. Different issues matter to different people. But the thing which matters to all Americans is money.

The cost of living was a key factor in Donald Trump’s victory. He promised to make the country more affordable again. So: how’s he done?

On Wednesday, exactly a year since Americans went to the polls, the president was in Miami. He had picked this city and a particular crowd for his anniversary speech.

I was in the audience at the America Business Forum as he told wealthy entrepreneurs and investors how great life is now.

“One year ago we were a dead country, now we’re considered the hottest country in the world.” he told them to cheers. “Record high, record high, record high…”

The vibe was glitzy and wealthy. These days, these are his voters; his crowd.

“After just one year since that glorious election, I’m thrilled to say that America is back, America is back bigger, better, stronger than ever.” he said.

“We’ve done really well. I think it’s the best nine months, they say, of any president. And I really believe that if we can have a few more nine months like this, you’d be very happy. You’d be very satisfied.”

There was little question here that people are happy.

“Trump’s been a good thing?” I asked one attendee, Liz Ciborowski.

“Yes. He has really pushed for a lot of issues that are really important for our economy,” she said.

“I’m an investor,” said another, Andrea.

“I’m a happy girl. I’m doing good,” she said with a laugh.

A year on from his historic victory, the president was, notably, not with the grassroots folk in the places that propelled him back to the White House.

He had chosen to be among business leaders in Miami. Safe crowd, safe state, safe space.

But there was just one hint in his speech which seemed to acknowledge the reality that should be a concern for him.

“We have the greatest economy right now,” he said, adding: “A lot of people don’t see that.”

That is the crux of it: many people beyond the fortunate here don’t feel the “greatest economy” he talks about. And many of those people are in the places that delivered Trump his victory.

That’s the untold story of the past year.

A thousand miles to the north of Miami is another America – another world.

Steelton, Pennsylvania sits in one of Donald Trump’s heartlands. But it is not feeling the beat of his greatest economy. Not at all.

At the local steel union, I was invited to attend a meeting of a group of steel workers. It was an intimate glimpse into a hard, life-changing moment for the men.

The steel plant is shutting down and they were listening to their union representative explaining what happens next.

The conversation was punctuated with all the words no one wants to hear: laid off, severance, redundancy.

“For over 100 years, my family has been here working. And I was planning on possibly one day having my son join me, but I don’t know if that’s a possibility now,” former employee David Myers tells me.

“And…” he pauses. “Sorry I’m getting a little emotional about it. We’ve been supplying America with railroad tracks for over a century and a half, and it feels weird for it to be coming to an end.”

Cleveland Cliffs Steelton plant is closing because of weakening demand, according to its owners. Their stock price has since surged. Good news for the Miami crowd, probably. It is the irony between the two Americas.

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Down at the shuttered plant, it’s empty, eerie and depressing. It is certainly not the image or the vision that Donald Trump imagined for his America.

Pennsylvania, remember, was key to propelling Trump back to the White House. In this swing state, they swung to his promises – factories reopened and life more affordable.

Up the road, conversations outside the town’s government-subsidised homes frame the challenges here so starkly.

“How much help does the community need?” I asked a man running the local food bank.

“As much as they can get. I mean, help is a four-letter word but it has a big meaning. So help!” community organiser Elder Melvin Watts said.

I asked if he thought things were worse than a year ago.

“Yes sir. I believe they needed it then and they need it that much more now. You know it’s not hard to figure that out. The cost of living is high.”

Nearby, I met a woman called Sandra.

“It’s been harder, and I’m a hard-working woman.” she told me. “I don’t get no food stamps, I don’t get none of that. You’ve got to take care of them bills, eat a little bit or don’t have the lights on. Then you have people like Mr Melvin, he’s been out here for years, serving the community.”

Inside Mr Melvin’s food bank, a moment then unfolded that cut to the heart of the need here.

A woman called Geraldine Santiago arrived, distressed, emotional and then overwhelmed by the boxes of food available to her.

“We’ll help you…” Mr Melvin said as she sobbed.

Geraldine is one of 40 million Americans now not receiving the full nutritional assistance programme, known as SNAP, and usually provided by the federal government.

SNAP benefits have stopped because the government remains shut down amid political deadlock.

I watched Geraldine’s rollercoaster emotions spilling out – from desperation to gratitude at this moment of respite. She left with a car boot full of food.

A year on from his victory, Donald Trump continues to frame himself as the “America First” president and now with an economy transformed. But parts of America feel far, far away.

Nancy Pelosi, the first woman in the Speaker’s office, has announced her retirement from American politics after a nearly 40-year career.

The 85-year-old, who has represented San Francisco since 1987, revealed her decision two days after Californian voters overwhelmingly approved “Proposition 50”, a state redistricting effort aimed at flipping five House seats to Democrats in the midterm elections next year.

“I will not be seeking re-election to Congress,” Pelosi said in a video address to voters.

“With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.

“My message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” she said. “We have made history. We have made progress. We have always led the way.”

“And now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear.”

Mrs Pelosi served as the 52nd Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011, and again from 2019 to 2023, and was the first woman elected to the role.

She was also the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, heading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023.

During her second tenure as Speaker, the House twice impeached Donald Trump – in December 2019, and January 2021 – though the Senate acquitted him both times.

And in February 2020, during President Trump’s State of the Union address, she famously tore up her official copy of it, arguing “it was such a dirty speech”.

An architect of the Affordable Care Act, Mrs Pelosi has also been credited with quietly persuading Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

Now her political contemporaries have paid tribute.

Former President Joe Biden said America “will always be grateful” to her.

He posted on X: “I often said Nancy Pelosi was the best Speaker of the House in American history – it’s why I awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“When I was President, we worked together to grow our economy, create millions of jobs, and make historic investments in our nation’s future.”

California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom, said she “inspired generations” and “set the standard for what public service should be”.

While party colleague, Senator Adam Schiff, who also represents California, called her “the greatest Speaker in American history” and highlighted her “tenacity, intellect, strategic acumen and fierce advocacy”.

And Representative Don Beyer of Virginia, another Democrat, said she was “a major figure in American history”, a “barrier breaker”, and “one of our most brilliant and accomplished leaders”.

First elected in 1987, she came into politics later in life, and has long resisted calls to step aside, turning questions about her future into spirited rebuttals.

But she’s faced new challenges in recent years and her decision to step down is not fully unexpected.

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Last year she fractured her hip when she fell during a European trip, and was rushed to a military hospital for surgery.

And in 2022, her husband Paul Pelosi was gravely injured by a home intruder who beat him over the head with a hammer and demanded to know “Where is Nancy?”

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Nonetheless, she’s maintained a rigorous political schedule of public events and party fundraisers.

Now eyes will turn to the question of her successor, both at home in San Francisco, and in the US Congress where she plays a behind-the-scenes leadership role.

She’s already faced a potential primary challenge from Saikat Chakrabarti, a left-wing newcomer who played a part in the rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – another rising star in the progressive firmament.

Don’t be led by what appears to be obvious.

The Mamdani victory is historic for him, a dreamy American journey for an immigrant rising to the top, and, along with the governor victories in New Jersey and Virginia, it undoubtedly represents a gear shift for the Democrats who have been lost in a Trumpian vortex since Joe Biden’s disastrous presidential debate 18 months ago.

All of this is true. And in that sense, it was of course a very good night for the Democratic Party. Winning is clearly better than losing.

But what if Mamdani is actually a poison chalice for the Democrats? They are drinking this socialist’s champagne now because they finally have some momentum.

But he isn’t a champagne socialist. He is a purist socialist; proudly one.

Explainer: Who is Zohran Mamdani?

With his skilful communication skills and his apparent authenticity, he has energised New York City. And no wonder. The alternative was the flawed, compromised Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani offered hope for a deeply liberal city that’s lost in Trump World.

Trump endorsed Cuomo not because he agrees with Mamdani’s own tagline: “I am Trump’s worst nightmare…”

Trump endorsed Cuomo because he knew that it would probably increase Mamdani’s share of the vote – and it did.

Why would Trump do this? Maybe because he thinks Mamdani is the perfect foil for him.

What Trump can get out of apparent defeat

Mamdani’s victory gives Trump and his allies two things.

First, they can sit back and watch the Democrats squabble about whether Mamdani’s leftward Democratic socialism is the future of their party. And be in no doubt, they will.

Second, they can warn centrists and right-leaning folk: ‘Look, the Democrats really are socialists…’. The president continues to frame him as a “communist”.

The Democrats may choose the Mamdani lane and stick with it, especially if he is successful in New York. But the Big Apple is not remotely representative of America.

Beyond New York City, Mamdani is, history would suggest, off the spectrum when it comes to electable Democratic Party candidates – America remains a conservative society; political spectrums here naturally tack right.

Team Trump knows all this, so they’ll relish the prospect of the Democratic Party machine (which has form in picking the wrong candidate) being lured by Mamdani-mania.

Cost of living a key issue

Beyond that, there is a vital takeaway for Trump from this mini and not wholly representative referendum on his presidency so far.

Many ordinary Americans are still hurting economically, big time.

The Democrats won in New York, New Jersey and Virginia because their candidates all focused on kitchen table issues.

The president clearly recognises this, to an extent. “Day by day, we’re going to make America affordable again,” he said after the Mamdani victory.

But he was speaking not to the people who are feeling the squeeze. Instead, he chose to mark a year since he was elected with a speech to a wealthy business crowd in Miami. Safe crowd, safe state, safe space.

JD Vance’s telling reaction

Maybe the most telling thing to come out of the past 24 hours in American politics was from the vice president.

In a social media post, JD Vance first warned followers not to overreact to the results.

He then went on to offer his own notable interpretation of the Democratic Party victories.

“We need to focus on the home front.” he wrote. “The president has done a lot that has already paid off in lower interest rates and lower inflation, but we inherited a disaster from Joe Biden and Rome wasn’t built in a day.

“We’re going to keep on working to make a decent life affordable in this country, and that’s the metric by which we’ll ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond.”

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My interpretation of his interpretation?

Two points: first, that Vance thinks that Trump needs to get back to his base. Ten months of presidential jet-setting and global-conflict-solving may have been necessary, but it won’t spell victory in the midterms next year or beyond.

The second point – Vance is so clearly in it for the long game. The “beyond” he talks about has him at its centre.

I’m not sure Vance would have chosen a Miami arena full of business leaders to mark a year since the election. The business and investment community is happy and wealthy.

I think Vance would have been with the other America, where people are feeling the squeeze still.

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Trump continues to talk about the economy being “Biden’s economy”. Vance seems to be hinting at the inevitable – that at some point they need to own it and to fix it. They need to make people feel better off.

Vance wants to run and to win in 2028, and that fight begins now.