The Lion 2025 year in review: A year of triumph, tragedy, revival
Welcoming the New Year gives occasion to remember the significance of the previous – and what a year of growth it was for The Lion – with no shortage of major news…
Welcoming the New Year gives occasion to remember the significance of the previous – and what a year of growth it was for The Lion – with no shortage of major news stories.
DC and The White House
In February The Lion launched its Washington, D.C., bureau with reporter Maggie Little, who quickly secured White House press credentials and found herself in the Oval Office, asking President Donald Trump questions on domestic and foreign policy.
Since then, The Lion has been part of a regular rotation in the White House press pool, including two trips on Air Force One, reflecting our commitment to covering the most important news in the nation’s capital affecting American families.
It also came as Trump began his second term in office and made good on his campaign promises to protect women’s sports and spaces, end discriminatory Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies, secure the border and implement “America First” domestic policies.
Charlie Kirk
This year unfortunately saw a continued rise in political violence, notably from the radical left.
Just more than a year after the attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, conservative activist and leader Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a public campus event in Orem, Utah. Video of Kirk’s murder went viral on social media.
The Lion, and Executive Editor Michael Ryan in particular, had been warning about unchecked leftist political rhetoric and violence for months before:
- Majority of Democrats open to the idea of a Trump assassination being a good thing. Perhaps here’s why
- Media apathy makes Schmitt’s hearing on government censorship all the more vital
- New studies show Democrats ominously open to political assassination, liberals less empathetic than conservatives
Signs of revival
A silver lining from Kirk’s tragic death began to emerge the weekend after, however, as churches around the country reported a surge in attendance.
A week later, the Christian Gospel of forgiveness through Jesus took center stage at Kirk’s memorial service, watched by hundreds of millions around the world.
“My husband Charlie, he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life. …
“‘Father, forgive them, for they [know not] what they do,’” Kirk’s widow Erika said, quoting Jesus Christ on the cross. “That man, that young man. I forgive him. I forgive him because it’s what Christ did, and it’s what Charlie would do.”
Bible sales have also surged since Kirk’s death, and college campuses continue to see signs of revival, which have been ongoing for a couple of years.
Deep state scandals and censorship
Despite the public’s discontent over slow release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, a larger, far-reaching 2022 scandal came to light, as chilling as its name, Arctic Frost.
“Arctic Frost may not be the biggest scandal in American history,” wrote The Lion’s Ryan, “not when the government was used to frame a presidential candidate as a Kremlin ally, or when a White House cabal blatantly hid a president’s dementia from the public with the media’s help.
“But the recent revelation of the Biden administration’s astonishing 2022 spying on some 430 conservatives under Arctic Frost makes it hands-down the most frightening scandal in U.S. history – for the shocking scope and brazenness of the dubious domestic spying operation.”
You read that right: There is overwhelming evidence the U.S. government has spied on and censored its own citizens, especially conservative ones.
Educational freedom
Meanwhile, school choice continued to expand in many states in 2025, even as Texas gears up for its new $1 billion program and a modest federal school choice program is set for 2027.
“Nationally, 18 states have broad or universal school choice, while 35 states and Washington, D.C., have some sort of school choice program,” writes The Lion’s Adam Wittenberg. “More than 1.3 million students used such programs this year, with the number expected to rise in 2026. A federal school choice tax credit is slated for 2027, though states must opt in for their students to receive scholarships.”
Staff favorites
Finally, here are some of the top stories from 2025 according to The Lion’s own full-time staff, listed under each author’s name.
Michael Ryan:
- Arctic Frost v. Watergate: One is the scariest scandal in US history, the other has a ‘gate’ on the end of it
- Op-ed: Democrats’ rabid attacks on immigration enforcement a sign of America at war
- Novel ‘Theo of Golden’ a remarkable tale of God-inspired kindness amid pervasive suffering
Maggie Little:
- DEI alive and well at Smithsonian; why Trump is right to target it
- Patriotism, protests and politics: Inside the Army’s 250th birthday parade
- American flags, hard hats, and Steelers: Inside President Trump’s return to Pittsburgh
Adam Wittenberg:
- America back as ‘light of the world’ after millions hear Gospel at Kirk memorial
- ‘God is faithful’: How one homeschool mom started a tuition-free Christian school for children of incarcerated parents
- Education reform movement nurtured at Harvard’s Kennedy School
Michael Estruth:
