President Donald Trump is marking 100 days in the White House, a tumultuous and divisive start to his second term during which he has been shattering tradition, challenging norms and the courts, upending the world economy and thrilling some Americans while terrifying and infuriating others.
Trump is trying to expand the power of the presidency as he transforms the American political system and remakes the global economy. But if the Republican-controlled Congress has been aquiescent, he is facing a blizzard of lawsuits that are making their way through the courts. Will his policies withstand rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court — and will his administration abide by them?
Trump's opponents accuse him of usurping some of Congress' constitutionally derived powers, but the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he disagrees.
"I don't think we've ceded any authority," he told . "I think that he's doing what is within his scope to do."
A new powered by SurveyMonkey found that of Trump’s job performance 100 days into his term. That’s compared to 45% who approve.
Among Republicans, 88% approve and 12% disapprove, but independents and Democrats give him low marks — 68% of independents and 93% of Democrats disapprove of the job he is doing.
This week, the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups denounced Trump for in their view, such abuses as violating First Amendment rights and suppressing free speech, retracting climate change protections for ordinary Americans and making it more dangerous to be pregnant in America.
"The Trump administration is literally banning words," said Hadar Harris, the managing director in Washington at PEN America, a not for profit organization dedicated to upholding free expression.
For these first 100 days, Trump has been governing through executive order rather than legislation.
According to the Trump had signed 137 executive orders as of April 23 before he tacked on another three yesterday — Monday, April 28.
But the executive orders can be overturned by his successor, just as President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s actions from his first term, notes Kevin Kosar, a who studies Congress and American politics.
“For any policy to have real, lasting power, you’re going to have to get a law through,” Kosar said.
Here is a look at Trump's first 100 days by the numbers.
See a full breakdown of executive actions by topic.
Trump has prioritized policy regarding the federal government, the economy and immigration during his first 100 days in office.
Scroll down or select a topic below to see more about the effects of Trump's policies.
Immigration
Immigration has been a key component of Trump's platform since his 2016 campaign. It was also a top issue among his supporters in last year’s election, .
The Trump administration has promised to deport immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally, especially those who have since been convicted of crimes.
There has been an increase in ICE detainments since Trump took office, but data shows that most of this increase is made up of immigrants who have not been convicted of crimes.
These numbers are at odds with ICE’s social media campaign, which claims a strict focus on dangerous criminals.
Even the courts have opposed some of the Trump administration's actions amid its immigration crackdown. In one notable case, that of , whom the government has said it mistakenly sent to El Salvador from Maryland, the Supreme Court has ordered the administration to “facilitate” his release from a prison there. The administration has done little so far and Trump’s detractors are accusing him as disregarding the rule of law.
In keeping with Trump's strict immigration policies, illegal border crossings have plummeted since Trump took office. These numbers were already decreasing at the end of Biden's presidency. But from January to February, illegal border crossings dropped a staggering 80%.
Recent months have seen heightened ICE activity and lower CBP activity. The trend in CBP activity may be explained by fewer attempts to cross the border illegally, but more ICE activity means immigration efforts are focused within the U.S.
Internally-focused immigration enforcement against individuals without criminal charges may explain recent stories like that of Abrego Garcia or of ICE encounters with . On Friday and over the weekend, children who were American citizens were sent to Honduras with their mothers — including a 4-year-old boy with cancer. A federal judge has ordered a hearing, saying it appeared the government had removed them with “no meaningful due process.”
Economy
On the campaign trail, Trump made repeated promises to lower sky-high grocery prices and generally improve cost of living.
In order to lower prices, Trump has imposed tariffs on U.S. trading partners. On April 2, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on imports from 180 countries. This action resulted in the in the stock market since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stock market plummets under Trump administration
Just one week after his tariff announcement, Trump placed a on almost all reciprocal tariffs, which resulted in the since WWII. But he retained a 145% tariff on Chinese imports and a blanket 10% on other countries, with some exceptions.
Trump has insisted that other countries are eager to negotiate deals as a result but has not provided details — and says the policy will rebuild the U.S. industrial base. But critics scoff and say the tariffs will drive up the costs for American consumers. Meanwhile Trump keeps revising the levies — saying for example that he will ease them on automakers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday — leaving widespread confusion.
Kosar called the tariffs a huge mistake.
“The minute that voters in red states start going to the dollar store and finding fewer and fewer things that are a dollar, that’s going to be a real problem for a very thin Trump coalition,” Kosar said.
As the state of tariffs remains unclear, grocery prices fare no better. Despite his promises on the campaign trail, the costs of common goods are trending the same way as they were under Biden.
Most grocery prices have not improved since Trump took office
U.S. city average price, not seasonally adjusted for a dozen large Grade A eggs, 1 lb. white bread, one gallon fortified whole milk, 1 lb. boneless chicken breast and 1 lb. 100% ground beef.
Source: BLS
Government downsizing
One of Trump’s first actions in office was to rename the U.S. Digital Service to the U.S. DOGE Service, . Since then, DOGE’s leader has , saying he is going after waste and abuse.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has been dismantled. The National Institutes of Health has cancelled billions in federal research grants, halting work on childhood cancer and dementia. Scientists researching how climate change is affecting the United States were fired.
The upheaval has caused anger — and mistakes. The accounting from Musk’s team has overstated how much it has saved — and it is far below the original promise of $2 trillion — fired employees have filed lawsuits, and in some cases were rapidly rehired because the jobs they performed were critical.
Another byproduct of Trump's push for government efficiency has been in the federal government.
Although unemployment claims were slightly on the rise at the end of 2024, those numbers nearly tripled in late February after Trump took office.
Trump has also implemented a hiring freeze of civilian federal employees, so new employees are not replacing those that have left. The result is a shrinking federal workforce.
Some of these layoffs included essential government workers, who were . , federal employees have told stories of work difficulties and low morale since DOGE's inception.
Additional contributions
Introduction: Noreen O'Donnell / 온라인카지노사이트
