President Trump arrives to talk on his first 100 days at Macomb County Group Faculty Sports activities Expo Middle on April 29 in Warren, Mich.

Alex Brandon/AP

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Alex Brandon/AP

A lot has occurred within the first 100 days of President Trump’s second time period.

On Day 1, he signed a slew of government orders geared toward, amongst different issues, creating DOGE, his government-slashing casual Division of Authorities Effectivity, erasing variety, fairness and inclusion efforts, eliminating birthright citizenship for folks born within the U.S. to folks with out everlasting authorized standing, declaring an emergency on the southern border and recognizing solely “two sexes – female and male.”

He is moved aggressively to implement tariffs on imported items, restructure the federal authorities and tighten his grip on energy, perform deportations, reposition america on the world stage, and punish perceived political enemies.

It hasn’t all gone easily. There was the Signalgate scandal that has engulfed a number of high members of his administration, some courts have pushed again on his deportation makes an attempt, there have been reversals in among the firings of federal employees and cuts to packages and companies, and the billionaire main his authorities restructuring effort, Elon Musk, has grown more and more unpopular.

The general public response towards Trump’s commerce wars, specifically, hasn’t been optimistic, resulting in a plunge in his ballot numbers, in accordance with a NPR/PBS Information/Marist ballot launched this week. A slim majority now even disapproves of his dealing with of immigration, which had been a relative power.

This is a have a look at among the main strikes Trump has made previously 100 days:

Skip to a bit: DOGE, governmental overhaul and a tightening grip on energy | Immigration and deportations | Tariffs | International Coverage | Retribution | Concentrating on DEI and transgender rights | Signalgate

DOGE, governmental overhaul and a tightening grip on energy

Trump has moved aggressively to tighten his grip on energy and reduce accountability. He fired inspectors normal throughout numerous companies, purged leaders perceived to not be “pro-Trump,” has moved in friendlier information media and decreased entry for conventional journalists and threatened them with lawsuits and subpoenas.

The Trump administration has additionally fired 1000’s of federal employees throughout a number of companies, supplied a type of a buyout to 1000’s of others, minimize or proposed reducing funding for congressionally licensed packages, for things like science analysis, Head Begin and low-income heating, amongst many others. It has dismantled or begun dismantling complete companies, such because the USAID, the Client Monetary Safety Bureau and the Division of Training.

The cuts characterize a tiny fraction of the finances, however that might not be the purpose. Russ Vought, Trump’s finances director and co-author of the Heritage Basis’s Undertaking 2025, which the second-term Trump agenda has hewed carefully to, stated earlier than Trump gained that he needed federal employees to really feel “trauma.” That has actually been the case for a lot of, who have not identified what to anticipate from in the future to the subsequent — whether or not it will likely be a Discount in Pressure electronic mail of their inbox or a cryptic request to put in writing about 5 issues they did at work previously week.

The cuts have not been made with a scalpel, however an axe — or, slightly a chainsaw. The person wielding that chainsaw — actually on stage at a conservative political convention in late February — has been Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, CEO of Tesla and founding father of SpaceX.

Musk ingratiated himself with Trump by donating thousands and thousands for his presidential marketing campaign. And Musk has been a fixture in these first few months of Trump’s second time period, main efforts to restructure the federal authorities by way of his casual Division of Authorities Effectivity, or DOGE.

Musk spoke within the Oval Workplace by Trump’s aspect, wore a “Tech Help” T-shirt to a Cupboard assembly and appeared in a joint interview on Fox Information — with the president of america.

However Musk’s affect quickly appeared to reduce. Republicans confronted indignant constituents at city halls, upset with Musk and his “DOGE bros,” who’ve been inserted at many federal companies and accessed delicate private information of thousands and thousands of People, together with on the Social Safety Administration.

Musk turned a central determine in a Wisconsin judicial race, spending thousands and thousands on it, however the conservative candidate misplaced handily. Questions began to mount about whether or not Musk’s days have been numbered.

With Tesla going through a 71% revenue drop, Musk has stated he’ll step again from DOGE quickly, which means it is extra possible than not that he’ll take a backseat by the tip of subsequent month when his advisory function expires.

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Immigration and deportations

Trump stated throughout the marketing campaign that he would give attention to getting “criminals” overseas. However numerous different immigrants with out authorized everlasting standing have been caught up in raids, detentions and deportations — from school college students on visas, who spoke out towards the warfare in Gaza to folks of youngsters who’re U.S. residents, to folks like Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

And so they’ve been despatched to a U.S. navy jail at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a most safety jail in El Salvador, and detention facilities in Panama and Costa Rica with none due course of. Trump has even mused publicly about sending “homegrown” criminals, which means U.S. residents, to El Salvador, as effectively.

Abrego Garcia’s case has gained tons of consideration in current weeks. He was born in El Salvador, has lived in Maryland for greater than a decade after crossing the border illegally when he was 16 due to gangs threatening him and attempting to recruit him. He had a standing order from 2019 to not be deported to El Salvador due to that.

The U.S. authorities admitted he was deported by mistake as a result of an “administrative error.” However the Trump administration has since doubled down, contending that he’s a gang member. A decide dealing with Abrego Garcia’s case says the proof towards him is flimsy. He has no legal document within the U.S. or El Savador, is a father and is married to a U.S. citizen.

However the Trump administration is refusing to attempt to deliver him again regardless of a Supreme Court docket order requiring the federal government to “facilitate” his return. The Trump administration argues that the Supreme Court docket additionally stated the courts shouldn’t intervene with the president’s overseas coverage and that El Salvador doesn’t need Abrego Garcia returned.

It isn’t the primary time that the Trump administration in these three months has come ever-so-close to a full-blown Constitutional disaster. It has walked traces with skinny justifications and reached deep with seldom-used legal guidelines and defying lower-court rulings with judges launching contempt investigations.

Trump is testing the bounds of his energy and banking on a pleasant, conservative-majority Supreme Court docket to have his again. The subsequent a number of months will present simply how far the courts permit him to go relating to deportations.

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Tariffs

All presidents begin out with a level of political capital — some greater than others. And so they normally spend it early on of their presidency on one large coverage precedence — and with a restricted period of time to get it completed.

Trump determined that might be making an attempt to restructure the world financial system.

He has lengthy believed that tariffs are an essential means, if not the means, to reclaim a imprecise notion of what he considers American greatness.

“Lots of people are bored with watching the opposite international locations ripping off america,” Trump stated in 1987 in an interview with then CNN host Larry King. He added, “They chortle at us. Behind our backs, they chortle at us due to our personal stupidity.”

That was a response to Japan and later China’s enhance in manufacturing and imports into america. Trump has been singing the identical tune for nearly 40 years on tariffs. However his effort to really implement these has led to chaos and volatility – with buying and selling companions, allies and international markets.

Wall Avenue, in reality, has had a traditionally unhealthy efficiency thus far. Trump’s commerce wars have taken a toll on his political standing — and getting by way of one thing like tax cuts now can be extra of a slog than it will have been if he selected to make use of his political capital to safe these first.

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International Coverage

Internationally, Trump has repositioned the U.S. away from the long-held, post-World Warfare II bipartisan stance championing democracy and human rights overseas. As a substitute he is cozied as much as strongmen, like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Russia’s Vladimir Putin — or at the least within the case of Putin, to not take sides even when all the U.S.’s allies are standing with Ukraine.

“You do not have the playing cards,” an irritated Trump, who’s attempting to strike a peace deal to finish the preventing in Ukraine, informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of their disastrous Oval Workplace assembly in February.

That is very totally different than any previous president would have acted towards a pro-Western, democratic ally that was invaded by a bigger, autocratic regime. Trump has parroted Russian speaking factors in blaming Ukraine for “beginning” the warfare and implied that Zelenskyy is not the rightful chief of the nation. He has publicly tried to persuade territorial and natural-resource concessions from Ukraine, whereas asking little of Russia besides to cease preventing.

Trump has pushed to make numerous different offers – unsuccessfully up to now – between Palestinians and Israelis over the warfare in Gaza and with Iran on nuclear weapons.

And that is to say nothing of Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, his continued calls to amass Greenland, take the Panama Canal Zone again, make Canada the 51st state, take over Gaza to make it into the “Riviera of the Center East,” and browbeat allies over commerce.

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Retribution

In the course of the presidential marketing campaign, Trump promised to hunt retribution towards these he felt wronged him.

“WHEN I WIN, these people who CHEATED can be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Legislation, which is able to embody long run jail sentences in order that this Depravity of Justice doesn’t occur once more,” he wrote on his social media platform in October of final 12 months. “We can not let our Nation additional devolve right into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T! Please beware that this authorized publicity extends to Attorneys, Political Operatives, Donors, Unlawful Voters, & Corrupt Election Officers. These concerned in unscrupulous habits can be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at ranges, sadly, by no means seen earlier than in our Nation.”

He made comparable threats and guarantees greater than 100 instances.

As president, he’s following by way of. He pardoned all of these convicted for his or her actions throughout the siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, even violent white nationalists, who plotted and deliberate for the day.

He has fired and is investigating those that investigated and indicted him. He stripped safety clearances from former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he ran towards in 2024 for president. He additionally took them away from former Republican members of Congress Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who’ve spoken out towards him. And he additionally took them away from retired Gen. Mark Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers who known as Trump a “fascist,” in addition to former nationwide safety council staffer Alexander Vindman who testified towards Trump in his first impeachment and is now a member of Congress.

He is gone after regulation companies and the Related Press (for not going alongside along with his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America) and stripped the safety clearance of his former head of cybersecurity, Chris Krebs, who stated the 2020 election was correctly performed, and of Krebs’ employer. He additionally known as for an investigation into his time as head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company.

He additionally took away Secret Service safety for Biden’s youngsters – though Biden left it in place for Trump’s.

The concern of retaliation has silenced dissent amongst a lot of these in his personal social gathering as effectively.

“We’re in a time and place, the place, I do not know, I actually haven’t, I’ve not been right here earlier than,” stated Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski earlier this month. “And I am going to let you know, I am oftentimes very anxious myself about utilizing my voice, as a result of retaliation is actual – and that is not proper, however that is what you have requested me to do, and so I will use my voice to one of the best of my potential.”

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Concentrating on DEI  and transgender rights

Apart from immigration, little has animated Trump and the MAGA motion’s tradition warfare greater than the concentrating on of variety, fairness and inclusion initiatives, in addition to the rights of people who find themselves transgender.

There have been a number of government orders looking for to eradicate DEI or restrict or eradicate the rights of transgender and nonbinary folks in authorities jobs and the navy but in addition in personal life, companies and faculties, together with universities, throughout the nation.

Trump has signed government orders, and his administration has sued states and universities, taken down photographs of famend black historic figures from authorities buildings and web sites, scrubbed web sites of content material it opposes and banned sure books from company libraries, archives and navy service academies. Trump took over the Kennedy Middle, as a result of he didn’t just like the forms of artists who carried out there and stated that the venue was in “disrepair.”

Even the Smithsonian, residence to the free museums in Washington, D.C. that thousands and thousands go to yearly, are being reworked by way of government actions. The Trump administration argues that historic displays should not “inappropriately disparage People” and other people should not be made to really feel unhealthy in regards to the nation’s historical past.

Whereas Trump argues {that a} revisionist motion has forged the nation’s historical past in a “divisive, race-centered ideology,” the MAGA motion desires a white-washed model of historical past introduced.

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Signalgate

Each president has scandals which might be out of their management. And this presidency is not any totally different.

For all the issues Trump himself has completed, this flashpoint started with high members of his administration’s dealing with of delicate navy operation particulars — and including a journalist to a bunch chat on the messaging app Sign. (NPR’s chief government, Katherine Maher, is chairman of the nonprofit Sign basis that helps the messaging app.)

However the scandal was compounded by the administration’s response, particularly by his Protection secretary, Pete Hegseth, who shared essentially the most delicate particulars. Hegseth lashed out on the media and denied that the data shared was “labeled.” It was later revealed that Hegseth was copy-pasting the small print from a safe authorities channel put in by the top of U.S. Central Command.

And he was sharing the navy assault plans, not simply with key Trump administration officers, but in addition in a second group chat on his personal telephone – along with his spouse, brother and private lawyer.

Trump has stood by Hegseth, even denying that he did something fallacious on the outset. Within the aftermath, Hegseth has grow to be more and more remoted on the Pentagon. A number of aides, who have been beforehand near him, left or have been fired. One even penned an op-ed – along with his title on it – describing a month of chaos on the Protection Division.

The entire scandal has raised questions on how Trump’s workforce handles this type of delicate data, record-keeping and for what precisely congressional Republicans would maintain the administration accountable. Reply: not a lot, if something.

One of many solely GOP members to talk out was Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who stated, if he have been president, he wouldn’t tolerate Hegseth’s habits and stated it exhibits the Protection Secretary to be “an newbie particular person.”

Bacon is likely one of the few congressional Republicans who represents a district Kamala Harris gained final 12 months.

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Heidi Glenn contributed to this story. It was designed and developed by Alyson Damage.