It’s been the fastest and most furious one hundred days of a new administration since FDR took the helm and ushered in the New Deal.
Trump hit the ground running, starting off his second term with the people he wanted and an agenda that was crafted over a four-year stint sitting on the sidelines.
Love it or hate it, it has been a remarkably eventful 100 days. And as with everything Trump, there is both good and bad in the outcome.
First, let’s look at:
THE GOOD
Closing the Border
Trump put a lie to the Biden administration’s claim that it needed congressional authorization to stop the flow of illegal aliens that it welcomed over its four-year tenure.
Simply sending the message that there was a new sheriff in town who was going to enforce the law did the trick. Trump reinstated his Remain in Mexico policy that was very successful during his first administration.
And he’s visibly clamping down on criminal illegal aliens and making things more difficult for illegal aliens generally to remain here, thereby creating a very effective deterrent to future illegal border crossings. It is his most monumental achievement and will save American taxpayers trillions of dollars over the next decade.
Lowering Gas Prices
Inflation is somewhat down since Trump took the helm, but it’s hard to really say that there was any one policy directive that accomplished the goal. Laws, regulations, and executive orders usually take a while to have an impact.
But one thing that was very successful was Trump sending a message that the war on oil and gas is over and that investment for plentiful energy will no longer be punished. It had an immediate effect by changing the markets and bringing the price of gasoline down. That’s not only good for us at the pumps, but gas prices filter down throughout the entire economy, so it probably has had a slight impact on inflation as well.
Waging a War on Woke
Biden succeeded Obama in elevating identity politics, and the racial divisions that come with it, to a new high.
Equal opportunity was no longer the goal. It became equal outcomes. The Democratic Party and the nation became consumed by race, gender, and identity. Biden veered too far from the average American when he insisted that biological men be able to play in women’s sports, invade women’s spaces in the locker room, and be housed in women’s prisons.
DEI seminars forced upon employees in government and other institutions hit many Americans the wrong way, given how it divided people based upon their unchangeable characteristics rather than the strength of their character. Trump wiped out all of these divisive programs and placed merit as our goal. There’s a long way to go, but Trump has reversed a dangerous trend.
Fighting the Enemy Within
Marxists and religious zealots who are enemies of Western civilization have infiltrated our campuses, our government and our institutions in seeking to destroy the very foundations of our nation. Enemy countries such as China, and duplicitous ones such as Qatar, are funding radical Middle East studies on our campuses, bringing in thousands of students from these hostile nations and fomenting a level of anti-Americanism and antisemitism, the likes of which we’ve rarely seen.
Trump said “Enough!” and is fighting back against universities that do nothing to protect Jewish students. Moreover, Trump is telling foreigners that they’re welcome here, so long as they don’t try to subvert our nation or engage in criminal activity.
Putting the Houthis in Their Place
The Biden administration that exhibited weakness and risk aversion allowed a ragtag group of pirates in Yemen to take over major trade routes in the Mediterranean. They shot at us with abandon with no response coming from Biden.
Trump said enough is enough and bombed them to oblivion. We now have regained control of our navigation routes, which is essential to world trade.
Fighting Government Waste, High Taxes and Regulations
Not everyone likes the way DOGE has been carrying out its mission, but its goals are nevertheless essential. Everybody talks about getting rid of waste and abuse, but even the Republicans of the past have done nothing about it.
Trump has shown a willingness to rock the apple cart and trim down some of the massive increases in the federal budget, including huge spending allocations to non-governmental organizations that were implemented by Biden since the pandemic. They might not save the $2 trillion they originally aimed for, or even get close to it, but every $100 billion cut is $100 billion saved. It’s the right mindset. Stay with it.
Rebuilding the Working Class and Dealing with Unfair Tariffs
Trump is exactly right to be challenging other nations for the unfair trade practices they’ve put in effect. American leaders on both sides of the aisle have allowed Europe to deny access to our cars, Canada to deny our dairy products and China to deny a large swath of our products.
Meanwhile, we let almost all of their materials in with very low tariffs. NAFTA and the granting of China World Trade Organization status has decimated America’s manufacturing base and its working class. So Trump is exactly right and very brave to take on this challenge.
We remain dependent on China for pharmaceuticals and spare parts, which is a matter of national security. Imposing reciprocity on those nations that overtariff us is totally appropriate. In the long run, it will help us significantly. But, as noted below, the mixed signals from the Trump administration on tariffs has created problems.
THE BAD
Needlessly Picking Fights
It’s great that we have a strong hand back in the White House when it comes to dealing with our enemies, but why foolishly pick fights with our friends such as Canada, Denmark, and Greenland?
Many believe it was all for ego so that Trump can show that he’s expanding the girth of American power. It’s unseemly. All it did was tick off our friends to the north that an almost certain conservative victory in the Canadian elections this past week was lost to the liberals in a backlash to Trump‘s insults of the Canadian population.
And while it’s perfectly legitimate to talk about expanding our relationship with Greenland, which has significant strategic geographic positioning, why the need to make it sound like we’re going to physically take them over? Why not just have a backroom discussion with them as friends and give them a monetary incentive they couldn’t refuse? Once you go in with both guns blazing and a caustic attitude, you put the other side on the defensive and they’ll never compromise with you.
Contradictory Tariff Policies
It’s praiseworthy that Trump has sought to isolate and decouple from China. It’s great that he’s forcing Europe and India to lower its tariffs on our goods. But there was an overreach by putting in place huge across-the-board tariffs on everything coming from overseas. It’s unnecessarily causing panic.
We could easily be isolating China for national security reasons and the American public would support it. From there, we can take on each nation on an individual basis over time. This would deal with the problem without causing such a mass sudden hysteria.
TO BE DETERMINED
Ukraine
Trump’s deterrence-oriented policy kept Putin in place while Obama and Biden‘s perceived weakness incentivized Putin to take Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Trump is doing the right thing trying to forge a peace agreement. He put the squeeze on Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, but thus far hasn’t imposed sanctions on Putin.
It’s OK to give a little leeway to bring people to the table. However, the next few weeks will determine whether Trump can forge a deal by imposing a tougher response to Putin’s cavalier disregard to cease-fire requests.
If he just walks away from the table, it will strengthen Putin‘s hand. We hope that Trump will respond vigorously against Putin’s intransigence.
Trump has shown resolve in this regard before by originally giving Ukraine the offensive weapons they needed, as opposed to the blankets that Obama had given them. He also has been tough on Russia by opposing the Russian gas pipeline that Biden approved, and by giving arms to Poland where Obama refused.
And of course, Trump bombed Russian enclaves in Syria. So, he is willing to take on Putin in certain circumstances. But now is the time for him to get tough against Putin in the Ukraine negotiations. The jury is out as to how this will turn out.
Tariffs
Trump‘s gambit with tariffs will either lead to a bloodbath for Republicans in the midterms if they don’t work out properly, or it can cement Trump as a transformational president who restored American manufacturing and isolated China’s criminality. Many pundits have already buried Trump over his tariff policies, but it’s way premature for that.
Remember, Ronald Reagan was fiercely unpopular in his first year before his economic policies had a chance to kick in. And Biden was quite popular in his first few months. So, it’s still early.
Trump‘s fortunes, and that of the Republican Party will rest on how he navigates his tariff gambit. It’s big risk, big reward … or big failure.