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Here Is A Breakdown Of What Donald Trump Has Done During The First 100 Days Of His Second Term
President Donald Trump’s influence is seen everywhere as he marks his 100th day in office on Tuesday. The long-term effects, however, are frequently uncertain.
To demonstrate to Americans that his administration is steadfastly fulfilling its promises, US President Donald Trump has been busy in the weeks since he took office again. Some of the executive orders issued by the Republican president are declarations of purpose or the first steps toward completing unfinished business.
There are times when Mr. Trump’s objectives clash. The question of whether Mr. Trump has legally increased his scorecard remains quite uncertain. Since he has been sued for some of his activities, a lot of what he has done may be reversed as the cases develop.
Here is an update on the status of his promises:
- He Promised To Slash Energy Bills
In the campaign, Mr Trump gave voters a pledge they would be able to judge for themselves, simply by looking at their utility bills. He promised to reduce their energy costs by half to three-quarters in 12 to 18 months.
At times, he hedged his bets, saying: “If it doesn’t work out, you’ll say, ‘Oh, well, I voted for him, and he still got it down a lot.’”
He was bold on other occasions though.
“Under my plan, we will cut energy and electricity prices in half,” he told a rally in North Carolina in September.
2. He Cracked Down On Immigration
Mr Trump has made progress on a signature promise to control the border.
The number of people trying to cross illegally into the US from Mexico dropped steeply in former president Joe Biden’s last year, from a high of 249,740 in December 2023 to 47,324 in December 2024. Under Mr Trump, the numbers sank to only 8,346 in February and 7,181 in March.
It is unclear whether Mr Trump is matching Mr Biden’s aggressive deportation record last year – the numbers are not yet in.
Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is arresting large numbers of people across the country. Many who assert their innocence have been deported without due process. The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is one of those hanging in the balance. He was deported to a Salvadoran prison despite having no criminal record and no hearing into whether he was a gang member as alleged by the administration.
3. He Brought On The Tariffs
Mr Trump made no secret of his fondness for tariffs or his conviction that other countries were ripping off the United States in international trade. “I will impose across-the-board tariffs on most foreign-made goods,” he said during the campaign.
He has followed through but with frequently changing caveats.
Mr Trump began by escalating tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, ostensibly as punishment for allowing fentanyl into the US. Then he announced even more widespread taxes on imports on April 2nd, part of what he described as “Liberation Day”. Mr Trump retreated from parts of that plan, choosing to pursue negotiations instead, but he left in place tariffs on China as high as 145 percent.
The stock market has see-sawed from the hefty import taxes and the erraticism in their application. Mr Trump has shown more tolerance for market chaos than in his first term.
Related Post: “My Policies Will Never Change”, Trump Tells Investors Amid Worldwide Tariffs
4. He Failed To End A War As Promised
At rally after rally last summer, Mr Trump promised peace between Russia and Ukraine merely by winning the election.
Zelensky Rejects Trump-Backed Peace Settlement
“Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” he told a National Guard Association conference in Detroit in August. By then, he had been making the same vow at least since May. It did not happen.
At times, he framed the promise differently, saying he would end the war in one day. That day has not come.
5. He Promised To Be A Price-Dropper
Inflation has been falling since a peak of 9.1 percent in 2022. It was at 3 percent in January, the month Mr Trump was inaugurated, and 2.4 percent in March.
“We already solved inflation,” Mr Trump boasted.
However, the Federal Reserve warned that the president’s tariff plans will most likely lead to higher prices by taxing imports.
In addition, it is unlikely Mr. Trump will manage to “pay off all our debt”. His plans for tax cuts would reduce revenue to cover the country’s bills. He also made a similar pledge in 2016 and then the national debt ballooned during his first presidency.
6. He Promised To Pardon The January 6th Rioters, And He Did
After a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters descended on the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021, he denounced the “heinous attack” and declared he was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem”.
His tune soon changed. In the campaign, Mr Trump celebrated the rioters as “patriots” and “hostages” of the justice system and promised: “I will sign their pardons on Day 1.”
President Donald Trump did exactly that.
Roughly 1,500 people, including those who attacked police officers, received pardons.
7. He Promised Environmental Protections
As part of his promised effort to favour the production of oil, natural gas, and coal, Mr. Trump signed executive orders toward that goal. But there is less than meets the eye here.
One order revoked what Mr. Trump called a Biden-era “electric vehicle mandate”, but there is not one to revoke. He merely turned away from a non-binding goal by Mr Biden to have EVs make up half of new cars sold by 2030.
The order also seeks to end a federal exemption that allows California to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. But Mr Trump is leaving it to Congress to pass a law stripping the waiver, and that has not been done.
8. He Promised Ambitious Tax Cuts
President Donald Trump has tested the limits of what he can do by decree, but he will need Congress to achieve his promised tax cuts.
He pledged to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and social security payments and said he would make permanent the expiring tax cuts he enacted during his first term.
None of this has happened. And with big tariffs kicking in, the tax burden is on track to get worse before it possibly gets better.
But the president is working with Republicans in Congress to push through legislation. With thin Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, it could prove difficult to get near-unanimous support within the party for what Mr. Trump calls a “big, beautiful bill”.
9. He Took On Pillars Of Education
Mr. Trump’s threats to choke off billions in tax dollars to institutions of higher learning flow from multiple promises in the campaign – to combat antisemitism on campuses, to take on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, and to rid campuses of foreign students he considers hostile to American values.
After several other prominent schools signaled their willingness to comply with Mr. Trump’s demands, Harvard stood firm against the pressure.
In response, President Donald Trump has called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status, has threatened to block it from enrolling foreign students – more than a quarter of its enrollments – and has frozen more than 2 billion dollars in grants and contracts.
But such efforts extend far beyond Harvard. The Trump administration is going after other universities as well and at least temporarily ended the legal status of many foreign students at schools across the country.
10… And Pillars Of Culture
The president’s promised agenda against “woke” policy swept quickly through the government as DEI programs from Mr. Biden’s years were halted and references to diversity in federal communications were purged.
This effort extended deep into cultural institutions and well beyond federal DEI hiring and workplace practices.
At the Pentagon, in particular, a messy revisionism ensued as thousands of images on web pages and other online content were flagged for removal. An image of the Enola Gay bomber from the Second World War was flagged for deletion — because of the “gay” — as were materials paying tribute to black and Navajo war heroes and pioneering women. Most of the targeted material ultimately survived.
An executive order from Mr. Trump on “restoring truth and sanity to American history” forbade federal money to Smithsonian programs that promote “improper ideology”.
11. He Promised To Roll Back Transgender Rights
President Donald Trump campaigned against the participation of transgender athletes in sports and against broader moves in society, especially in Democratic-led jurisdictions, to accommodate views that gender is not inherently binary. He vowed to take on “transgender craziness”.
As president, he has signed executive orders to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s teams. He has also asked the Supreme Court to rule against lower courts that have blocked his attempt to remove transgender troops from the military.
Source: AP
