President Trump boards Air Pressure One in February. He hits the 100-day mark of his presidency this week.
Ben Curtis/AP
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Ben Curtis/AP
This week marks the one centesimal day of President Trump’s second time period, a benchmark that is extensively thought of the primary impression of any administration.
The artificial yet enduring milestone has its roots within the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. Inside months of taking workplace in 1933, he signed dozens of payments and govt orders that helped alleviate the nation’s monetary disaster and set the New Deal in movement.
Roosevelt’s first 100 days have been so productive that presidents have been evaluated at that time ever since, for his or her early accomplishments in addition to missteps. However there’s solely a lot the primary 100 days can inform us.
“Take a look at Abraham Lincoln … the union actually collapsed throughout that interval and he’s immediately thought of one in every of our biggest presidents,” Julian Zelizer, professor of historical past and public affairs at Princeton College, informed NPR’s Here & Now in 2021.
Whereas the primary 100 days do not essentially decide the remainder of a president’s time period, they could foreshadow priorities, achievements and issues to return. And it may be a helpful check-in level to see how a president’s early actions examine to his predecessors’ — and to his personal marketing campaign guarantees.
Trump has hit a number of data for his first 100 days in workplace, however the rapidity of his actions additionally highlights the fragility of counting on presidential motion to cement core insurance policies.
100 days in, here is a have a look at the place the second Trump administration stands on 10 key benchmarks.
Government orders: 142
President Trump has signed 142 govt orders since Jan. 20, in keeping with the Federal Register and American Presidency Project.
Trump hit the bottom operating, signing 37 govt orders in his first week in workplace alone (not together with different executive actions like memorandum and proclamations). He issued his 100th order in late March, surpassing Roosevelt’s file of 99 in 100 days.
Most of Trump’s orders fall into a number of most important classes, in keeping with the American Presidency Project: shrinking the federal authorities, overseas coverage and protection, immigration and border safety, vitality and pure sources, and tariffs.
A number of of Trump’s govt orders — together with these freezing foreign aid and banning transgender troops from navy service — are quickly blocked by courts as lawsuits play out. The Supreme Court docket will hear arguments in Might about his order looking for to revoke birthright citizenship.
Biden orders reversed: over 100
Government orders may be overturned or modified by future presidents. Lots of Trump’s early govt actions centered on undoing these of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
Inside hours of his inauguration, Trump had rescinded 78 of Biden’s govt actions, largely associated to local weather change, the COVID-19 pandemic and variety, fairness and inclusion. He has since revoked further Biden orders on voter registration and census apportionment, amongst others.
In accordance with the American Presidency Venture, as of mid-April, Trump had ordered 111 prior presidential orders revoked, all however 5 of these from the Biden years.
That is notable as a result of Biden was prolific in overturning orders from the primary Trump administration — the challenge mentioned at Biden’s 100-day mark in 2021 that “no current president has reversed a predecessor’s orders as typically as Biden has reversed Trump,” counting 76 such examples.
“Biden’s record-setting has been simply surpassed by Trump 2.0,” it writes, including that the sample of reversals factors to the “fragility of counting on Presidential directives to institutionalize core coverage aims.”
Payments signed into regulation: 5
It is tougher for a future president to overturn laws versus govt orders, which means it is one strategy to measure a president’s longer-term affect on the nation.
Trump has signed simply five bills into regulation, beginning with the Laken Riley Act, which Congress handed simply earlier than he took workplace. The others have been a stopgap funding invoice and three Congressional Review Act resolutions overturning Biden-era guidelines.
He broke George W. Bush’s file low of seven in 2001, in keeping with History.com.
In distinction, Trump signed 28 laws within the first 100 days of his first time period in 2017. Biden signed 11 payments into regulation inside his first 100 days, most notably his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.
Lawsuits: Over 200
Most of the Trump administration’s actions — not simply govt orders — have been challenged in courtroom, notably these associated to its crackdown on immigration and efforts to shrink the federal workforce.
Many are in limbo as rulings and appeals play out, making it tough to provide a definitive case depend.
A litigation tracker from Just Security counts 210 authorized challenges, together with 4 which are closed, whereas a LawFare database lists no less than 258.
Approval ranking: 42%
Trump’s approval ranking sits at 42%, down from 45% in March, in keeping with a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey released Tuesday.
Throughout his first time period, Trump’s approval ranking by no means rose larger than 44%. He left workplace in 2021 with an approval rate of 38%, in keeping with a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey. Practically half of respondents — 47% — mentioned Trump could be remembered as one of many worst presidents in historical past.
Biden, in distinction, capped off his first 100 days with an approval rating of 53%, his highest since taking workplace.
However that assist was completely alongside partisan traces — 93% of Democrats accepted of his efficiency, in comparison with simply 12% of Republicans — and dwindled all through his presidency. Biden left workplace with an approval ranking of 42%, in keeping with a January 2025 NPR/PBS Information/Marist ballot.
Pardons: 39, plus a whole lot of Jan. 6 defendants
Trump has issued pardons for 39 named people and entities since taking workplace, in keeping with the Department of Justice.
One in all Trump’s very first acts as president was to subject a “full, full and unconditional pardon” to anybody convicted of offenses associated to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The transfer pardoned some 1,500 defendants, dozens of whom had prior criminal records.
That proclamation additionally commuted the sentences of 14 individuals charged in reference to Jan. 6 — all of whom have been linked to the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, extremist teams that deliberate parts of the assault.
That pardon got here hours into Trump’s second time period. In his first time period, Trump didn’t subject a pardon till August 2017, about half a yr after taking workplace. Biden issued his first pardon greater than a yr into his presidency, in April 2022.
Federal layoffs: Tens of 1000’s
One hallmark of Trump’s second time period has been his give attention to streamlining the federal workforce by creating the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
The Elon Musk-led White Home workplace has successfully dismantled a number of companies, granted itself entry to a number of sensitive data systems and engineered the firings of tens of 1000’s of federal employees.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in February that 75,000 federal employees took the primary of two “Fork within the Street” buyout gives.
Nevertheless it’s onerous to pinpoint simply what number of federal employees have left their jobs, both by layoffs or by alternative.
Mass layoffs have been carried out so haphazardly that some workers have been later reinstated, or had their terminations reversed by numerous legal challenges. And, 100 days in, there’s little proof to assist officers’ claims that DOGE is saving companies vital cash, as NPR reports.
Immigration: 7,180 March border crossings
Trump’s crackdown on immigration has been one other defining function of his time period to this point, as he ramps up border enforcement and mass deportations.
U.S. Customs and Border Safety mentioned the month of March recorded simply 7,180 southwest border crossings, the bottom quantity in historical past and a dramatic drop in comparison with the month-to-month common of the earlier 4 years, 155,000.
Southwest border crossings have been already on a downward trend when Trump took workplace in January, having declined throughout 2024 after a surge in 2023.
Immigration was a serious focus of Trump’s marketing campaign, through which he vowed to hold out the biggest deportation program in U.S. historical past. His administration has since arrested, detained and deported immigrants with and with out authorized standing — although not without pushback, together with from the Supreme Court.
Tariffs: common efficient price of 28%
Trump has additionally threatened, enacted and delayed a series of tariffs on items from international locations worldwide, with the following uncertainty jolting global markets and sparking fears of a recession at home.
The Trump administration enacted a baseline 10% tariff on all imported items, and 25% tariffs on metal, aluminum, automobiles and automotive components. It additionally put country-specific tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, and has till early July to negotiate “reciprocal” tariffs with dozens of different international locations.
As of mid-April, the Yale Budget Lab says, U.S. shoppers face a mean efficient tariff price of 28% — the best it has been since 1901.
Inflation: 2.4% in March
On the marketing campaign path, Trump promised to “finish inflation” beginning on Day 1. It had been a problem all through the Biden administration, reaching a 40-year high of 9% in June 2022, exacerbated by provide chain points associated to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine warfare.
100 days in, nonetheless, inflation stays a problem. The annual inflation rate dropped to 2.4% in March, hitting a six-month low. However economists warn that aid could possibly be short-lived, as fallout from Trump’s commerce warfare is predicted to drive costs up within the coming months.