Trump's Second First 100 Days

by Daniel Gardner, Special to the Gazette President Trump’s first 100 days of his second term ends on April 29, 2025. How has he fared? The RealClearPolitics Poll Average of 16 polls rates President Trump 45.4% Approve and 52.1% Disapprove, a -6.7% variance. Let’s just say the first 100 days have been fast and furious, and the issues in those polls resemble the 100 day pace. Trump’s drooping poll numbers have likely been adversely driven by his soaring poll numbers during the election. In our instant gratification society we expect better results sooner than later. His nemeses in the media and the politisphere are celebrating his apparent failures to fulfill promises within the first 100 days. And so, we wait. We waited 1,461 days for President Joe Biden to do something, uh … right. In other news, what have the Democrats done in the last 100 days? Like the Wicked Witch of the West they’re saying, “We’re melting.” Democrats in America are having their own problems with the latest internal revolution. Traditional advisors like James Carville keep telling them “First, do no harm.” That’s like asking Barney Fife not to sing. President Trump is trying to make deals with tariffs just like he’s advocated since the mid1980s. We’ve heard promises from him and some hints from other world leaders, but we haven’t seen any concrete deals. Making deals on a world stage is like walking a tight rope with a balance board. At the same time Trump is trying to negotiate peace deals with people who love war more than peace. Our usual allies are waiting for us to come up with a good plan to follow. We have a reasonable number of followers, but lack any strong co-leaders to venture a winning battle plan. On the bright side, DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) continues to reduce costs of federal programs and pare down the number of regulations across the federal bureaucracy. The official DOGE website boasts current savings of $160 billion. These savings represent a “combination of asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.” According to the website, “Overregulation places an invisible tax on Americans to the tune of $3 trillion a year. This massive tax comes in a variety of forms, from the costs of government enforcement and compliance, to stalled projects that never get built and new technologies that are never invented. By cutting regulation and red tape, we can unleash individuals and businesses to make America great.” Elon Musk, leader of DOGE, says he plans to take some time off in May. The inventor and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has led a team of brilliant engineers and forensic investigators to sift through spreadsheets and personnel rosters to identify waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal bureaucracy. The plan to reduce government spending while balancing reciprocal tariffs with our 170+ national trading partners is beginning to take shape. Who knows what the next 100 days will bring for good or for naught? Is America entering and engineering a golden age? Regardless, I suspect we’ll continue to see a lot of action in Washington D.C. this summer.