The weeks since President Donald Trump returned to office have been a whirlwind of activity. We take a look at Trump’s first 100 days and where the long-term impact of his actions is often unclear.
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President Donald Trump arrives on Marine One at the White House, Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Trump’s agenda remains a work in progress after 100 days |
Trump's goals occasionally conflict with each other. He promised both to lower the cost of living and to impose tariffs on foreign goods, which will most likely increase prices.
Prices have come down before Trump took office — and since. Inflation has been falling since a peak of 9.1% in 2022. But the Federal Reserve warned that the president’s tariff plans will most likely lead to higher prices by taxing imports.
He's cracked down on illegal immigration. The number of people trying to cross illegally into the U.S. from Mexico dropped steeply in Biden's last year, from a high of 249,740 in December 2023 to 47,324 in December 2024. Under Trump, the numbers sank to only 8,346 in February and 7,181 in March. Meanwhile, ICE is arresting large numbers of people across the country. Many who assert their innocence have been deported.
He brought on the tariffs. Trump made no secret of his fondness for tariffs or his conviction that other countries were ripping off the United States in international trade. Trump began by escalating tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, then announced even more widespread taxes. Trump retreated from parts of that plan but left in place tariffs on China as high as 145%.
He promised ambitious tax cuts. Trump has tested the limits of what he can do by decree, but he’ll need Congress to achieve his promised tax cuts. He pledged to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security payments, and said he will make permanent the expiring tax cuts he enacted during his first term. None of this has happened yet, although legislation is in the works. Read more.
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Of note:
Very much unsettled is whether he’s run up his scorecard lawfully. Trump has faced lawsuits over some of his actions – meaning much of what he’s done could be undone as cases play out. |
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AP-NORC poll finds Musk’s popularity has fallen as his DC power has risen |
Elon Musk spent years building cachet as a business titan and tech visionary, brushing aside critics and skeptics to become the richest person on the planet.
But as Musk gained power in Washington in recent months, his popularity has waned, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Just 33% of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Musk. That share is down from 41% in December.
“It was a shame that he crashed and burned his reputation,” said Ernest Pereira, 27, a Democrat who works as a lab technician in North Carolina. “He bought into his own hype.”
The poll found that about two-thirds of adults believe Musk has held too much influence over the federal government during the past few months — although that influence may be coming to an end. The billionaire entrepreneur is expected to leave his administration job in the coming weeks. Read more. |
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Of note:
Musk is noticeably less popular than the overall effort to pare back the government workforce, which Trump has described as bloated and corrupt. About half of U.S. adults believe the Republican president has gone too far on reducing the size of the federal workforce, while roughly 3 in 10 think he is on target and 14% want him to go even further. |
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Swing-district Republican lawmakers aren't holding town halls |
The U.S. House is ending a 17-day recess, typically known as a district work period, in which members of Congress return home to focus on their constituents. But some of the most vulnerable Republicans limited their potential exposure to the potential backlash from Trump’s first months in office.
They are embracing the strategy outlined by GOP leaders in Washington who argue there is no benefit to creating more viral moments such as the crowd in Asheville, North Carolina, that booed U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards and the pointed questions about tariffs and deportations that were directed at U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, who won reelection last fall by about 5,000 votes, is one of the 10 most vulnerable House Republicans, as measured by their margins of victory last fall. They were especially hard to find during the recess, though it was difficult to verify many of the public schedules due to the inconsistent responses from their offices.
None of them, a collection of swing-district conservatives from across Arizona, Colorado, California, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, hosted in-person events that were open to the public. Just one planned a telephone town hall. Others favored smaller invitation-only gatherings with local officials promoted only after they were over. Read more.
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Of note:
The Republicans’ lack of access didn’t sit well with some voters. “They’re publicly elected officials. They ought to be accessible to the public,” Republican voter Robert Barton, a 57-year-old civil engineer, said as he waited for his lunch across the street from Perry’s office in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. |
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Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre holds a Canada First Rally For Change, in Vaughan, Ontario, April 22, 2025. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP File) |
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