Editorial: The President's Damaging First One Hundred Days

Since 1933, the First One Hundred Days of every U.S. presidential administration has served as a barometer for every new Chief Executive’s ability to govern and serve the people of the United States. 

This began with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s record-breaking First One Hundred Days in office when – after his landslide 1932 electoral victory – his new administration called Congress into a three-month special session and compelled it to pass into law 15 major New Deal bills addressing the crisis of the Great Depression. In total, FDR’s new administration passed 77 new laws in its First Hundred Days to establish major public works projects and provide relief to millions of newly out-of-work Americans following the Crash of 1929.

Since FDR's original First One Hundred Days, every president since has longed to match his accomplishments.

Now, today April 30, 2025, we mark the First One Hundred Days of President Trump’s second (non-consecutive) term in office. 

And it’s been the most self-damaging and incompetent start to any presidential term in American history, arguably worse than that of President James Buchanan who served a single term during the middle of the 19th Century.

Instead of demonstrating a commitment to meeting the very real needs of the American people, Trump, without authority, graced the nation with little boy proclamations renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali, then banishing major media outlets from the White House if they refused to adopt his pet names. 

Dumb pronouncements from the president’s mouth have also distracted press attention from his bizarre cabinet choices – African Americans need not have applied – with several appearing to be security risks, under-qualified, and mentally unbalanced. 

Trump immediately abused the powers of his office by quashing all federal investigations into his own criminal indictments. Recall, he was "out on bail" in four separate jurisdictions, federal and state, prior to his electoral victory. Abusing his pardoning privileges, Trump then moved to release his earlier co-conspirators. And also to use federal mechanisms to prosecute his political enemies under his Orwellian construct of "de-weaponizing" federal law enforcement.

On his first day in office, President Trump pardoned every one of the more than 1500 January 6 rioters – many of whom had prior convictions for rape, child sexual exploitation, domestic violence, manslaughter, drug trafficking and other crimes, not to mention the besieging of the U.S. Capitol while Congress was in session verifying the Electoral College vote count of his loss in the 2020 presidential election. 

Trump threw in pardons for Proud Boy Enrico Tarrio and Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes – remember that guy in the eye patch amassing weapons in a Virginia hotel prior to Jan. 6 for a hoped-for takeover of the U.S. federal government? And if that weren’t enough on Day 1, how about Trump’s full and unconditional pardon of Ross Ulbright who was convicted of running the darknet market Silk Road and facilitating trade in narcotics? Not sure about the rioter who defecated inside the U.S. Capitol, but he was a hero to Trump.

For good measure, Trump also withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization, allowing adversarial nations China and Russia prime leadership roles in public health around the world for years to come. Helping ensure this, Trump's Secretary for Health and Human Services, RFK, Jr. – a former heroin addict who tells stories of worms eating his brain, dead bear cub pranks, and eating beached whale – is working day and night to dismantle American vaccine research and distribution efforts, de-fluoridate our tap water, and tell us a month from now what actually causes autism, if it's not vaccines.

Then we saw the world’s richest man, Elon Musk – holder of billions of dollars in federal contracts and a $288 million cash contributor to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign – assume unprecedented power in the new administration as Trump appointed him to run the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to "eliminate government waste, fraud and abuse." 

In a sign of how poorly conceived the U.S. DOGE Service was, Trump called the service into being as a two-headed monster, with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to serve as co-leaders. In an obvious financial conflict of interest on Musk's part, the "service" is named facetiously after Musk's "Doge" meme coin.

Of course, given the imperative for “efficiency,” DOGE's leadership needed trimming even before it began, so Ramaswamy soon left under mysterious circumstances "to run for office in Ohio," allowing Musk and his cohort of young White male digital experts (i.e., “hackers”) to rifle through the private data of American citizens in massive U.S. government databases, to begin firing thousands of federal employees, and shutting down major federal agencies. 

Soon to hit the chopping block, the U.S. State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development (U.S. AID), one of the country’s most effective diplomatic tools, ensuring humanitarian aid and assistance for critically affected areas in crisis around the world and a key lever for winning “hearts and minds” to western democratic ideals. In classic Soviet fashion, Musk and Trump called the agency a “criminal enterprise” without evidence. “Time for it to die,” Musk elaborated in one of his signature, habitually cruel pronouncements. 

But that was just the beginning. Soon Trump and DOGE attacked the Congressionally-funded U.S. Department of Education and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), with, of course, no resistance from his frightened allies in Congress. In the chaos surrounding DOGE's AI-enhanced firings of federal workers, numerous critical employees have been fired abruptly, then re-hired, all as court cases over executive overreach and capriciousness mount. Sorry, we didn't mean to fire those nuclear safety specialists!

Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski soon admitted publicly to being frightened by threats from Trump's supporters – a shared emotion by many who have crossed his path. For the first time in U.S. history, a president issued executive orders identifying by name targets for criminal investigation, including Chris Krebs, Former U.S. Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who ensured the 2020 presidential and Congressional elections were free from foreign interference, but then angered Trump by simply stating the truth – that he had done his job and the election was clean.

Soon, thereafter, Secretary of State Marco Rubio – a diminutive tool nicknamed "Lil Marco" by Trump and shown little respect at home or abroad – began to dissolve all U.S. State Department diplomatic programs in Africa, placing the U.S. in a highly vulnerable geo-strategic position going forward as both Russia and China aggressively seek to gain access and control of African minerals, heavy metals and other precious resources and markets while having no intention of fostering democratic governance on the continent.

The agencies Trump and Musk attack tend to be the very ones China and Russia would prefer destroyed because they exemplify American ideals globally and make the nation stronger. And, Trump and Musk are quite beholden to both nations, as Putin has surreptitiously helped support Trump’s campaigns, routed him finances through various channels, and attacked his opponents on social media, while Trump has returned the favor by repeating Russian talking points at every turn, and Musk owns a major Tesla production plant in China and keeps his eyes on China's massive markets. 

Relying on his go-to tariff man, Senior Counselor Peter Navarro, PhD – a Trump- pardoned former prisoner and admitted academic fraud who repeatedly cited an anagram of his own name “Ron Vara” in two of his published foreign economics books – Trump declared “Liberation Day” on April 2, raising American tariffs higher than any time since the early 20th century. Based on questionable math, Trump formulated a two-tier tariff structure with a 10 percent tariff applied to imports from all countries, except Canada and Mexico, and country-specific “reciprocal tariffs” based on what Navarro and the administration deemed unfair trade practices by approximately 60 nations. 

Near the top of the jumbled (non-numerical, non-alphabetical) list of nations the administration grandiosely presented to be punished with tariffs on Liberation Day: Cambodia. Apparently, those Cambodians were ripping us off! With a GDP only about 14 percent as large as Musk's own personal wealth, they'll now have to pony up 49 percent export fees to the United States.

As we know, Trump’s ill-conceived “Liberation Day” measures quickly triggered a global trade war as well as a major stock market crash from which markets have yet to recover. “Producing Something This Stupid is the Achievement of a Lifetime,” David Brooks said of Trump’s tariffs in The New York Times. 

Now, as overseas supply-chain disruptions begin to threaten inventories for nearly every major American retail business – and even next year’s American shopping seasons – Trump has backpedaled on several of his own measures.

But mostly, he's lied and lied (as is his wont), on the progress of his “deal-making” with different individual countries. After claims of the administration achieving as many as 200 separate deals, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disingenuously claimed the “deals” were actually “sub-deals.” You know, the kind where you offer a chair to your negotiating rival and when they take the seat, that’s one deal achieved! 

Most ill-informed is Trump’s negotiating approach with China over tariffs. Jacking the overall tariff burden on China up to 125 percent – with some exceptions later added for smartphones, etc. – the Trump administration has arrogantly claimed the president holds the “upper hand” in negotiations, while Trump has repeatedly insulted Chinese leader Xi and the Chinese people over the issue. His administration has boasted that negotiations are ongoing with China, but Xi staunchly denies any negotiations are even taking place.

China, holds more cards than Trump, so they've called his bluff. They're more suited to playing "the long game" in negotiations, while they know American negotiators lust after quick results. Not only does President Xi not have to worry about political backlash as much as Trump – who faces losing the House of Representatives to Democrats in next year’s elections, possibly triggering impeachment concerns once again – but Xi can easily appeal to the accumulated sense of national honor developed over China's 4000 year history to squeeze sacrifices from the Chinese people, whereas he knows Americans, accustomed to all the extravagances, can become highly impatient if egg prices should rise. China also owns $784.3 billion in U.S. Treasury securities – helping fund massive American debt – that, if put up for sale, could threaten the value of the U.S. dollar and rock American markets even further.

And now, under Trump's watch, the U.S. economy is in free-fall.

The U.S. dollar has fallen 10 percent since Trump took office.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2025 first-quarter GDP growth has dropped over the previous quarter from 2.4 percent down to -.3 percent annually. “As of April 30, 2025, the U.S. economy experienced a contraction in the first quarter, largely attributed to a surge in imports before tariffs took effect."

But what caused the surge? Something predictable: following Trump's tariff declarations, buyers purchased as many imports as they could in preparation for the coming tariff walls. "This artificial surge, coupled with concerns about the impact of President Trump's tariffs, led to a slowdown in consumer spending and a decline in overall economic activity,” U.S. News & World Report wrote. Predictably, Trump, a man of low character, blames Biden for the mess.

So, it's hard to see how we avoid a recession in Trump's second quarter.

Trump called for ending Constitutionally guaranteed birthright citizenship and began arresting and deporting U.S. residents without due process of law. For a price, he convinced El Salvadoran leader Nayib Bukele to establish a maximum security “mega-prison” in El Salvador to concentrate – in clearly crowded and abusive conditions – American deportees swept up by authorities in often un-badged raids. 

While Trump was cheering on Elon Musk’s foray into far-right, neo-Nazi politics and popping childishly veiled Nazi salutes to adoring Alternative For Germany (AfD) crowds during crucial elections in Germany, Trump quickly moved to dismantle civil rights offices in the U.S. Department of Justice and to brand groups and people fighting racial discrimination as “racists” themselves. This mirrors Putin's branding Zelenskyy (who's Jewish) and the Ukrainians "Nazis," from a country needing to be "de-Nazified." And Musk is not the only dabbler in Nazi gestures and neo-Nazi ideology in this president's orbit.

In Trump’s first weeks in office, all things DEI came under attack. Now it’s clear “DEI” has become shorthand for “minority.” And a war on minorities under the banner of attacking “woke ideology” is reaching frightening proportions. The nation’s most prestigious universities – the envy of the world and driver of American scientific and technological leadership around the globe – have been threatened, laboratories closed, and federally-funded research programs cut off. Ironically, many of the targeted universities have been attacked under the pretext of “fighting anti-semitism.” Bringing these proud institutions to their knees is certainly another boon for Presidents Putin and Xi.

In an array of executive orders, Trump has declared an official national Orthodoxy – one that is "political correct" in the original Stalinist meaning of the term – delineating “Anti-American” ideology and moving to expunge it wherever it lives and breaths, not just in government but in the private sector.

Artifacts and displays from the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture have been removed. Women and minorities with proud records of service in the U.S. military have been scrubbed from Defense Department websites. Even Jackie Robinson – the hero and military veteran who integrated Major League Baseball – was given a Soviet-style airbrushing… until a public backlash forced the administration to reverse course.

After a plane and helicopter collision over the Potomac near the White House, Trump blamed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies without providing any evidence or even coherently explaining what he had in mind. Working with DOGE, he then applauded the indiscriminate firing of air traffic controllers and safety personnel who might help prevent such flight calamities in the future.

In what may well be signs of dementia, Trump issued menacing and absurd threats to America’s closest neighbors and key international allies. He declared that Canada was America’s “51st state” with the Canadian prime minister simply serving as the state's “governor,” he threatened seizure of the Panama Canal, and even faithful ally Denmark has had to prepare for a possible U.S. military takeover of Greenland. As if any of this could possibly be achieved successfully given diplomatic, political and military constraints. 

Of course, Trump’s apologists mostly laughed off these unhinged rants, but the president’s idiotic blurting has had serious foreign policy consequences. Instead of a populist victory in Canadian parliamentary elections, the country just swung back to the Liberals due to the backlash against Trump’s insults. Could Trump even wish for a more friendly neighbor than Canada? And, could he have tossed away a more precious U.S. asset?

And around the western world, a backlash to Trump-style right-wing populism is likely to further erode American leadership and isolate us as a nation.

Impulsively and dishonestly, Trump promised to settle all kinds of international crises concerning which he has displayed no real understanding and appears completely out of his depth. In his mind – fashioning himself as the world’s number one “dealmaker” – Trump’s just the man to handle all the turmoil: the War in Gaza, the war between Russia and Ukraine, potential war between Israel and Iran, and even Houthi rebel attacks on Red Sea shipping. Though, for some reason, Trump seems unconcerned about the Chinese threat to Taiwan or their behavior in Hong Kong.

But, of course, there’s neither anecdotal nor empirical evidence that Trump has ever read a single book on foreign policy, much less any book on any subject whatsoever, in his nearly 79 years of disgruntled life. Though, granted, it is possible, he might have flipped through “The Plot to Kill the King,” his FBI Director’s fawning children’s book envisioning Trump as king. This literary work might even have inspired the president to gild the Oval Office with enough embellished gold – plus his very own mugshot! – to make any tinpot dictator envious.

So, what has Trump’s great deal-making in foreign policy actually yielded the United States and its allies in his First One Hundred Days? 

Failure on every front. 

Just as Putin and Xi dreamed, Trump has orchestrated a mounting rift between the United States and our trans-Atlantic NATO allies. 

Under dubious authority, he declared the United States will simply "own Gaza” while Palestinians will be re-located elsewhere. Such re-location would be a war crime, of course, but Trump's outlandish stream of bizarre statements are so difficult to digest, they're hardly taken seriously. Meantime, he’s failed to deliver either a ceasefire or address the horrific humanitarian crisis on the ground in Gaza.

His administration also has no actual strategic outline or set of diplomatic plans for the Middle East, much less any other strategically vital region anywhere else on Earth.

Trump expressed exasperation that his attempts to cajole Russian President Putin into a “peace agreement” with Ukraine have hit a wall. So, petulant words from the White House have brandished the notion the U.S. might just “walk away” from the negotiations. And that's scary stuff! On social media, he's even pleaded pathetically with Putin to just please “STOP” the attacks already, Vladimir!

In the most shameful moment in American diplomatic history, Trump even chose to berate and attempt to humiliate – live on television from the Oval Office — Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. And, he's once again spewed up Russian propaganda by blaming the pro-western leader and U.S. ally for somehow causing Russia’s 2022 invasion of his democratic nation. Even Neville Chamberlain showed more restraint towards the Czechoslovakian leader Beneš in Munich in 1938. Thought experiment: could Trump explain the meaning of the last sentence?

Perhaps it made sense to attack Houthi rebels to dissuade them from more attacks on free shipping in the Red Sea and other regional waterways. But, Trump’s appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has proven himself the worst man for the job – something the whole world, minus Donald Trump, could see from the start. Not only was Hegseth lacking the military and management experience required to operate the Pentagon, but his alleged history of alcoholism and sexual abuse weren’t helpful for someone in charge of top-secret, dangerous operations. Turns out his wife, Jennifer, has taken it upon herself to hand-hold Pete through day-to-day operations, lest he fall again.

Likely, neither Hegseth nor Trump himself – with 34 felony convictions – would ever have been able to gain a security clearance on their own had they not been politically vaulted into their roles.

When Hegseth was found – in violation of U.S. military and security policy – to have used an insecure Signal chat line to convey U.S. bomber attack information to his wife, brother and personal lawyer (for no reason anyone can really understand), global concerns over what’s happening within America’s military command have mounted. Yet another bonus for Putin and Xi. 

And, from here, it's all likely to get much, much worse.

By Christopher Jones