
<p>The first 100 days of a presidential administration has historically been given special attention. ; In the past, it has often been referred to as the “honeymoon period” – when a president is given special deference. Of course, that is not true if the President is Donald Trump. ; He was mercilessly attacked at the beginning of his first term – and even worse in his second.</p>



<p>In evaluating Trump’s first 100 days, we must understand that he came into office as a promised disrupter of the Washington establishment – and the way it has been doing business for generations. ; Couple that with the never-Trump Resistance Movement – fueled by hyper partisan Trump Derangement Syndrome – and you are bound to have partisan ; chaos. ; If there is something both sides can agree upon is that the times are characterized by political change &#8212; ; disruption and chaos, if you ; prefer.</p>



<p>If you look to polling for a modicum of clarity, you will be sorely disappointed. ; They change faster than the weather in Boston. ; They say that Trump is more popular than the Democrats, yet Democrats are leading in the generic ballot in terms of the 2026 midterm election. ; One day almost two-thirds of the people support Trump on immigration. ; Then most do not.</p>



<p>Most of the public debate over Trump and his policies is driven by partisan political narratives – with little attention to specific facts. ; It is too often disinformation.</p>



<p>Trump, himself, is most like Franklin Roosevelt &#8212; another strong-willed President, who disrupted the political order and created a lot of chaos in the process. ; It is no coincident that in signing 143 Executive Orders in his first 100 days Trump surpassed the previous record held by &#8230; yes &#8230; Franklin Roosevelt. ; They called him a dictator, too.</p>



<p>While the media accentuates the negative, Trump can claim a number of significant accomplishments.</p>



<p><strong>Immigration</strong></p>



<p>We can divide the immigration crisis into two issues – securing the border and dealing with the millions of illegal aliens who are already in the United States – especially the criminals.</p>



<p>In terms of securing the border, Trump has had phenomenal success. ; In fact, there is no longer a border crisis. ; There are no caravans of people trekking through Mexico. ; Illegal border crossing is a fraction of what it was during the Biden years ; Because border patrols can more effectively control the border, there has been a huge drop in both illegal crossings and got-aways. ; In terms of securing the border, Trump gets an A+.</p>



<p>Dealing with migrants currently in the country has been a more complicated issue. ; However, the Trump policy of focusing on criminals and those with court deportation orders has resulted in the deportation of more than 50,000 criminals and other undesirables as of April 1<sup>st </sup>&#8212; with another 50,000 in process. ; ICE is rounding up hundreds – and even thousands&#8211; of illegal aliens every day. ; In ridding the country of the worse of the worse, Trump policies have made communities across America safer. ; In terms of booting out a lot of nasty criminals, Trump gets another A+.</p>



<p>Then there is the issue of a handful of anecdotal cases that Democrats and the Trump haters dwell upon. ; There was that plane load of bad dudes that an activist Democrat judge wanted returned to the United States. ; According to the judge, the plane should have been called back. ; According to the Trump folks, the order came too late. ; And the judge’s order. Itself, is questionable.</p>



<p>The judge wants the 240 bad asses returned to America. ; This has raised the constitutional question as to whether one of the more than 700 federal district judges can issue a nationwide order impinging on a President’s constitutional authority. ; This will wind up in the Supreme Court. ; In the meantime, the deported criminals will remain in jail in El Salvadore. ; Give Trump an A for getting heinous criminals out of the country.</p>



<p>Then there is the case of Kilmer Abrego Garcia. He was put on the list of deportables by immigration judges for a number of reasons – including spousal abuse and MS13 ties &#8212; but not to El Salvador. ; He was mistakenly sent to El Salvadore. ; Trump claims that as long as El Salvadore refuses to release him, they have no power to bring him back no matter what a judge orders. ; And if Abrego Garcia was ever returned to the United States, he would be immediately deported to another country. ; He will most likely remain in El Salvadore – despite Democrat efforts to canonize Abrego Garcia and bring him back. The Trump administration gets a C+ for mishandling this case.</p>



<p>Finally, there is the issue of “deporting” U.S. citizens – specifically young children. In fact, they ae not being deported. ; They are leaving America with a parent or parents who are being deported. ; These are the birthright anchor babies. ; They could remain in America if the parents chose.  ;Some parents have self-separated to get or keep their young children in the United States.  ;It is the parents’ decision – not the determination of U.S. immigration. ; Are the critics suggesting forced separation – or just another reason not to deport undesirables? ; Trump policy regarding ; the children of deportees is common sense, and he gets a solid A.</p>



<p><strong>The economy</strong></p>



<p>This is an issue with many facets. ; Let us start with some basics.</p>



<p>The rate of inflation has been dropping throughout Trump’s 100 days ; in office, reaching 2.4 percent by March – very close to the Federal Reserve Bank’s target of 2 percent. ; Award Trump an A in the fight against inflation.</p>



<p>Contrary to Democrat claims, the cost of energy has dropped – and most see it at the gas pump. (The price at my local gas station dropped from $3.19 to $2.89 in the past two weeks.) ; This has been largely the result of Trump’s pro-oil policies. ; Another A for Trump.</p>



<p>The cost of many consumer goods – including those eggs – have also dropped, and the increase in others has slowed. This is a mixed bag (of groceries), so ; I give Trump a C.</p>



<p>If you listen closely, the Democrats fearmongering about prices is mostly speculation about future prices based on policies that may or may not be implemented. ; ;  ;</p>



<p><strong>Tariffs</strong></p>



<p>Tariffs are where the word “chaos” seems most used. ; Everyone understands the problem. ; United States workers and businesses have been getting ripped off by tariffs imposed by other nations &#8212; and a range of other unfair trade practices, most notably by the Chinese. ; It has been going on for decades. ; Previous presidents have complained about it but did nothing to fix it.</p>



<p>Trump took on the world all at once. He imposed retaliatory, reciprocal and punitive tariffs on a massive scale – on friend and foe alike. He has threatened more – and eased up on some.  ;Trump’s tweaking tariffs on almost a daily basis has set off a firestorm of anxiety and confusion.  ;Markets went bonkers. His polling numbers plummeted.</p>



<p>It is fair to say that Trump may have bitten off more than he could chew in terms of tariffs. ; The road to fair trade practices on a global level has hit several bumps. ; It is yet uncertain as to which tariffs will survive and on which nations. ; This is not a done deal – and it is much too early to draw conclusions. ; We will not know the success or failure of Trump’s tariff gambit for months or years to come. ; In terms of tariffs, Trump gets an “incomplete” – with a D for how he has managed the issue. ;</p>



<p><strong>Government reduction</strong></p>



<p>This is another one in which all sides purport to understand that the cost and rate of federal government growth is unsustainable.  ;Unless curtailed, it will lead to catastrophe collapse of the American economy in the future. ; But &#8230; there is no <em>sanctum sanctorum</em> more important to Democrats and those on the left than the size and power of the Washington establishment. ; While they pay lip service to the need to cut costs, Democrats resist every cost cutting measure. ; There is no department &#8230; no agency &#8230; ; no bureau &#8230; no commission that can be cut. ; There is no waste or fraud that can be eliminated. ; The cut of even one bureaucrat is deemed a national catastrophe by those on the left.</p>



<p><strong>Elon Musk and DOGE</strong></p>



<p>Trump took the challenge head on with the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the appointment of billionaire businessman Elon Musk to head it. ; The plan has been dogged by two mistakes. ; The first was over promising – proposing cuts in the budget of trillions of dollars in the near future was overly ambitious.</p>



<p>The second mistake was unforeseeable. ; It was Elon Musk. ; Rather than comporting himself as a serious businessman, he took on a cheerleader role – and on issues not related to government efficiency. ; He not only donated to the Republican candidate for the Wisconsin supreme court, but he also took to the stage – jumping up and down like a jack-in-the-box  ;while wearing a cheese hat.</p>



<p>His worse performance was at the Conservative Political Action Conference when he pranced around the stage with a chainsaw. ; ; As a seasoned political consultant, I was stunned. ; The Trump administration tells the American public that the cuts in government are carefully considered &#8230; are surgical. ; The chainsaw imagery reinforced Democrats narrative that the DOGE people were running amok – slashing and cutting indiscriminately. ; I give Musk a D- for not understanding his role.</p>



<p>Beyond Musk, the DOGE team were doing good work in finding waste, inefficiency and even a bit of fraud. ; According to the record, they cut more than $170 billion in waste and inefficiency. ; It is far short of a trillion dollars they promised, but it is a good start &#8212; and the work goes on.</p>



<p>DOGE has made significant reductions in the federal work force. ; There has been a 40 percent reduction in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). ; They removed more than 11 million outdated Social Security records. ; (In the Democrat world, dead people are not only allowed to vote, but they also get Social Security checks. ; But I digress.) ; With the help of Cabinet secretaries, other government services are being audited for efficiency, waste and fraud. Cuts are being made in every department.</p>



<p>Whether in business or government, anytime you implement a reduction of force &#8212; and a decrease in budgets – you will wind up with lots of consternation and caterwauling from those affected.</p>



<p><strong>Foreign affairs.</strong></p>



<p>We have to grade that on and issue by issue basis.</p>



<p>Anyone following my commentaries will not be surprised that I give Trump an F in addressing the war in Ukraine. ; You do not stop maniacal empire builders by appeasement.</p>



<p>In terms of the war in Gaza – and the terrorist ; war in general – I give Trump a solid A. ; The Iranian terrorist network needs to be crushed, and Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons &#8230; period. Trump is pursuing both of those objectives.</p>



<p>With ; regard to NATO, Trump gets a B for getting the member nations to meet their financial ; obligations. ; It would have been an A, but I think some of his language was unnecessarily undiplomatic.</p>



<p>His ideas of taking over the ports of the Panama Canal from the Chinese &#8230; annexing Greenland &#8230; and making Canada the 51<sup>st</sup> state have descending credibility and rationality. ; The first do have some potential rationality, but Trump’s failure to explain the reasons and the means undermined his credibility. The Canada things makes not sense. ; In terms of dealing with Panama, Greenland and Canada, I give him an D-.</p>



<p><strong>Other issues</strong></p>



<p>In addition to the BiG issues, Trump’s Executive Orders have covered an eclectic range of other issues. ; He declared that there is only to gender – man and woman. This will impact on everything from job applications to military service. ; As a specific gender issue, Trump ordered an end to biological males playing in women’s sports &#8212; and has threated to pull funding for schools and athletic associations that fail to comply. ;</p>



<p>He has ended the racist Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs &#8230; held up funding from the most prestigious universities for allow antisemitism to flourish on campuses &#8230; and freed up water for the arid southwest. ;  ;Much to the chagrin of those on the far left, Trump has used the presidential bully pulpit to win concessions from academia, businesses, law firms and major media outlets. ;</p>



<p><strong>Summary</strong></p>



<p>The list of actions and accomplishments is too long for one commentary, but you get the idea. ; And yes&#8230; there is a lot of controversy and opposition – to be expected. ; But for ; the most part, Trump is ; succeeding in doing what voters elected him to do – tame the bureaucratic behemoth in Washington and ring down the curtain on the absurd woke ; policies ; of the past. ; To put American interests first.</p>



<p>The ; anti-Trump forces are calling his presidency of failure. ; Geez! ; ; We are just barely past ; the 100 day mark. ; While ; we cannot know the specifics of the future, we can know that the situation will change a lot over time. ; The road ahead for Trump is a lot ; longer than the road behind. ; Democrats seem to be claiming victory when the ballgame is still in the first half of the first inning.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

100 days down …1,361 to go
