One Hundred Days and Nothing
America’s 100 Days of Trump
In the span of three months, the President of the United States has transformed the country with divisive policies such as imposing tariffs, deporting immigrants, and cutting budgets for inclusive programs, losing international credibility in the process. A hundred days was all Donald Trump needed to change America and the world. Tariff wars against allies and foes, fruitless efforts to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza, deportation of immigrants, battles with universities, tens of thousands of layoffs, and the dissolution of federal institutions and programs related to inclusion and minority rights have altered the face of the United States and ushered the world into a new era of instability in just over three months.
Undoubtedly, America has taken on a completely different face during Trump’s era.
In an extensive interview with Time magazine, the President said, ‘I did what I promised during the election campaign,’ but it seems not everyone agrees with him.
His popularity in America has plummeted, and Italians don’t hold him in high regard either.
According to a survey conducted by the Ipsos Institute as part of the Italy Insight Observatory, 66% of Italians have a negative opinion of him.
For Italians, a second term for Trump is seen as a disaster, with 58% believing that the United States has lost its credibility in these 100 days, and 54% thinking that America is no longer a liberal democracy.
At the start of his second term in January, Trump promised to usher in a new golden age for the American people.
But just a hundred days later, he has reverted to the same unpopular and divisive president he was for most of his first term.
Imbalance of Power
Trump’s second term has been marked by an unprecedented expansion of executive power, often in response to crises that are either fabricated or purely procedural.
This is an imperial presidency that governs through executive orders—139 so far. The White House first weakened Congress’s role, took control of public spending—traditionally a parliamentary power—and then engaged in an unprecedented direct confrontation with the judiciary over immigration issues.
Of course, any executive order that is unconstitutional or suspected of being so faces legal challenges, but the court process is slow, and in the meantime, the boundaries of violations and democratic erosion keep getting pushed back.
What we are witnessing now is considered the first and most significant authoritarian and illiberal turn in the United States during Donald Trump’s era.
In fact, the current government has not only violated Supreme Court orders but has also facilitated the FBI’s arrest of defiant judges.
Just yesterday, a new executive order was issued directing federal agencies to use all available resources against sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate in mass deportations of immigrants.
And on the hundredth day of the administration’s start, the White House gardens were decorated with a hundred posters of detained immigrants and descriptions of the crimes they had committed.
A Different World
In foreign policy, the change in approach has been no less severe than the domestic changes.
Immediately after taking office, the President threatened to occupy Greenland, take control of the Panama Canal, and annex Canada.
He also completely changed the previous administration’s policies regarding Ukraine.
In an attempt to rebuild global economic balances, he launched a trade war and imposed tariffs that caused market crashes, although he was later forced into a partial retreat. Trump’s strategy towards China was highly volatile, with repeated efforts to distance while simultaneously trying to maintain diplomatic relations, yet he failed to secure significant concessions from China.
Contrary to expectations, Trump did not decisively intervene in the NATO issue, and clarity is awaited at the June summit. There is no doubt that Washington will no longer invest heavily in this alliance and will ask Europeans to take more responsibility for their own security and defense.
What to Expect
Although Trump’s grip on institutions seems even firmer than during his first term, this does not mean he will be able to complete his project of changing the United States without encountering obstacles.
The opposition, initially paralyzed by the electoral defeat and unable to counter the Republican propaganda assault, is now showing signs of awakening.
The rejection of the government’s request to pressure Harvard University regarding its internal management is one of the most visible signs of resistance still present in a part of America that is democratically advanced and secular.
Even in the moderate sectors of the economy and finance, the first signs of cracks have begun to emerge.
The trade war has eroded consumer confidence, which today has fallen to its lowest level in three years, and inflation is rising.
Even some Republican representatives have started criticizing the government’s economic measures because they fear not being re-elected.
On the other hand, polls show that an increasing number of citizens are afraid of their government’s decisions.
Trump’s approval rating has dropped to around 40%, lower than any president at the same point in time in the past 70 years.
Therefore, if these first 100 days may represent the peak of his power, they may also indicate the beginning of his decline.
At best, what we are witnessing is an attempt to radically change the balance of power.
At worst, and this is probably the more accurate interpretation, this is the first significant authoritarian and illiberal turn in the United States during Donald Trump’s era.
In fact, in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, the third branch—the legislative—has been largely sidelined.
Despite the Republicans’ majority in both houses, Trump has engaged them little or not at all.
Because his legislative agenda is minimal, practically limited to a new series of tax cuts.
And most importantly, this is a political and institutional choice deliberately designed to change the relationships between the different branches of government.