Nearly a century ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt kickstarted his storied first 100 days, ushering in the New Deal, a flurry of laws aimed at mitigating the ravages of the Great Depression. In just over three months, FDR’s initiatives—the “bloodless revolution,” as his Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes called it—had not only addressed the crisis at hand but also transformed the federal government, increasing its role in American life. FDR justified the buildup of government due to his belief that it had “a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship.”
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Since then, a president’s much-watched first 100 days has been seen as a reflection of his style and substance, a measure of his efficacy, and a harbinger of what is to come. There have been other transformational first 100 days after FDR, but none are remotely as consequential to America’s future as those from President Donald Trump since January 20, 2025. His so-called “muzzle velocity” has seen a stunning array of far-reaching deeds and policy that have the potential to reverberate for decades, perhaps surpassing the first months of FDR’s seminal New Deal.
This, of course, is the second time around for Trump’s first 100 days. But Trump has ridden back into the Oval Office eminently more prepared. He had loyalists lined up to comprise his West Wing staff and take up cabinet posts; ambitious plans around his hardline “America First” agenda, highly informed by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025; and a dizzying “flood the zone” strategy around its implementation.
Moreover, he came in with more political capital and greater power, perhaps exceeding any president in U.S. history. MAGA momentum and a weak Democratic hand helped pave the way for Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, with fealty to Trump a prerequisite among GOP members. Add to that a greater reluctance by those in the public and private sectors to cross Trump, wary of putting themselves and their organizations in the crosshairs of his administration.
Finally, there was the Supreme Court’s verdict in the landmark 2024 case Trump v. the United States, which expanded presidential immunity.
All of this added up to a perfect storm that emboldens Trump. The blizzard of Trump’s actions has been, at times, blinding, making it difficult to identify the most significant developments. But, at first glance, these are the big takeaways of Trump’s first 100 days and what it portents for the balance of his administration.
The dismantling of government
Elon Musk, armed with Trump’s carte blanche, has eviscerated the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), demonizing civil servants, baselessly pointing to corruption, and hollowing out agencies, which have been purged of officials perceived to be disloyal, or eliminated altogether. If FDR’s New Deal was an alphabet soup of agency creation and policy innovation to shore up the republic, DOGE is its antithesis, a systematic undoing of agencies, policy, and programs of the last century that have been woven in the social fabric of American life and the international community—from the Department of Education, the CDC, and FEMA to USAID, the NRC, and the Peace Corps.
Economic Chaos and Uncertainty
Trump won back the presidency due in large measure to the perception that he would be stronger on the economy, which had been held back by inflation. But Trump has upended the international economy by imposing or threatening to impose unprecedented tariffs that will hurt consumers and allies. The stock market has reeled from the volatility as international markets have scrambled to realign.
Attacks Against Equity
Trump’s anti-transgender ad, “Kamala Harris is for they/them, Trump is for you,” was among the most politically effective of his campaign. In a defiant backlash to DEI, Trump declared “Our country will be woke no longer.” He has since taken an axe to DEI initiatives and banned their use by federal contractors. His abrupt termination of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, CQ Brown, for his expressed support of diversity in the U.S. armed forces, signaled a broader attack on equity-based values that represented the next phase in America’s long quest toward racial and gender justice.
An end to the post-war liberal international order
Historians suggest that Trump has ceded America’s moral position as the leader of the free world, obliterating the post WWII alliance that has stood for 80 years, with the US as the chief proponent of democracy, civil liberty, human rights, and free markets. The U.S. is now seen by many as a rogue nation. The soft power America has accumulated across the world over four generations has evaporated. Last week’s proposed cuts to the State Department further reinforced this turn, lessening America’s ability to engage diplomatically and creating a greater void in international leadership.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s chilling Oval Office ambush of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in March was a sign that the U.S. has shifted its stance on the principle of national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Trump has aligned with nations ruled by dictators once considered by the U.S. to be pariahs—Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele among them.
Hemispheric dominance
Trump has browbeat America’s immediate neighbors and biggest trading partners, Canada and Mexico. Even before coming into office, he threatened to annex Canada as the 51st state and rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Since then, he has made clear his intentions to take Greenland from the Danes and reclaim the Panama Canal. These actions mark the first time the U.S. has expressed expansionist ambitions since the acquisition of the Virgin Islands from Denmark during World War I.
Immigration crackdown
The Trump administration’s invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to expedite deportations was pitched as a response to what it called an “invasion” of Venezuelan nationals allegedly linked to gang activity. The deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia—an El Salvadoran legal U.S. resident—has drawn sharp constitutional scrutiny. While the administration later acknowledged his removal as an “administrative error,” it has refused to facilitate his return from the Salvadoran prison where he remains incarcerated. The resulting standoff with the courts has raised broader concerns about Trump’s executive overreach and the potential erosion of due process protections for U.S. residents or, potentially, citizens.
A willful blindness toward climate change
In keeping with Trump’s “drill baby drill” promotion of fossil fuel development and resistance to clean energy, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has declared that the agency will drive “a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion,” announcing plans to rollback environmental protections.
Loyalty-first governance
Trump has intensified his efforts to reshape the government in his image, purging officials considered disloyal and politicizing civil service and national security roles. The trend was reflected notably in his recent meeting with right-wing activist Laura Loomer, which was followed by the firing of six high-level National Security Council officials whom she deemed uncommitted to Trump’s agenda.
These are seismic shifts—and this is just the beginning. If Trump’s second term is a marathon, we are just in mile two with 24 more to come. We have yet to see the downstream effects of these changes or those in the offing. But their consequences are bound to be as monumental as the changes themselves.
Trump made his name as a builder, a mogul in the dog-eat-dog world of New York real estate. But what has defined him as a president, both in his first term and months into his second, is his penchant for destruction. In his plot to “Make America Great Again,” Trump, as shown in his second first 100 days, has zealously, often vengefully, defied conventional norms, flexed authoritarian muscles, and taken a wrecking ball to our government, the economy, and our relationship with our allies.
The question is what will Trump build in place of the wreckage? What will it mean to the next generations of Americans and their well-being? What will it mean for the future of democracy in the U.S. and abroad? And where will its greatness lie?