Editor’s note: the AMAC Foundation will be hosting a FREE webinar breaking down Trump’s first 100 days on April 30 at 4 pm, where listeners will hear from top policy experts and White House insiders. You can register to attend virtually HERE.
Even the most strident critic of President Donald Trump can’t deny that the first 100 days of his second term have been some of the most consequential of any president in history. After a whirlwind start, here’s where things stand and what to expect moving forward.
Immigration/Border Security
Trump’s success in solving the border crisis virtually overnight has shocked even many liberal observers. Daily border encounters are down an eye-popping 93 percent. After illegal crossings averaged more than 160,000 per month under Joe Biden, March 2025 saw the lowest ever monthly total, at just 7,200.
Rarely in American history has a campaign promise been so thoroughly fulfilled so quickly. Trump has been entirely vindicated in his claim that all that was needed to secure the border was a change in leadership.
A bigger challenge remains in fulfilling what Trump has promised will be “the largest mass deportation operation in American history.” The president has had noteworthy successes finding and deporting illegal aliens with criminal records. But with an estimated 10-20 million illegal aliens having crossed over illegally under Joe Biden, conservatives are still looking for deportation numbers to increase.
Some help could be on the way on that front with Congress gearing up to pass a budget reconciliation package that includes billions of dollars for border security and deportation operations.
But the White House will also have to contend with liberal judges determined to use every tool available to them to thwart Trump’s deportation agenda. Just last week, two judges were arrested for allegedly breaking the law to help illegal aliens evade immigration authorities.
Trade/Economy
The Trump economy so far has been a mix of runaway success and “wait and see.”
On the one hand, Trump has delivered on three key economic promises that formed the foundation of his economic agenda. On his first day in office, Trump signed a bevy of executive orders slashing Biden-era regulations on energy production, along with opening up more federal lands to oil and gas exploration.
Largely as a result of these actions, inflation has come down significantly, falling to 2.4 percent for the 12-month period ending March 2025 – effectively solving what was the defining economic failure of Biden’s tenure.
Trump has also overseen a historic boom in private-sector investment in the United States, totaling some $7 trillion since he was elected. While virtually all of the economic “growth” under Biden was driven by government spending, Trump has made good on his promise to lead a surge in business investment in the United States.
At the same time, a volatile stock market stemming in large part from the president’s sweeping tariffs has undoubtedly cast a shadow on Trump’s other economic successes – but even here the narrative that tariffs have been “good” or “bad” for the economy is overly simplistic.
Yes, the stock market is down in Trump’s first 100 days. However, more than 130 countries have already come rushing in to re-negotiate trade agreements – giving Trump leverage to secure a better deal for American businesses and workers. For the first time in decades, an American leader is truly leveraging the power of the American market in international negotiations.
As AMAC Newsline recently reported, Trump’s approach to tariffs bears all the hallmarks of his signature business strategy that made him one of the most successful real estate and entertainment moguls of his generation. Tariffs may ultimately end up being Trump’s greatest economic success story – but at less than four months into a four-year term, it’s still too early to tell.
Cutting Government Waste
When Trump and Elon Musk announced their intent to form the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), most pundits brushed it off as a gimmick or a political sideshow. After presidents from both parties have spent decades promising to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, only to see the federal bureaucracy grow larger and more unaccountable, skepticism was high in Washington that DOGE would amount to anything.
But the success of DOGE and Trump’s other efforts to trim the federal bureaucracy are now impossible to deny. Trump has exposed mountains of wasteful spending, from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding a “DEI musical” in Ireland to millions of individuals listed as being 115 years old or older collecting Social Security checks.
Trump has also largely followed through on his promise to dismantle the Department of Education, returning the power to set education policy to the states. Virtually every federal department has seen significant layoffs, with Trump determined to make the government leaner and more accountable to taxpayers.
Foreign Policy
Although it has received hardly any media attention, Trump is quietly building on his first-term record of foreign policy success.
Early on, Trump effectively used tariff threats to force Mexico and Canada to commit more resources to border security. He then used the same playbook to force Colombia to accept migrant flights.
At the same time, Trump’s demands that NATO member states pay their fair share for their own defense has resulted in a renewed commitment from the alliance to increase defense spending.
The president’s biggest challenges remain bringing an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Culture
For cultural conservatives, the first 100 days of Trump’s second term have been filled with one victory after another.
On his very first day in office, Trump signed an executive order declaring that it is the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female, defined by sex at birth. While the gender ideology movement was already on the defensive, Trump put it in full retreat.
Trump also signed various orders restricting funding for schools that promote Critical Race Theory, gender ideology, or DEI; banning males from competing in women’s sports at federally funded institutions; renaming North America’s highest peak Mt. McKinley and establishing the “Gulf of America”; establishing a task force on anti-Christian bias; preparing to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary; enforcing the Hyde Amendment to prevent taxpayer funding of abortion, and many more.
Despite the usual flood of hysterical mainstream media coverage and dramatic hyperbole from elected Democrats, Trump has refused to back down from the strong stances he took during his campaign. After years of leftism advancing unchecked, it feels like cultural conservatism has real momentum.
While 100 days is the standard benchmark for the media to look back and evaluate the start to a president’s term, ultimately, it’s an arbitrary cutoff. President Trump’s second term is just getting started – and if the first 100 days are any indication, the coming months and years will be among the most transformative in American history.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
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