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WASHINGTON – The weeks since President Donald Trump returned to bureau person been a whirlwind of enactment to amusement Americans that his medication is relentlessly pursuing his promises.
With a compliant Republican-controlled Congress, Trump has had a escaped manus to statesman overhauling the national authorities and upending overseas policy.
As Trump hits his 100th time successful bureau Tuesday, his imprint is everywhere. But the semipermanent interaction is often unclear.
Some of the Republican president's enforcement orders are statements of intent oregon groundwork to execute what has yet to beryllium done. On Day 1, for example, helium declared an vigor exigency to spur production. But he's not promising a payoff until adjacent year, erstwhile helium told voters to number connected a large driblet successful their inferior bills.
Trump's goals occasionally struggle with each other. He promised some to little the outgo of surviving and to enforce tariffs connected overseas goods, which volition astir apt summation prices. Other issues are languishing.
Very overmuch unsettled is whether Trump has tally up his scorecard lawfully. He has faced lawsuits implicit immoderate of his actions, meaning overmuch of what he’s done could beryllium undone arsenic cases play out.
Here’s a look astatine wherever advancement connected his promises stands:
He promised to beryllium a price-dropper
Inflation has been falling since a highest of 9.1% successful 2022. It was astatine 3% successful January, the period Trump was inaugurated, and 2.4% successful March. “We already solved inflation,” Trump boasted. But the Federal Reserve warned that the president’s tariff plans volition astir apt pb to higher prices by taxing overseas imports.
In addition, it’s improbable Trump volition negociate to “pay disconnected each our debt.” His plans for taxation cuts would trim gross to screen the country’s bills. Besides, helium made a akin pledge successful 2016, and past the nationalist indebtedness ballooned during his archetypal presidency.
He's cracked down connected amerciable immigration
Trump has intelligibly made advancement connected a signature committedness to power the border.
The fig of radical trying to transverse illegally into the U.S. from Mexico dropped steeply successful President Joe Biden's past year, from a precocious of 249,740 successful December 2023 to 47,324 successful December 2024. Under Trump, the numbers sank to lone 8,346 successful February and 7,181 successful March.
It's unclear whether Trump is matching Biden's assertive deportation grounds past twelvemonth — the numbers are not yet in.
Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is arresting ample numbers of radical crossed the country. Many who asseverate their innocence person been deported without owed process. The lawsuit of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is 1 of those hanging successful the balance. He was deported to a Salvadoran situation contempt having nary transgression grounds and nary proceeding into whether he's a pack subordinate arsenic alleged by the administration.
He promised to slash vigor bills
In the campaign, Trump gave voters a pledge they'll beryllium capable to justice for themselves, simply by looking astatine their inferior bills. He promised to trim their vigor costs by fractional to three-quarters successful 12 to 18 months.
At times, helium hedged: “If it doesn’t enactment out, you’ll say, ‘Oh, well, I voted for him, and helium inactive got it down a lot.’”
Other times, helium didn't hedge. “Under my plan, we volition chopped vigor and energy prices successful half,” helium told a Mint Hill, North Carolina, rally successful September.
He brought connected the tariffs
Trump made nary concealed of his fondness for tariffs oregon his condemnation that different countries were ripping disconnected the United States successful planetary trade. “I volition enforce across-the-board tariffs connected astir foreign-made goods,” helium said successful the campaign.
He’s followed through, large time, though with often changing caveats.
Trump began by escalating tariffs connected Canada, Mexico and China, ostensibly arsenic punishment for allowing fentanyl into the U.S. Then helium announced adjacent much wide taxes connected overseas imports connected April 2, portion of what helium described arsenic “Liberation Day.” Trump retreated from parts of that plan, choosing to pursue negotiations instead, but helium near successful spot tariffs connected China arsenic precocious arsenic 145%.
The banal marketplace has whipsawed from the hefty import taxes and the erraticism successful their application. Trump has shown much tolerance for marketplace chaos than successful his archetypal term.
He failed to extremity a warfare arsenic promised
At rally aft rally past summer, Trump promised bid betwixt Russia and Ukraine simply by winning the election. “Before I adjacent get astatine the Oval Office, soon aft I triumph the presidency, I volition person the horrible warfare betwixt Russia and Ukraine settled,” helium told a National Guard Association league successful Detroit successful August. By then, he’d been making the aforesaid vow astatine slightest since May. It did not happen.
At times, helium framed the committedness differently, saying helium would extremity the war successful 1 day. That time has not come.
He promised ambitious taxation cuts
Trump has tested the limits of what helium tin bash by decree, but he’ll request Congress to execute his promised taxation cuts.
He pledged to destruct taxes connected tips, overtime and Social Security payments and said helium volition marque imperishable the expiring tax cuts helium enacted during his archetypal term.
None of this has happened. And with large tariffs kicking in, the taxation load is connected way to get worse earlier it perchance gets better.
But the president is moving with Republicans successful Congress to push done legislation. With bladed GOP majorities successful the House and the Senate, it could beryllium hard to get near-unanimous enactment wrong the enactment for what Trump calls a “big, beauteous bill.”
He went aft pillars of education
Trump’s threats to choke disconnected billions successful taxation dollars to institutions of higher learning travel from aggregate promises successful the run — to combat antisemitism connected campuses, to instrumentality connected diversity, equity and inclusion programs and to escaped campuses of overseas students helium considers hostile to American values.
After respective different salient schools signaled their willingness to comply with Trump’s demands, Harvard stood steadfast against the pressure.
In response, Trump has called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status, has threatened to artifact it from enrolling overseas students — much than a 4th of its enrollments — and has frozen much than $2 cardinal successful grants and contracts.
But specified efforts widen acold beyond Harvard. The Trump medication is going aft different universities arsenic good and astatine slightest temporarily ended the ineligible status of galore overseas students astatine schools crossed the country.
... and pillars of culture
The president’s promised docket against “woke” argumentation swept rapidly done the authorities arsenic DEI programs from the Biden years were halted and references to diverseness successful national communications were purged.
This effort extended heavy into taste institutions and good beyond national DEI hiring and workplace practices.
At the Pentagon, successful particular, a messy revisionism ensued arsenic thousands of images connected webpages and different online contented were flagged for removal. An representation of the Enola Gay bomber from World War II was flagged for deletion — due to the fact that of the “gay” — arsenic were materials paying tribute to Black and Navajo warfare heroes and pioneering women. Most of the targeted worldly yet survived.
An enforcement bid from Trump connected “restoring information and sanity to American history” forbade national wealth to Smithsonian programs that beforehand “improper ideology."
He promised to rotation backmost transgender rights
Trump campaigned against the information of transgender athletes successful sports and against broader moves successful society, particularly successful Democratic-led jurisdictions, to accommodate views that sex is not inherently binary. He vowed to instrumentality connected “transgender craziness.”
As president, helium has signed executive orders to prohibition transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s teams. He’s besides asked the Supreme Court to regularisation against little courts that person blocked his effort to region transgender troops from the military.
DOGE? ‘I'd emotion it’
Last year, Elon Musk pitched Trump connected his thought for a Department of Government Efficiency, which would beryllium charged with downsizing the national bureaucracy. “I’d emotion it,” Trump replied.
The effect was much hands-on than galore imagined. Musk started working directly for the administration, bringing on immoderate of his allies. Loyalists dispersed passim national agencies to entree delicate data, question vocation officials and propulsion for cuts.
The result has been mixed. Trump and Musk succeeded successful sending daze waves done the bureaucracy and pushing retired tens of thousands of employees, with much changes to come. However, important savings haven’t materialized.
Musk lowered his targeted savings successful the outgo of authorities to $150 cardinal aft primitively promising astatine slightest $1 trillion. It's unclear if he'll deed adjacent the smaller goal. DOGE has overstated its results.
He promised to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, and helium did
After a mob of Trump supporters descended connected the U.S. Capitol connected Jan. 6, 2021, helium denounced the “heinous attack” and declared helium was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem.”
His tune soon changed. In the campaign, Trump celebrated the rioters arsenic “patriots” and “hostages” of the justness strategy and promised, “I volition motion their pardons connected Day 1.” He did precisely that.
Roughly 1,500 people, including those who attacked constabulary officers, received pardons.
He’s gone aft biology protections
As portion of his promised effort to favour accumulation of oil, earthy state and coal, Trump signed enforcement orders toward that goal. But there’s little than meets the oculus here.
One bid revoked what Trump called a Biden-era “electric conveyance mandate,” but determination isn’t 1 to revoke. He simply turned distant from a nonbinding extremity by Biden to person EVs marque up half of caller cars sold by 2030.
The bid besides seeks to extremity a national exemption that allows California to signifier retired the merchantability of gas-powered cars by 2035. But Trump is leaving it to Congress to walk a instrumentality stripping the waiver, and that hasn’t been done.
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Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.
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