Cato Institute Analysis: Key Actions in President Trump’s First 100 Days

Trump has systematically overstepped the constitutional and legal constraints on his power, and then attacked the legitimacy of the courts when they’ve moved to stop him. That includes areas like the claimed power to suspend duly passed laws, as in the TikTok case; impoundments premised on the idea of a broad presidential right to ignore congressional appropriation bills that the Supreme Court is unlikely to endorse; moves to impose arbitrary punishments on law firms for representing his adversaries; and coercive pressure against states and universities that violates established high court precedent on the First Amendment and federalism. Reasonable people can differ about many of the goals he’s pursuing, but I would hope we’d all agree that he needs to start pursuing them within the law and with due respect for the checks and balances provided in the Constitution.

In education, the first 100 days have been characterized by the right message but contradictory implementation. The administration’s focus on getting the feds out of education and returning power to the people and states is absolutely right. It is what the Constitution – which gives Washington no authority to govern in education – demands, and what decades of experience with costly, ineffective federal intervention clearly points to. The crown jewel of this effort is eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. Unfortunately, at the same time the administration has worked to downsize the federal imprint, it has undertaken efforts to micromanage universities and school districts in areas including discipline policies and “viewpoint diversity.” Those are at odds with federalism and pluralist society. Hopefully, the first inclination – to return power to the people – will win out.

President Trump promised to deport ‘millions and millions’ of immigrants. Through 100 days, he’s falling short of that goal, but that has only emboldened his attacks on the judiciary, due process, and the rights of both noncitizens and citizens. The lawless chaos that has brought America to the brink of a constitutional crisis has no economic or social upside. It will weaken the country, impoverish Americans, and make them less safe.

In each circumstance where Mr. Trump has defied federal court rulings or his Attorney General has issued facially unconstitutional guidance to federal law enforcement officers regarding Alien Enemies Act immigration enforcement operations, this fact remains: neither Trump nor Bondi have committed these unlawful acts alone. Thousands of federal ICE, HSI, FBI, and other law enforcement officers, as well as federal lawyers at the Justice and Homeland Security departments, have obeyed their orders. We passed the constitutional crisis point in March. We’re now in the constitutional breakdown phase of Trump 2.0.

In the first 100 days of his second term, Trump has shown himself to be transactional and to prefer negotiations to major conflict, opening talks with Ukraine, Russia, and Iran. The war in Ukraine holds high costs and grave risks for Americans, and a prospective war with Iran would plunge the United States back into a major Middle Eastern war, something Trump promised to avoid. Americans should pray for Steve Witkoff’s success, and for the failure of the hawkish analysts pushing Trump to escalate in Ukraine and start a war with Iran.

More broadly, Trump appears inclined to rebalance the lines of effort in America’s alliances, a step that is long overdue. As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put it in February, the United States now expects Europe to “take ownership of conventional security on the continent.” For too long, the United States has positioned itself as the linchpin of security in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. It is well past time to force allies and partners in these regions to take the lead on security in their own regions.

A flurry of activity is not the same as progress. President Trump has taken positive steps on health policy, such as withdrawing former President Biden’s unlawful plan to have Medicare cover weight-loss drugs. But he has been unforgivably AWOL on the dire need for fundamental reform of Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, Obamacare, the VHA, and the FDA. Many Trump actions that could potentially be positive, such as reducing the HHS workforce, may actually prove negative by paradoxically increasing government interference in health care markets. Many otherwise positive steps — including many spending and job cuts — appear to be ephemeral at best and at worst, illegal. Even when the president or his advisors are trying to implement good policy, it would be better if they did nothing rather than violate the law to do it. Unfortunately, the president and his advisors are perpetuating a vicious and dangerous cycle of successive administrations violating the law to reward their friends, punish their enemies, and achieve ideological goals that lack democratic support.

President Trump’s executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization responds to the organization’s politicization and mission creep. While the government has a legitimate role in public health, the WHO and some domestic agencies have drifted into personal health matters, often with ideological bias. Withdrawal could pressure the WHO to reassess and reform, possibly allowing a future US return; if not, the U.S. can pursue better ways to coordinate internationally.

Staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health have mostly positive implications, but details matter. Reducing personnel who approve new drugs and devices risks delaying patient access. However, downsizing the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products and the CDC’s Office of Smoking and Health helps curb their mission creep into personal health. Withdrawing the Biden administration’s proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and cigars is similarly a step in the right direction, eliminating the risk of exacerbating disparate law enforcement outcomes. One drawback of closing the Center for Tobacco Products could be slower approval of nicotine e‑cigarettes, a proven tobacco harm reduction tool that remains obstructed.

Secretary Kennedy’s recent support for the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine is welcome, but his promotion of Vitamin A’s unproven benefits risks misleading people into choosing it over vaccination, despite Vitamin A’s toxicity at high doses. Kennedy’s broader science messaging is also flawed; promising answers on autism’s causes by September 2025 shows a poor grasp of objective science and a simplistic view of complex health disorders.

At the 100-day mark, I would give the Trump administration a grade of C.

Among the impressive number of policy missteps of President Trump’s first 100 days, perhaps none has been costlier and more glaring than his self-defeating and arguably unlawful trade actions. By erratically imposing a range of tariffs — all without congressional approval — the president has unnecessarily roiled markets, imperiled the supply chains of countless US manufacturers and other companies, and tipped the country dangerously close to recession. Even if these blunders are soon corrected, the administration’s ill-advised actions have inflicted a black mark on the country’s reputation that will not soon fade. If a silver lining is to be salvaged from this epic misadventure in protectionism, it is perhaps by serving as yet another costly lesson in the importance of free trade and its vital contributions to US economic prosperity.