It’s only fitting to begin this evaluation of President Trump’s second term by listing the administration’s accomplishments, as highlighted by the White House: Wholesale egg prices have dropped by 50%, approximately 9,000 manufacturing jobs have been created, deregulation measures have resulted in total savings of $11,000 for a family of four, tariff deals with India, Japan, and South Korea are nearing finalization, and investment proposals exceeding $5 trillion have been announced, including $500 billion each from Apple, Nvidia, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.
Last week, President Trump sat down for an Oval Office interview with staffers from The Atlantic. The magazine’s editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, was in the news recently after being inadvertently included in a coded Signal chat between U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance. The discussion reportedly involved top-secret details about U.S. military operations against the Houthis in Yemen.
Goldberg – and The Atlantic – are known critics of Trump, and the feeling is mutual. Nevertheless, Trump insisted on Goldberg’s presence at the interview.
The conversation was wide-ranging, with Goldberg and his team posing tough questions. Yet Trump sidestepped them with ease. As Goldberg observed: “What I found in this particular meeting was a Trump who was low-key, attentive, and eager to convince us that he is good at his job and good for the country.”
When asked what Goldberg failed to understand about his presidency, Trump observed: “I really believe that what I’m doing is good for the country, good for people, good for humanity.”
Pressed on whether there would be more abrupt dismissals – such as those that followed conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer’s Oval Office visit, which led to high-ranking National Security Council officials being removed – Trump reflected on the power of his office: “You know, this office is where it all begins. It’s sort of an amazing office. Funny, I have the biggest people in the world coming into this office. They have great offices, they have great power, they have great companies or countries, and they all want to stop and they want to look: It’s the Oval Office.”
Trump’s Political Trajectory
Reflecting on his own political journey – from 45th President, to virtual exile after the January 6th Capitol insurrection, and now 47th President – Trump offered a succinct summary: “First time, I was fighting for survival and I was fighting to run the country. This time I’m fighting to help the world and to help the country. You know, it’s a much different presidency.”
On deporting illegal immigrants without due process, Trump remained firm: “We don’t want crime. We don’t want people getting mugged and killed and slapped and beat up. We don’t want to be taken advantage of on trade and all these other things. We want to keep the taxes low. We want to have a nice life.”
Asked how he views his mission in office, Trump declared: “I think I’m doing the country a great service. It would be easier for me if I didn’t do it. I could have a really easy presidency. Just come in here, leave everything alone, don’t go through the tariff stuff. And I don’t find it hard. I don’t find it hard to sell. All you have to do is say, we lost trillions of dollars last year on trade. And, you know, other countries made trillions. You know, China made one and a half trillion dollars on trade. (Fact: China’s trade surplus last year was about $ 1 trillion). They built – they’re building the biggest military you’ve ever seen with that. And they’re building it with our money.”
Contrary Perspective
While Trump views this moment in history as critical, The New York Times sees it through a darker lens. To assess Trump’s first 100 days, the paper invited 15 columnists to contribute short essays detailing their most significant observations in a feature titled First Draft of a New America. Here is a summary of what some of them opined.
Michelle Goldberg, a socially progressive commentator, succinctly framed one of the administration’s biggest concerns: “No citizenship, no rights.” She was referring to Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was mistakenly deported despite having no criminal charges in the U.S. Ross Douthat, a conservative Christian columnist sometimes called Vice President Vance’s voice by The Wall Street Journal, warned: “Trump’s tariffs are the right-wing populists’ dream come true, which will turn into a nightmare for Trump, unless he retreats.”
Bret Stephens, a conservative and former Jerusalem Post editor, reflected on Trump’s now-infamous Oval Office meltdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “All the meeting accomplished was to give America’s friends and foes a clearer sense of the dangerously self-infatuated fool in the White House.”
David Brooks, Conservative and arguably the most cerebral NYT columnist, was clear that stupidity defines this administration, and why should it not? “If you create an organization in which everybody has to flatter the ruling narcissist, then stupidity will be the result.” Carlos Lozada, Peruvian-American and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, lamented the firing of dozen plus inspector-generals who were watchdogs over a wide range of government branches and noted: If Trump really wanted to eliminate waste and malfeasance, why would he “terminate officials responsible for identifying hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud?”
Gail Collins, doyen among political commentators, recalled Trump renaming Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America on Day 1 and mused: “Who does things like this? Kings, maybe, which is Trump’s mind-set.”
Lydia Polgreen, ex India hand for NYT, contrasted the high public support for the Trump administration anti-migrants’ measures with the aspirational statement by acting ICE director on deporting illegals from the United States without due process: “We need to get better at treating this like a business.” It should work like Amazon’s Prime, “but with human beings.” That, concluded Polygreen, amounts to “turning American constitutional democracy into fascism with the click of a button, an arrow and a smirking smile.”
Thomas Friedman, who needs no introduction, recalled Trump’s dismissal of top Pentagon officials over their apparent lack of loyalty to the President – reportedly at the urging of conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. He noted that similar purges occur in another army he covers: the People’s Liberation Army of China. He concluded: “I never dreamed of drawing that comparison before. Who knew it would take only 100 days?”
Maureen Dowd, an op-ed columnist for 30 years, recalled Trump’s announcement of a 90-day tariff pause, citing bondholders becoming, in his words, a little “tippy” (meaning unsteady). However, most observers – except Trump’s supporters – believe the real tipping point came when bondholders began seriously considering selling U.S. Treasury Bonds, often likened to gold. Dowd sighed with relief, noting that, on rare occasions, reality manages to pierce Trump’s make-believe world.
Ezra Klein, arguably the second most cerebral NYT columnist, said the pivotal moment defining Trump 2.0 came last July when he chose JD Vance as the VP nominee after Vance declined to aver that he too would do what VP Mike Pence did when Pence resisted Trump’s directive to nullify the 2020 vote. “It revealed that Trump’s second term would offer no concessions, contain no skeptics. The ferocity and recklessness of this presidency are by design,” Klein concluded.
Public Perception and Polling Trends
So how does the public see Trump 2.0? According to RealClearPolitics’ polling average, his approval ratings have declined by 5.2 percentage points in the last three months, while disapproval has climbed by 8.1 points – producing a net negative swing of 13.3 points.
This marks a significant decline from Trump’s first week in office, when he had 50.5% approval and 44.3% disapproval. The data suggests that many voters who were open to giving Trump a chance – but were not ardent MAGA supporters – are now disillusioned. His disapproval ratings among Hispanics, independents, moderates, and voters under 30 have risen from 45% at the beginning of his term to 60% today. As many as 47% of registered voters say Trump is performing worse than expected and 31% say he’s exceeding expectations.
Trump’s most touted achievement is his near-complete halt of illegal immigration. Unsurprisingly, his approval remains highest in this area. However, even here, cracks are beginning to show: A majority of Americans believe his deportation measures have gone “too far” and are “too harsh.” Even voters who support Trump’s immigration goals believe his administration is moving too fast, without regard for legal protections.
Perhaps most troubling for Trump are broader concerns about governance. As many as 66% of Americans polled describe his administration as chaotic, and 80% of voters want policies to be implemented carefully, minimizing mistakes. A majority believe the administration should not ignore Supreme Court rulings, eliminate Congressional programs, or impose tariffs without legislative approval.
Will Trump pay attention to growing concerns and reconsider his tariff strategy? Perhaps – especially with warning signals flashing across key economic indicators. The U.S. economy contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter, largely due to heightened imports as companies stockpiled inventory ahead of impending tariffs. Weakening consumer spending also played a role. As a result, net imports subtracted 5% from GDP – the largest single-quarter negative impact from trade since 1947.
While retail prices for everyday goods have remained steady, major retailers warn they won’t be able to hold the line much longer. Some products have already been discontinued to avoid tariff-induced price hikes.
Yet, it’s equally plausible that Trump will remain steadfast on an issue he has championed for four decades. Take Jeff Bezos, for instance. Amazon was preparing to label how much tariffs contributed to item prices—similar to how tax components are displayed. With U.S. tariffs rising from an average of 2% to 22%, the transparency could have made a significant impact. However, upon learning of the plan, Trump reportedly called Bezos and warned that such a move would be viewed as “hostile and political.” Amazon quickly dropped the idea.
Trump appears as committed as ever to his tariff agenda.
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author