Seoul Gazette - Trump celebrates tumultuous 100 days in office as support slips

The 47th president will mark the milestone in trademark style, seeking to rejuvenate his base with a rally in the battleground state of Michigan that swung his way in November as he soundly defeated Kamala Harris.

Trump has shaken up the United States like few presidents before him.

His billionaire backer Elon Musk has led the decimation of the federal workforce, and the president himself has reshaped relations with the world by slapping sweeping tariffs, hard-pressing allies and eliminating the vast majority of foreign aid.

Polls show Trump has quickly seen the honeymoon that Americans historically accord presidents at the start of their terms evaporate.

A poll published Sunday by The Washington Post and ABC News found that only 39 percent of Americans approve of how Trump is conducting his presidency.

The poll showed net disapproval even on what was his most popular issue -- his aggressive crackdown on immigration -- as controversy swirls over deportations without due process.

In recent times all presidents have managed 50 percent support 100 days into their terms except Bill Clinton in 1993, who was at 49 percent, according to the Pew Research Center.

Trump angrily dismissed the polls, writing on his Truth Social platform that they are "fake" and saying: "We are doing GREAT, better than ever before."

But even famously defiant Trump has been tacitly acknowledging that he must moderate some policies as stock market turmoil takes a toll.

Global share prices advanced Tuesday on news that Trump would soften some of the sweeping tariffs impacting automakers.

He also recently backtracked on threats to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has warned that Trump's tariffs would likely reignite inflation.

- 'Having a lot of fun' -

Trump's push to remake the United States has been far broader than in his first term, when he squeaked out a shock victory over Hillary Clinton.

"The first time, I had two things to do -- run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys," he said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine, referring to advisors and cabinet members whom he considered incompetent or disloyal.

"And the second time, I run the country and the world," he said, adding "I'm having a lot of fun."

Many of the former real estate tycoon's voters remain behind him.

"He knows what he's doing," Karen Miner, a 57-year-old wine store owner in Reno, Nevada, told AFP.

Frank Tuoti, a 72-year-old retired machinist from New Hampshire, said: "So far, I'm very satisfied with the job he's doing."

But he concedes that the tariff instability has made him "a little concerned about the economy."

Now surrounded exclusively by loyalists, Trump since January 20 has also unleashed political revenge.

In the grand entrance hallway of the White House, he has moved a portrait of Barack Obama, the United States' first Black president, to make way for a painting of himself surviving an assassination attempt.

He has used threats of cutting off government access and contracts to hard-press law firms whose partners once were involved in cases against him, and he has frozen billions of dollars in funding for universities -- hotbeds of criticism against the administration.

And in the Oval Office, the Republican with a notoriously brash style has filled the historic room with golden ornaments.

- Stretching limits -

The first 100 days has been a benchmark for US presidents since Franklin Roosevelt, who transformed the country's relationship with the government through his New Deal expansion of the social safety net.

Trump has sought to go in a vastly different direction -- and has pushed the limits of presidential power by signing more than 140 executive orders.

Much of his agenda has quickly faced court scrutiny. Trump has sought to end birthright citizenship -- which is guaranteed by the US Constitution -- and Musk has summarily axed billions of dollars appropriated by Congress.

Trump has shown signs of impatience. He promised on the campaign trail to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, but Russia has rebuffed a broad ceasefire offer.

Reminded of his promise to end the war on "day one" in an interview with Time magazine, the former reality TV star responded: "Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest."

D.Sunwoo--SG