Here are 10 ways Donald Trump failed us in his first 100 days in office | Opinion
President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office have been remarkable — but not in a good way. And certainly not in the way our president sees them.
“I feel that we’ve had a very successful presidency in 100 days,” he told Time magazine in a recent interview. Polls tell a different story. According to a CNN survey, the president’s approval rating has dipped to 41%. The only other president in modern history to score such a low rating at the 100-day mark was Trump himself, in 2017.
So what, exactly, went wrong?
McClatchy’s California opinion writers and editors compiled a Top 10 list of the president’s most outrageous actions. The hardest part about this undertaking was stopping at ten Trump failures. There are so many more, such as pardoning 1,500 January 6 criminals or empowering billionaire Elon Musk to dismantle crucial government services.
But here is our list of the top 10 ways Trump has failed us:
10. Remaking the world map
Like a caricature of a dictator, Trump declared that the Gulf of Mexico would now be known as the Gulf of America. He keeps saying Canada should be our 51st state — just one way Trump has alienated and insulted one of America’s most important partners. He’s also sent two-bit emissaries to size up Greenland and its 56,000 residents.
As Canadians voted for a new prime minister on Monday, Trump trumpeted himself on social media as the best candidate. “Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses QUADRUPLE in size, with ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st state,” he posted. What a clown.
9. Gutting funds for medical research
Finding a cure for cancer is high on everyone’s list — except for our president’s.
The gutting of medical research grants has mostly flown under the radar, but it’s a tragedy-in-the-making for future generations. A recent study shows that the National Institutes of Health has scaled back at least $2.3 billion in new grants since Trump took office. That funding would have supported research for infectious diseases and heart and lung ailments.
It gets worse: More than $2 billion in grants and contracts to Harvard have been frozen, stalling research on cancer, tuberculosis and the effects of environmental pollution on health. Dozens more grants to other agencies and universities have been terminated — a blow to studies of emerging diseases, HIV/Aids, mental health and substance abuse.
8. Appointing a Keystone-Cops cabinet
There are so many unqualified, unfit and unhinged choices here, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, take the cake
Hegseth used an insecure commercial phone-messaging system, Signal, to share details of U.S. war plans during a campaign to bomb Houthi rebels threatening shipping on the Red Sea. Numerous media reports tell of dysfunction in the Pentagon, the largest bureaucracy in the U.S. government.
Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, has eliminated scientists who worked on new vaccines. He has closed offices that ensure drug safety and safe drinking water at the expense of the 10,000 employees who staffed them. Kennedy recently said environmental factors, not genetics, are behind a higher prevalence of autism spectrum disorder. Researchers disputed Kennedy’s comments.
7. Claiming transgender people do not exist
“It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” it states. “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” (Instead of using the term “transgender,” the federal government appears to be opting for the phrase, “diagnosed with gender dysphoria.”)
The Department of Defense is trying to remove transgender service members from the military, though that is being challenged in court.
That we’re even having this discussion puts vulnerable people in danger. It’s our government as a menacing force.
6. Shaming Zelensky
You would almost think that Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, was the enemy and Russian President Vladimir Putin was the savior, rather than a dictator who ruthlessly invaded a sovereign nation. But here we are, our president siding with despots.
5. Illegal deportations
The administration has repeatedly and erroneously deported American citizens, including a 4-year-old child battling metastatic cancer sent with his mother to her native Honduras — a move that U.S. border czar Tom Homan vigorously defended.
Trump plans to further move against “sanctuary cities” that provide refuge to immigrants, according to CNN. Trump’s persecution of immigrants will be remembered as ethnic profiling as bad or worse than some of the darkest moments of targeting communities in our nation’s history.
4. The war on DEI
Trump has criminalized efforts to achieve more diverse and inclusive workplaces, admissions and hiring practices and combat racism and gender discrimination. While his actions play well with the white supremacy crowd, the president has threatened to withhold funding for public schools with DEI programs and fired hundreds of federal employees previously involved with DEI programs and initiatives.
3. Those ‘beautiful’ tariffs
What has stuck, so far, is the tariff on all goods from China exceeding 100%. This is not causing factories to close in China and for new ones in the United States to open. American consumers get higher prices, markets plummet, and don’t even look at your 401 K.
2. Environmental degradation
It wasn’t enough for Trump to cancel $20 billion in clean air and affordable energy grants and to block offshore wind development.
Trump also signed orders that granted coal-fired power plants a two-year reprieve from a requirement to reduce harmful emissions; allowed some older coal plants scheduled for retirement to continue operating; and directed federal agencies to identify coal deposits on public land and to prioritize leasing.
1. Supreme Court defiance
Trump is disregarding due process and, so far, ignoring an order from the U.S Supreme Court. By refusing to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an undocumented immigrant whom the Trump administration wrongly deported in March, Trump is setting up a constitutional crisis.
The 5th Amendment of the United States Constitution says, “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law.”
The American democracy is built on three co-equal branches of government. This system is broken if the executive branch, led by the president, disregards an order from the judiciary. It’s broken when a president decides who is entitled to constitutional rights and who isn’t. In other countries, such as China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, undermining judges led to repression and loss of rights and liberties. If Trump won’t comply in the Abrego Garcia case, what’s next?
This story was originally published April 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Here are 10 ways Donald Trump failed us in his first 100 days in office | Opinion."