What to Expect During Donald Trump’s First 100 Days

When Donald Trump won the 2024 Presidential Election over Vice President Kamala Harris, many were shocked, including some Republicans who weren’t sure that American voters would put Trump back in office. They did, and they did so convincingly.

President Trump becomes the first man since Grover Cleveland to serve two non-consecutive terms in the Oval Office after winning the popular vote by more than 3 million and securing 312 Electoral College votes.

For years, presidents have rallied support from their constituents and policymakers by outlining their plans for their first 100 days in office.

Since his convincing victory on Election Day, President Trump has been building his cabinet, which has included some selections that have been widely supported and others that have been criticized. However, these decisions are directly linked to President Trump’s first 100 days in office.

It's also important to note that the Republicans earned a majority of the seats in the US Senate and have already seized a majority in the House of Representatives. When combined with the largely conservative nature of the Supreme Court, there’s little standing between the President Elect and his plans for his second term.

Administrative Actions

It is widely expected that President Trump will hit the ground running with many of the programs that he discussed during his campaign after he is sworn into office on January 20, 2025. Of course, much of the once-and-future President’s campaign was built on addressing illegal immigration.

Traditionally, presidents usually focus on undoing programs and policies that were put into place by the other party in their first 100 days. This is not expected to change after Donald Trump officially begins his second term on January 21, 2025.

During his term, President Joe Biden enacted many policies designed to protect immigrants, which means this is likely where President Trump will start.

The President Elect has already announced that Tom Homan will serve as his Border Czar. Homan has a history with President Trump, having served as the director of ICE during Trump’s first term. He’s been a vocal proponent of the President’s plans to execute the largest deportation of illegal immigrants that the United States has ever seen.

There are some potential financial drawbacks associated with President Trump’s deportation plan. Some analysts believe it will cost more than $7 billion to carry out his detailed plan which could involve revoking the protected status of some immigrants who do not have full citizenship in the US.

There are also questions about how these deportations will impact various areas of the economy, including the labor force in blue-collar industries such as farming and construction. The creation of a new department is believed to be linked to Donald Trump’s plans to launch a mass deportation effort.

In addition to his plans to remove illegal and undocumented immigrants from the US, President Trump has also pledged to work toward creating a more efficient federal government.

This process has already begun, as he announced that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy would co-head the Department of Government Efficiency, a newly formed department that will focus on identifying and eliminating government waste.

Ramaswamy has long been considered a potential Republican candidate for president and some pundits believe that an official role in President Trump’s cabinet may be the first step toward making his dreams of holding the Oval Office a reality.

President Trump’s Economic Plans

Based on exit polls, President Trump’s campaign promises to save the struggling American economy helped propel him to a second term.

While Vice President Harris and the Democrats largely campaigned on a social platform that focused on building on President Biden’s DEI initiatives and protecting minorities and marginalized people groups, the Republicans directed a lot of attention to the economy.

Exit polls published by CBS News underscored the frustration that the majority of voters are experiencing with the economy, especially when it comes to inflation. In addition to the cost of goods soaring, the US housing market continues to sputter along, as rates have struggled to get below 5.4% throughout most of President Biden’s term in office.

President Trump has promised to enact tariffs on Chinese goods, a duplication of a decision that he made in his first term in office, which lasted from 2016 through 2020. Doubters of the President’s plans pointed toward the trade war that those tariffs resulted in, and since Donald Trump has vowed to increase those tariffs in his second tenure as President, they fear that the trade war may get even worse.

On the Republican side of the aisle, President Trump and the Republicans don’t seem to be too concerned about a trade war, as the President Elect has made it clear that he wants to encourage American businesses to produce goods, and hopes to make it more financially feasible for them to do so. By placing astronomical tariffs on Chinese-produced goods, he’s expected to make that a reality.

President Trump’s first 100 days are also expected to see some changes to the way that overtime is taxed, as well as tips. When asked about how he was going to make life more affordable for the middle class, President Trump explained that he intended to eliminate income tax on overtime hours and that he would sign an order that made tips untaxable income.

It remains to be seen what these programs would look like in practice though. Some doubters believe that employers will simply change how overtime works in their businesses to circumvent these practices.

Another method of improving the American economy discussed in President Trump’s campaign involved rolling back some of the environmental orders that were put into place while the Democrats were in power. This includes his plans to increase the amount of fracking that’s done in the US, as well as loosening the environmental restrictions that govern how many businesses, especially those who focus on manufacturing, operate.

What Can You Expect During President Trump’s First 100 Days?

The President’s plans to “Make America Great Again” have been at the center of countless debates since he launched his initial campaign nearly a decade ago.

While we do not know exactly how many of these plans he’ll be able to set into motion during the first 100 days of his second term, we do know that he’s unlikely to face much resistance, as the Republicans won control of both the House and the Senate.