Leubsdorf: Trump’s wild first 100 days

And his on-again, off-again imposition of stiff import tariffs has sapped consumer confidence at home and created uncertainty throughout the global trading system.

Trump has governed by granting himself a vast increase in unauthorized presidential power, seeking to weaken traditionally independent branches of government and challenging the law that requires the executive branch to spend the money Congress appropriated and maintain the programs it authorized.

Roosevelt’s reforms, rubber-stamped by a Democratic Congress, expanded government’s authority to help needy Americans. Trump’s initiatives, acquiesced in by supportive congressional Republicans, would limit its ability to help them, though federal courts have questioned or halted many of his unilateral actions.

Court challenges have also contributed to a slow start of his efforts to deport millions who came here illegally, starting with gang members and others with criminal records. But Trump was able, through stricter enforcement, to stem the flow of illegal entrants on the Southern border.

Overall, he is succeeding where previous Republican presidents failed to curb the vast array of federal programs and services that FDR launched in the 1930s, moderate Republicans such as Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon maintained, and recent Democrats such as Lyndon B. Johnson, Barack Obama and Joe Biden expanded.

Politico’s Daybook said correctly some weeks ago that Trump’s goal was “the wholesale destruction of the liberal state.”

And the sweeping tax cuts Trump is demanding from his congressional allies would make it harder for any successor to undo his actions by ensuring reductions in future federal revenues.

Much of the initial government dismantling stemmed from the implementation, by billionaire supporter Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” of the detailed battle plan Trump’s conservative allies developed after he left the presidency in 2021.

Applying a meat-ax approach to agency after agency, DOGE forced thousands of government employees into retirement and crippled programs that fight poverty, encourage diversity, enhance the environment, support scientific research and help disaster victims abroad, while reducing governmental assistance for veterans, taxpayers and Social Security recipients.

Meanwhile, Trump has weakened U.S. ties with its traditional allies and strengthened them with long-term adversaries by reversing key aspects of the nation’s foreign policy. He has sought rapprochement with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, including a peace agreement for Ukraine, and threatened to withdraw military support from the country’s strongest allies in Europe.

Trump’s sweeping actions, often by executive orders with questionable legal authority, have unleashed a massive political and legal counterattack. Fired employees, government unions, Democratic attorneys general and individual targets have sued to stop what they regard as illegal acts.

Their outcome may determine the extent Trump succeeds in crippling the government’s decadeslong focus on helping Americans who suffered from poverty or racial and sexual discrimination — and how much of his unilateral efforts survive.

Still, it seems likely that the changes unleashed in Trump’s first 100 days will result in a changed and a weakened America.