In his first 100 days, President Donald Trump exerted his power in a sweep and scale that has no easy historical comparison.
His actions target the architecture of the New Deal and the Great Society, but they hardly stop there. He is also rewriting the Reagan Republican orthodoxy of free trade and strong international alliances. All of it is in service of fundamentally altering the role of government in American life and the U.S. place in the world.
President Donald Trump, left, holds a sabre after using it to cut a cake as first lady Melania Trump, right, watches at the Commander in Chief Ball, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
President Donald Trump holds up an executive order after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
To implement parts of his vision, he deployed the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, to dismantle the federal workforce, deciding only after the fact if the cuts had gone too far.
Trump also has unilaterally declared the power to remake the post-World War II alliance with Europe that has largely maintained peace for nearly 80 years. The Republican president has made extraordinary emergency declarations to rewrite the rules of global trade, setting off panic in markets and capitals around the world. And he has ordered the removal of immigrants to a prison in El Salvador without judicial review.
Alejandra Rodriguez, 9, of Key Largo, Fla., watches as college students protest in support of the Department of Education, Thursday, March 20, 2025, outside the department in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Elon Musk flashes his t-shirt that reads “DOGE” to the media as he walks on South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, arrives for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prepares to give a television interview after being with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s choice to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, appears before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Donald Trump, right, meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Mystyslav Chernov)
President Donald Trump, greets Marc Fogel at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Mike Pistillo Jr., center, works with other traders on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Workers harvest cabbage Wednesday, March 5, 2025, on a field less than ten miles from the border with Mexico, in Holtville, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Empty aluminum cans for beer sit at the old Irving Brewing Co. in Chicago, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A member of the Seattle Fire Department inspects a burned Tesla Cybertruck at a Tesla lot in Seattle, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
The U.S. Border with Mexico is seen in an aerial view Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, near San Diego. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers use a chain to more comfortably restrain a detained person using handcuffs positioned in front, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women’s or girls’ sporting events, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Supporters of President Donald Trump ride with an effigy of him in their vehicle past other supporters gathered for a Presidents Day rally outside the Trump International Golf Club, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Ashley Warbington is removed from a House committee meeting on immigration by State Troopers during a special session of the legislature Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Members of Congress hold up signs as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw he received from Argentina’s President Javier Milei, right, as they arrive to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump gestures to supporters gathered for a Presidents Day rally as he leaves the Trump International Golf Club, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A crowd gathers in Foley Square, outside the Manhattan federal court, in support of Mahmoud Khalil, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
President Donald Trump, center, walks from Air Force Force One after landing at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in New Orleans, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, ahead of the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
