Has Trump lost his way?

Donald Trump started his second term with a bang. Riding high on a decisive electoral victory, he immediately began issuing a wave of executive orders that tore down the Biden regime’s policies on censorship, lawfare, gender ideology and border control. This rapid-fire, ‘shock and awe’ phase gave the impression of a new administration with a strong sense of purpose and dynamism.

But as Trump’s second term reaches the 100-day mark, the positive buzz around him has gone. After a series of missteps in recent weeks, his hyperactive approach now appears more reckless than strategic. It is certainly raising questions about whether he has the competence to deliver on his ambitious agenda.

And the American people have noticed. As Trump reaches 100 days in office, a slew of polls show that his support is dropping. According to RealClearPolitics, his average approval rating is at 45 per cent, down from 50 per cent when he entered the Oval Office for a second time.

The biggest factor driving Trump’s troubles is obvious: his tariff policy. A CNN poll shows that only 28 per cent believe Trump’s tariffs are a good idea. His trade-warring instincts have roiled stock markets and created great uncertainty. And they are now making Americans pessimistic about his management of the economy, with 59 per cent saying Trump has made the economy worse.

Trump’s tariff policy is a huge own goal. After the Biden years, Americans were looking for lower prices and stability. Now, nearly three-quarters of Americans believe tariffs will raise prices. That was the one thing they wanted Trump to avoid. While he mentioned tariffs (‘the most beautiful word’) on the campaign trail, he gave no indication that they would be so sweeping and disruptive. He promised a Golden Age for the economy, but now says Americans need to suffer some short-term ‘pain’ to get there. The prospect of a period of self-inflicted pain has made many people unhappy.

Tariffs aren’t the only issue. Talk of making Canada the 51st state, annexing Greenland, regaining the Panama Canal and re-naming the Gulf of Mexico all seem random and off-topic. While many of Trump’s executive orders have been positive, his dream of global conquest is undermining their impact. Instead of a serious statesman, he appears more like a mad king, barking out his orders on a whim.

Beyond tariffs, Canada and Greenland, Trump’s moves on the world stage have brought instability. He seems to be wilfully knocking down an already rickety world order, while lacking any vision for what comes next. On Ukraine, he has alienated America’s Western allies, insulted Volodymyr Zelensky and emboldened Vladimir Putin. And peace seems as far away as ever.

There is one area where Trump has been resolute and achieved remarkable results: stopping the influx of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border. Migrant crossings are down by 99.99 per cent – the lowest level in recorded history. In his address to Congress in March, Trump said, ‘The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation… But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president.’

He has had success in other areas, too. He has cut wasteful government spending through the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, and restored sane policies on sex and gender.

So, to be sure, many Americans still like the direction Trump is moving in. They prefer Trumpian executive actions to Biden’s naps. They like the idea of rebuilding American manufacturing. They agree with deporting criminals who have entered the country illegally. And they have no problem with him taking on the cultural elite of the Ivy League.

But even when Trump does tackle the issues that voters want him to, his lack of focus and discipline lets him down. The question is less about Trump’s agenda than it is about his team’s capacity and competence to execute it – both of which appear to be lacking.

Take deportations. The administration recently sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador, despite a previous judicial order forbidding him from being sent there. In response, Trump officials first said it was an ‘administrative error’, before later claiming that the deportation was legal after all. They just couldn’t get their story straight. Garcia’s case has not caused a constitutional crisis, as Democrats claim, and many will not sympathise with him, given his alleged involvement in the violent MS-13 gang. But the administration’s clumsy handling of Garcia’s case still makes Trump and Co look alarmingly inept.

Similarly, the Trump team has bungled its attempts to hold elite universities accountable for potential civil-rights violations related to anti-Semitism. His administration has threatened to withhold funding from some 60 institutions unless they implement certain changes. The first target, Columbia University, acceded to his demands. It banned the wearing of face masks on campus demos, a regular sight on the menacing pro-Gaza protests, and has taken the Middle East department out of faculty control, following accusations of anti-Israel bias against numerous academics. But Trump’s team has screwed up with the next in line, Harvard University. After sending a letter with sweeping demands, the White House claimed the letter was sent prematurely and retracted it. Seizing on this misstep, Harvard is leading the resistance to Trump. It has even claimed to be doing so in the name of academic freedom and free speech – which is grimly ironic given its awful treatment of certain, politically inconvenient professors, like Ronald Sullivan or Roland Fryer.

Trump’s incompetence and erratic policymaking run the risk of undermining the positive and necessary steps his administration has taken.

Yet for all of Trump’s woes, his one saving grace is that the Democrats have yet to get their act together. Americans know that, while Trump screws up at times, at least he admits that immigration and DEI are real problems that need to be fixed. And it’s still the case that Trump appears more in tune with the working class. A recent Washington Post poll found that 42 per cent of registered voters believe Trump is in touch with the concerns of most people, in contrast with only 29 per cent believing the same of Democrats.

Trump promised to be a disruptive president – but he is now in danger of disrupting and undermining his own presidency. He creates unnecessary and unproductive chaos around him. But it is within his power to turn things around.

A hundred days in, it’s still early in his second term. Could Trump’s famed political instincts, and his desire for popularity, lead him to change course, limit his battles and instill some discipline? We shall see.

Sean Collins is a writer based in New York. Visit his blog, The American Situation.