In
March 1933, almost 25% of the civilian labor force (15,500,000 people!) were
unemployed. And on his inauguration day, the most immediate challenge facing the
new president was the imminent collapse of the US banking system.
Jonathan
Alter is an American journalist and best-selling author. One of his
significant books is The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph
of Hope (2006). On the first page of his book, Alter avers that in March
1933 the U.S. was experiencing “its greatest crisis since the Civil War.”
The
U.S. was in relatively good shape when Trump was inaugurated on January 20,
2025. Of course, there were problems, but the recovery from the debilitating COVID-19 pandemic
was better than that of the world’s other industrialized countries. The
unemployment rate was low (4%), and the inflation rate was down to 3% from the
pandemic peak of over 9% in 2022.
In
the very first paragraph of his inaugural address, Trump said that “the golden
age of America begins right now.” He vowed that every single day he would put
America first and that his top priority would be “to create a nation that is
proud, prosperous, and free.” He emphasized how bad things were currently and
declared that “from this moment on, America’s decline is over.”
To
a large extent, his promise to “make America great again” meant going back to
the way things were before Roosevelt. That had long been the strong desire of
right-wing politicians and a large segment of U.S. citizens who had long
listened to easily accessible conservative “talk radio” programs and Fox News
telecasts. Trump’s campaign rhetoric exploited that desire.
In
the early 2010s, I was teaching a night class at Rockhurst University in Kansas
City, and on the way home I would listen to a local AM station. That meant I
often heard the rantings of Mark Levin.*3 He often said the
U.S. needed to go back to the way it was 80 years ago, and I finally realized
he meant going back to the way things were before FDR.
So,
what are the five most harmful things Trump has done during these first 100
days of his second
term? The following is my tentative list with only brief comments about
each—and I could be persuaded to revise my list by readers who suggest
something they see as worse or who think these “worse five’ should be ordered
differently.
1)
Harm to world peace.
Because of Trump’s rhetoric and actions, the likelihood of warfare with the use
of tactical or even strategic nuclear weapons has become greater in the last
100 days. His coziness with Putin, his negative views of NATO, and the current
tariff war with China are troublesome signs of what might possibly happen in
the not-so-distant future.
2)
Harm to the global environment.
On inauguration day, Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. to
again withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement. Then here in the
U.S., he has made multiple moves to do away with environmental programs
designed to slow global warming and ecological collapse.
3)
Harm to needy people at home and abroad. In February, the Trump administration said it is
eliminating more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion
in overall U.S. assistance, which eliminates the majority of U.S. development
and humanitarian help abroad. Other cuts remove funding designed to help the
neediest people in the U.S.
4)
Harm to the worldwide economy.
As CNN posted on April 28, “Trump took the US economy to the
brink of a crisis in just 100 days.” On the same day, Reuters wrote, “Risks are high that the global
economy will slip into recession this year, according to … a Reuters poll, in
which scores [of economists] said U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs have
damaged business sentiment.”
5)
Harm to the rule of law.
Domestically, Trump’s furor over migrants in the U.S. has led to the repeated
rejection of “due process,” which is the bedrock foundation of the rule of law.
According to CBS on April 23, Trump “is now arguing undocumented migrants
should not be given a trial where they could challenge being removed from the
country.”
_____
*1 According to the conclusions of
the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project (see
here), Roosevelt
ranked number two, following Abraham Lincoln, and Trump was 45th,
dead last—and there is ample reason to think that Trump’s second term so far is
worse than his first.
*2 The words cited are those of
Naftali Bendavid, the senior national political correspondent of the Washington
Post. “Trump claims mantle of FDR’s first 100 days, but differences are stark” was
the title of his April 28 post.
*3 As I learned on Wikipedia, “A 2016 study which sought to measure incendiary discourse on talk radio and TV found that Levin scored highest on its measure of ‘outrage’." He also “helped to legitimate the use of uncivil discourse.” Earlier this month, Trump appointed Levin to become a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council. It is not hard to understand why Trump appreciates what Levin has been saying on talk radio for so long and more recently on Fox News.
Note: To those of you who like statistics, I encourage you to take a look at "How Low Can Trump Go" a Substack post made yesterday by Rachel Bitecofer regarding Trump's polling numbers (click here--and let me know if you have trouble accessing Rachel's Substack post).