With 100 days now in the books, how are Americans feeling?

USA Today

01-05-2025

With 100 days now in the books, how are Americans feeling? | The Excerpt
On a special episode (first released on April 30, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: As of today, President Donald Trump has been in office for 100 days. In that short span of time, he has transformed American government. From public health to the economy, immigration to education, the second Trump Administration has affected changes that are singular in their scope and the speed at which they were made. While some Americans are pleased with Trump's policies and executive orders, they've also thrust many Americans into uncertainty, anxiety and in some cases, detention. Listeners and viewers of The Excerpt should be very familiar with what Trump's done in the past 100 days because The Excerpt has been breathlessly covering every executive order, every firing, every cut. But what's been the impact to ordinary Americans? How are they feeling at Day 100? USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes joins The Excerpt to share reporting from across the network on how Americans are feeling.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here
Jennifer Miller:
Eggs used to be under $3. Now the cheapest I've found them is six.
Brenda Wilson:
I just want to give some of the benefit of the doubt and more time to see where everything goes.
Larry Mays:
Unadulterated non-stop chaos is not an environment in which a small business can be successful.
Jennifer Miller:
I don't see how the tariffs' costs are going to not trickle down to consumers.
Russell Johnson:
I agree with President Trump's immigration policies and actions. Yes, I do.
Andre Lewis:
I really do wish you would get rid of all the criminals. I'm all for it.
Dana Taylor:
Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, April 30th, 2025. As of today, President Donald Trump has been in office for 100 days. In that short span of time, he's transformed American government, from public health to the economy, national security to education. The second Trump administration has affected changes that are singular in their scope and the speed at which they're made. While some Americans are pleased with Trump's policies and executive orders, they've also thrust many Americans into uncertainty, anxiety, and in some cases, detention. Our loyal listeners and viewers should be very familiar with what Trump's done in the past 100 days, because The Excerpt has been breathlessly covering every executive order, every firing, every cut. But what's been the impact to ordinary Americans? How are they feeling at day 100? Joining us to delve deeper into this is USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes. Thanks for joining me, Trevor.
Trevor Hughes:
You bet. Glad to be here.
Dana Taylor:
You spoke to several people across the nation about their impressions of Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. One of those individuals was Tracy Dixon. What's her story?
Trevor Hughes:
Tracy lives in Independence, Missouri with her wife. She's a certified nursing assistant. And she says that life has never been harder than it is today. Gas prices are still high, although they've come down a little bit. Food costs are still high, although they aren't rising quite as much as they were. And wages are not going up in a way that allows people to afford those things. And so she, like millions of us, are really feeling that pinch. She did not vote for President Trump. She felt like she couldn't get time off of work during the election to do that. But she was hopeful that he would bring a significant economic change to the country, especially rapidly as he had promised.
Dana Taylor:
Is her experience similar to others you spoke to?
Trevor Hughes:
Yeah. We've heard this from around the country. My colleagues and I have been doing interviews with hundreds and hundreds of Americans. We did this before the election and we're doing it now. And one of the things we're finding is that a lot of folks who really wanted to see President Trump swept into office, because he had what they believed was a better economic plan, they're still waiting to see it. Again, gas prices are down a little bit. Food costs haven't risen as much, but folks are really feeling the pinch. You see that in the increase in credit card debt. You see that in the increase in auto loan delinquencies. I mean, people are really, really feeling the pinch still.
Dana Taylor:
Trevor, how is Trump's second term impacting Americans differently than his first?
Trevor Hughes:
I covered President Trump's first term. And when you look back on it, he was still kind of a more traditional president in a traditional role. He had ideas about what he wanted to accomplish, but he tried to work through Congress. He tried to work through legislation. What we've seen in the second term is that they have come out of the gate far, far faster. They had a better plan and how to do this, and they understood the power of the executive. Now, the presidency is very powerful, especially when you think about how slow moving Congress can be and how remote the judiciary can be. And so, President Trump has really taken advantage of his ability to issue these executive orders and tell the government what to do. And that has allowed him to reshape the country very, very rapidly. Of course, a lot of courts have struck down some of those executive orders, but the lesson stands, the president has come out really with a very muscular approach to the presidency.
Dana Taylor:
Let's dig in deeper, starting with the economy. Donald Trump promised to change the economy, improve inflation, and bring down prices. So far that hasn't happened. The latest polling shows that six out of 10 Americans disapprove of the tariffs he's imposed. What's the general mood among Americans about the economy right now?
Trevor Hughes:
Well, I'll tell you, talking to folks who did not support the president for the White House, those folks are saying, "Well, we told you so." A lot of folks saying, "How could it be that Vice President Harris had economic plans that were endorsed by economists, that were widely supported by leading banks, and then you have President Trump come into office? And what he's done is not that. But he's done exactly what he said he would do. And so, a lot of his supporters, a lot of his very strongest supporters, they honestly don't care in the short term. They're telling me, and I heard from quite a lot of them over the weekend, that it's worth this pain to reshape the government, to reshape how we work as a society. And they're willing to accept that short-term pain. But again, there's a lot of folks who did not vote for the president who are saying, "We told you so and look where we're at."
Dana Taylor:
Tariffs were a key talking point for Trump on the campaign trail. And while he delivered on that front, the ping-ponging, as you write, has sent the market into turmoil. How did tariffs directly impacted Americans so far?
Trevor Hughes:
Well, I'll tell you, my wife works for a big American furniture manufacturer. I mean, they make furniture here in this country. And every day, I hear her on calls talking with her bosses, talking with her customers. What impact do the tariffs have? What are they going to have? How are we going to adapt? Do we pass these costs on to consumers? I think the honest truth is we have not really yet seen the full impact of the actual tariffs. We've seen the fear of the tariffs reflected in pricing and uncertainty, but I think Americans may discover shortly that things are going to get a lot more expensive.
Dana Taylor:
We've talked a lot on the show about DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk. Just recently, Musk said he would step back from spending time with the Trump administration. This comes after profits for his car company, Tesla, plummeted 71%. Elon Musk was appointed by Trump to address government bloat, which is something many Americans wanted, at least on paper. How do Americans feel about cuts to government budgets and jobs?
Trevor Hughes:
I think what we've been hearing from a lot of folks is this uncertainty has really rattled them. People are pulling back on their spending. People are canceling trips. People are not planning trips. When I talk to supporters of the president, again, they say the short-term pain, the short-term frustration is worth it. And frankly, the government was too big and it had its fingers in every little pie everywhere. And that wasn't really appropriate for a country like ours. But what I hear over and over again is, sure, no, I don't want my tax dollars wasted, but there's a difference between my tax dollars being wasted and my tax dollars no longer being able to support children getting free breakfast at schools anymore.
I think it has also really shaken the faith of a lot of Americans who didn't realize that one president could make this kind of change this rapidly. Again, the courts have overturned a lot of the president's decisions or a lot of his efforts, but what we've seen is he's injected a lot of uncertainty. And I think that has shaken a lot of Americans, and how they saw the government, and thought it was consistent, and stable and predictable. And businesses find that very difficult to work in that environment.
Dana Taylor:
Let's shift from economics to education, where there've been many, many changes. In fact, shortly after taking office, Trump said he wanted Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "put herself out of a job." What have you heard from students and families on this front?
Trevor Hughes:
Again, a lot of uncertainty, because the president has issued these executive orders. The president has declared things to be, and then courts have stopped that. I have friends whose kids are on what are known as individualized educational plans. These are kids who need extra support in schools. And they are particularly worried because a lot of that kind of money comes from the federal government. There's this sense that we are not really sure what's happening. And that lack of certainty seems to have really frustrated a lot of folks. There are many, many Americans who are happy to see efforts that DEI rolled back to sort of get woke ideology, as they say, out of schools, but it's how much that will affect individual students' educations. And I think parents are a little concerned about that.
Dana Taylor:
Immigration has been on Trump's agenda since his first term when he promised to build a wall between the US and Mexico. This time around, he's empowered ICE agents to round up and deport just about anyone who fits a particular profile, US legal status notwithstanding. We've heard a lot about the Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. What have the Americans you spoke with said about Trump's actions on immigration?
Trevor Hughes:
I interviewed a young man who lives on Cape Cod, and he is happy that gas prices are down. He's happy that he's got a job that pays a little more than it was paying before. It means he's quit his second job, but he saw a friend of his deported. Cape Cod has a lot of Brazilians, because they have a strong Portuguese fishing heritage there. And this young man that I interviewed, he said, "I think there should've been a better process for weeding out the good people from the bad people. But overall, this is what it takes to get our country back." I've talked to a lot of people who are very happy to see what the president is doing to remove folks who are living in this country without permission. There is a lot of anger still about how Biden administered the border.
On the flip side, we've seen a lot of folks in this country who are very, very worried about seeing their friends and their neighbors and their coworkers, their loved ones being deported, being removed, being detained. My colleague, Lauren, had a fascinating interview a few months ago with a woman who was picked up because she had overstayed her visa during COVID. Her husband was a Trump voter and the story of that, because her husband was saying, "I support stricter enforcement, but my wife? That doesn't make sense."
Dana Taylor:
Trump has pushed out over 120 executive orders since he took office. And I think, fair to say, expanded on executive power. What does the general public say about that?
Trevor Hughes:
President Trump has a very muscular approach to the presidency. I mean, he is operating like the businessman, CEO, he said he would. This is a man who's accustomed to being in charge of things and just telling people to do it. It's been interesting because the United States government isn't really set up to work that way. The presidency, and Congress, and the judiciary are three separate and equal branches of government. And so, there are plenty of Americans that we've talked to who have a lot of concerns about not necessarily what the President is doing, but that Congress hasn't stepped in to say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're the ones who decide how money gets spent. We're the ones who fund everything." And this criticism from the Trump administration over the judiciary.
The Trump administration often criticizes the judiciary for being these left wing radical judges. And there are a lot of Americans that I've talked to who are very uncomfortable with this idea of attacking judges because you don't like the ruling that they have made. And I think that has raised a lot of concerns. We've seen this concern about a possible constitutional crisis if the Trump administration is ordered to do something by perhaps the Supreme Court and they refuse to do it.
Dana Taylor:
A recent Pew poll asked people to describe what they liked most about the new administration's actions. 30% of those surveyed replied nothing. What did Trump supporters tell you they liked about Trump's impact since taking office?
Trevor Hughes:
I mean, the folks I've talked to are happy because they say he's doing everything he said he would do. Those of us who covered the campaign, I pay attention to this every single day. It's my job. The president hasn't done anything that has taken me by surprise. I think there are a lot of Americans who are really shocked at how far he has taken some of these things, but he promised to do these things. He said, "I will cut the size of government. I will drain the swamp. I will close the border. I will really go after immigration. I will go after woke ideology and DEI." I mean, these are things that he has said he would do, and he is doing them. A lot of Americans I've talked to are alarmed that we have moved so far, so fast. And there's a lot of this, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, can we talk about this a little bit? But the Republicans that I've talked to that support the president, they say, "Elections have consequences. We won the election, and this is what we get."
Dana Taylor:
It's always good to hear your insights. Trevor, thank you for being on The Excerpt.
Trevor Hughes:
Absolutely.
Dana Taylor:
Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaylee Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer's Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to [e-mail]. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor, Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.