Trump’s first 100 days were a shock and awe campaign that left Democrats and federal workers reeling, but he now finds himself embroiled in multiple battles and with polling numbers that are declining.

One will be whether or not he can muscle the “one big, beautiful” reconciliation bill through a closely divided Congress. Others include working to secure an incredible 90 foreign trade deals in 90 days, battling court challenges to his immigration and economic plans, and heading off brewing foreign relations crises with China, Russia, and Iran.

TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS: WHERE THINGS STAND IN THE INITIAL MONTHS OF HIS SECOND TERM

“He’s got a lot of balls in the air,” conservative commentator Scott Jennings told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “We’ve got a lot of foreign interactions going on, whether it’s the war in Ukraine or the situation in the Middle East. They’re still in the air 100 days in, and 100 days is kind of an arbitrary deadline for solving some of these things.”

Jennings flew with Trump to his 100 day celebration rally in Michigan and spoke briefly during the proceedings. He said that rallygoers told him they’re still on board with the president’s plans, economic and otherwise, especially considering Trump’s tariff regime is largely designed with Rust Belt manufacturing workers in mind.

“What he is doing and what he is responding to are the new constituents of the Republican Party,” Jennings said. “The story of the tariffs is more than just a story of a guy who loves tariffs. I think it’s a story of a leader who is actually responding to the people who are now the most committed Republican voters.”

But a flurry of new polling has found that Trump’s overall approval rating has dropped below 40% — reportedly the lowest for any president at the 100-day mark of their first or second terms in office in 80 years — and that voters are souring on his economic plans as well.

A Washington Post-ABC News Ipsos poll conducted among more than 2,500 showed that only 39% approved of the way Trump is handling his job. Roughly 55% said they disapproved — including a massive 44% that said they “strongly” disapproved.

Those polls were conducted before news dropped that the U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter of 2025.

Doug Heye, a GOP strategist and former Republican National Committee spokesman, says Trump has reason to worry.

“Trump was elected essentially to do two things — bring down prices and secure the border,” Heye said Wednesday. “The number of people crossing the border has greatly slowed. But prices keep rising and today’s news of a shrinking GDP should cause real concerns about a possible coming recession. Add to that supply chain concerns because of tariffs, which could manifest itself with empty shelves and, thus, a trucking industry harmed by fewer things to deliver, real challenges are emerging. That all of these hit at Trump’s core identity as a successful business leader has to make the White House nervous.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are salivating at the idea that Trump’s downfall could put them right back in power, at least in Congress, when the midterm elections roll around in 18 months.

“Trump’s second 100 days will likely be defined by chaos of his own design, similar to the first,” Democratic strategist Tom Cochran said. “The bluster is louder, but the playbook is the same: distract, delay, and deflect. Democrats shouldn’t chase the noise… they need to stay focused on addressing real problems.”

Much will ride on whether or not Trump can catch all of the balls he’s thrown up in the air.

Trump has partially walked back many of his tariffs in the face of resistance, and has found himself in a game of chicken with China, the world’s second largest economy, after spiking import duties on the communist country all the way up to 145% after it retaliated against his initial tariffs.

Chinese officials say President Xi Jinping has not engaged in negotiations to lower those figures, and though Trump denies those claims, pressure will continue to mount as the many importers of goods from China feel pain from the tariffs.

Jamieson Greer, Trump’s trade representative, insists that Trump’s long-term goal of creating more manufacturing jobs in the U.S. will be realized.

“This is a reordering of global trade that hasn’t happened since the end of World War II, and it’s long overdue,” he said during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. “We’ve seen manufacturing offshore under the old global trading system, with the net result a global system in which all the manufacturing goes to Asia and other places.”

“They said you wouldn’t be able to do global tariffs. We did it,” Greer continued. “They said everyone would retaliate, no one retaliated outside of China. They said no one would come to negotiate, we’re talking to dozens of countries.”

On the campaign trail, Trump said repeatedly that “tariff” was his favorite word in the dictionary, but it remains to be seen whether he can convince the public to love the word as much as he does.

Another campaign promise, to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, did not happen in the first 100 days, though Trump insists a deal could be close and there were reports Wednesday that Ukraine was ready to sign a minerals deal that would come with U.S. investment and informal security ties.

That’s on top of Trump’s efforts to rework a nuclear deal with Iran and secure a ceasefire in Gaza while forcing Hamas to release its hostages.

Domestically, much will ride on the reconciliation bill in Congress that would codify much of Trump’s agenda, include a series of tax breaks on things like tip wages and Social Security benefits, and renew his 2017 tax cuts.

Michigan workers bank on the job ‘boom’ Trump promised with his tariffs

Passing such a bill would greatly boost Trump’s fortunes, Jennings argues, and put Democrats on the back foot regarding the economy.

“The main messaging point he’s going to make is, ‘I’m trying to cut your taxes, and the Democrats are trying to raise them,’” Jennings said. “‘And if you don’t extend and make permanent my tax cuts, effectively, you’re voting for the biggest tax increase in American history.’”