Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
The first 30 days of Donald Trump’s second round in the White House have been a whirlwind of executive orders, lawsuits and controversy.
Since his inauguration on January 20, the president has fired off a dizzying array of policies at a rapid clip, including tariffs against China and US allies, opening negotiations with Russia’s president to end its invasion of Ukraine and demanding an end to the war in Gaza.
He has also overseen chaotic efforts to enact a freeze to federal funds and dismiss thousands of government employees across multiple federal agencies, including the US’s foreign aid arm, USAID.
Here’s a look at the numbers behind Trump’s first month in office.
A tsunami of executive orders
Trump was on track to outstrip his predecessors in executive orders after his first term and has surpassed their two-term totals after only a month in office, signing 73 in the past 30 days.
The orders range widely across departments and policies. A few have had a profound impact, such as the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency, which is unofficially run by Elon Musk, although the government denies he is the organisation’s director. Doge’s cuts have led to the termination of more than 10,000 federal employees (although some are subject to legal challenges).
Other orders are mired in court proceedings, such as a challenge to birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the Constitution and has been blocked by multiple judges.
But there have also been orders with little tangible impact that appear aimed at communicating Trump’s views or as messages to his supporters, such as one on ‘restoring freedom of speech’, in which he accused Joe Biden’s administration of censorship.
Stubborn inflation
One of Trump’s key campaign promises was to lower the cost of living. Though it is too early to see the impact of the president’s new tariffs from one month of data, it is clear inflation remains stubborn. For the month of January, the consumer price index rose 3 per cent from a year ago, well above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 per cent.
Inflation is being partly fuelled by the price of eggs, which has surged after farmers slaughtered millions of chickens to halt the spread of avian flu. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the egg price index jumped 15.2 per cent over the past month — the largest increase since June 2015.
The high prices are not helping Trump’s popularity. A majority of polled Americans, or 62 per cent, in SSRS and CNN’s February poll said the president has not gone far enough to reduce the prices of everyday goods.
According to a February poll by Ipsos and the Washington Post, 53 per cent of Americans disapprove of how he is handling the economy — the highest level of dissatisfaction at any point surveyed during Trump’s first and second presidencies.
Muted response to tariffs
Since taking office, Trump has announced multiple tariffs targeting different countries and items, though most are not in effect.
Still, his announcement of 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, which are expected to start on March 12, has driven up the price of aluminium, heaping uncertainty on to US businesses ranging from manufacturers to oil and gas drillers.
Stock markets, however, appear unconcerned by the prospect of the levies.
Sluggish approval ratings
Trump’s current approval rating of 49 per cent is higher than at any point during his first term as president, but still lags behind those of his predecessors, including Biden, according to polls by FiveThirtyEight.
The American public also appears divided on Trump’s performance, with 47 per cent saying they disapprove.
However, they are supportive of Trump’s immigration policies. According to SSRS and CNN’s February survey, 55 per cent of those polled are either happy with the president’s deportations or want him to go further.
The poll also found Trump’s suggestion that the US ‘take over’ Gaza earlier this month was unpopular among Americans, with 58 per cent calling it a bad idea, including 86 per cent of Democrats, 60 per cent of independents and 27 per cent of Republicans.
Lagging immigrant detentions
Within the first week of Trump’s inauguration, the US’s immigration and customs enforcement agency, or ICE, conducted sweeping arrests of undocumented immigrants as part of the president’s promised crackdown. On January 26, the agency boasted it had carried out nearly 1,000 arrests in one day.
But recent data on ICE arrests have been published sporadically on social media platforms, making it difficult to track and compare numbers, and there is no detail on how many of those arrested had prior convictions or where the arrests took place.
According to NBC News, daily arrests dropped to 300 in the first weekend of February. Lack of detention space has also led to the release of at least 461 immigrants who had been detained in the earlier roundups.
Last week, two top ICE officials were reassigned as pressure grows on the agency to dramatically increase its arrests.
Apart from ICE arrests, illegal border crossings fell sharply in January to their lowest monthly total since February 2021. According to US Customs and Border Protection, about 29,000 detentions were at the US-Mexico border last month, down from roughly 47,000 in December.
Read the full article here
