The Next 100 Days Are the Most Important Days of Trump’s Administration – May 5th, 2025 - Driven By Braman Motorcars
Takeaway #1: The Next 100(ish) Days will Define the Trump Presidency
As we’ve now turned the page on President Trump’s first 100 days, a period – to reiterate, that was demonstrably the most productive of any president since Truman during WWII, we’re now stepping into a period that will define the second term of Trump’s presidency. That is due to two very specific reasons. It’s within these next 95 days that the effects of President Trump’s executive agenda, expressed through his executive orders, will largely be known and will be felt. It’s also within this window of time that we’ll know if his legislative agenda is intact. On Tuesday, as President Trump was set to board Air Force One in route to Michigan he said: We’ve done everything or it’s in the process of being done. And when you look at the historic pace of President Trump’s executive orders, with an average of over one per day, you clearly see that’s the case. President Trump has already taken more executive action in the first 105 days of his second term than either of the most recent two-term presidents (Obama & Bush) did during the entirety of their second terms. And that’s due to President Trump having learned the lessons that there were to learn during his first term and having had the prior four years to work on his agenda to ensure that by the time he’s done he’ll have truly Made America Great Again. Plus, why take four years to do what you can put in place in four months? And it’s for this reason – that Trump immediately put it all on the line – that what’s about to come next that will largely determine how the MAGA story will end. That’s true in terms of the impacts of tariffs, and what will become of ensuing trade deals (more on those in a moment), that’s true in terms of the Supreme Court rulings and his use of executive authority (also to end abuse of federal judges). To date the Supreme Court has already issued nine rulings on emergency applications involving Trump’s executive authority. To put that in perspective, they stepped in on emergency applications only eight times during the entire 16 years of the (G.W.) Bush and Obama presidencies. On May 15th, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over the president’s challenge to birthright citizenship, but that’s not all, within that case, which was consolidated from three into one hearing, the Supremes' will also determine whether federal judges have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions against the president. It’s a landmark case and will be decided before the end of the court’s term in June. And along the way over the next 95 days, you also have the greater than 220 existing legal challenges brought against the Trump administration from organizations like the AACLU (Anti-American Civil Liberties Union), and others. It’s during this next window of time that the judicial outlook for Trump’s agenda will be largely defined... and it’s also the window of time that the most important aspect of the agenda will be decided –
Takeaway #2: The fate of the BBB.
The most important thing isn’t the border or combating illegal immigration specifically. The most important thing isn’t the next trade deal President Trump makes. The most important thing also isn’t tax cuts or the economy generally. It’s not national defense. It’s not education. That’s because the most important thing – is all those things. And all those things, and the entirety of the Trump agenda are wrapped up in what will be with the BBB. That legislation will decide if President Trump’s agenda is ratified and funded. The BBB Is Now the Most Important Thing. So...
Takeaway #3: How is it looking?
It’s highly encouraging on all fronts. This week President Trump secured the Ukrainian deal that had originally been sought when Zelensky came to D.C. as part of the deal all future U.S. aid to Ukraine will be repaid with minerals and natural resources the U.S. needs – all tariff free. On the trade and tariff front, word is that the finishing touches are being put on a major trade deal with one of our top ten trading partners and the fastest growing in the world- India. According to current structure of the deal India will reduce or remove tariffs on U.S. imports that will be sufficient to effectively eliminate our $45 billion annual trade deficit with them. That’s huge! It also will put greater pressure on China to make a move in the ongoing trade war as more U.S. companies continue to move manufacturing to India from China to get out of the cross hairs of the trade war – including Apple which is currently transiting all of its iPhone production to India from China. None of what Trump is looking to achieve on trade is easy after decades of the rest of the world taking advantage of the US, but what we’re seeing come together in this India deal suggests a road map for how this will go from here. A combination of imposed tariffs by the U.S. and reduced tariffs by other countries used to balance trade. The U.S. did just over $6 trillion in trade last year and ran a deficit of a trillion dollars. That’s a lot of reconfiguring to do, but what we’re seeing come together shows that it can be done. The Supreme Court’s willingness to address and expedite three critical cases for President Trump’s authority into one, that will soon be heard, is an important next step. And as for the biggest of them all...The BBB. It appears that in the battle between the House and Senate over spending – the House is winning, and that’s a good thing. Lindsey Graham, who’s been heading up the senate’s efforts said last week that he’s committed to finding $1.5 to $2 trillion savings. Congress DOGEing the federal government while delivering on Trump’s agenda would be the biggest win of all. That’s the key to Making America Great Again.