President Donald Trump completes the first 100 days of his return to the White House on April 29, 2025, and the period has been marked by a whirlwind of activity that has remade vast swathes of American life and international relations.
Largely bypassing Congress and the courts, the 47th (and 45th) President of the United States has signed a record-setting 139 executive orders. While doing so, he has eliminated DEI initiatives from government hiring, assumed broad wartime deportation powers, attacked enemies in law firms and universities and, perhaps most importantly, hit most of the international community with trade tariffs of a level not seen in a century—in the process remaking long-held alliances and risking a trade war and worldwide recession.
It has not been boring.
Tech titans flock to Trump’s inauguration
Big Tech leaders took a much less combative stance toward Trump after his re-election, with many donating money to and attending his inauguration. Here, (L-R) Priscilla Chan, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Tesla CEO Elon Musk attend the ceremony before Trump is sworn in as the 47th President in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2025. CHIP SOMODEVILLA—POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Record-setting number of executive orders
President Donald Trump’s second term has been notable for the record-setting number of executive orders he’s signed—over 130. Here, he signs an executive order pardoning about 1,500 defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Jan. 20, 2025, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post via Getty Images
Sharpies for everyone
After the official inauguration, President Donald Trump continued the inaugural festivities by signing executive orders—and throwing his signature Sharpie pens into the crowd, at the Presidential Parade at Capital One Arena on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Matt McClain—The Washington Post via Getty Images
Trump connected a devastating plane crash to DEI hiring practices
A salvage worker guides a wing of American Airlines flight 5342 as a crane lowers it onto a barge in the Potomac River during recovery work on Feb. 3, 2025 in Arlington, Va. Sixty-seven people died when the flight from Wichita, Kan. collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29, 2025. Afterwards, President Trump connected the crash to DEI hiring practices at the FAA.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images
Elon Musk and his son X Æ A-Xii join President Trump in the Oval Office
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with his son X Æ A-Xii join US President Donald Trump as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11, 2025. Tech billionaire Musk, who was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead federal cost-cutting efforts via DOGE, said the United States would go “bankrupt” without budget cuts. JIM WATSON—AFP via Getty Images
Trump and Vice President Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President Trump and Vice President Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb 28, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Trump has repeatedly suggested that Ukraine caused Russia to invade it.Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post via Getty Images
Trump administration ramps up deportation policy
The Trump administration has deported hundreds of migrants to El Salvador. Here, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) as prisoners stand, looking out from a cell, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025. ALEX BRANDON—POOL/AFP via Getty Images
DOGE’s lead cost-cutter Musk wields a chainsaw
DOGE’s lead cost-cutter Elon Musk (L) holds a chainsaw alongside Argentine President Javier Milei during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on February 20, 2025.SAUL LOEB—AFP via Getty Images
Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’
President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled “Make America Wealthy Again” at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2025. Trump geared up to unveil sweeping new “Liberation Day” tariffs in a move that threatens to ignite a devastating global trade war.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI—AFP via Getty Images
The South Lawn became a kind of Tesla showroom
President Trump and White House Senior Advisor, Tesla CEO Elon Musk deliver remarks next to a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The South Lawn became a kind of Tesla showroom, as Trump—holding a Tesla pricelist—spoke out against calls for a boycott of Musk’s companies and said he would purchase a Tesla vehicle in what he called a ‘show of confidence and support’ for Musk. Andrew Harnik—Getty Images
Easter Bunny joins Trump on the South Lawn of the White House
President Trump, joined by First Lady Melania Trump and the Easter Bunny, delivers remarks during the White House Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 21, 2025 in Washington, D.C.Anna Moneymaker—Getty Images
Trump and Zelensky’s Vatican conversation
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) meets with U.S. President Donald Trump (L) during Pope Francis’s funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, on April 26, 2025.Office of the President of Ukraine via Getty Images
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