The Japan Times - Trump boasts of 'fun' 100 days, but Americans disenchanted

To mark the symbolic milestone in his second term, the Republican US president is visiting the site of one of his last campaign events, in Michigan, a battleground state that swung his way in November's election.

"The first time, I had two things to do -- run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys," he said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine, referring to advisors and cabinet members whom he considered incompetent or disloyal lieutenants in his first term.

"And the second time, I run the country and the world," he crowed, adding "I'm having a lot of fun."

Many of the former real estate tycoon's voters remain behind Trump.

"He knows what he's doing," Karen Miner, a 57-year-old wine store owner in Reno, Nevada, told AFP.

- 'No equal' -

"So far, I'm very satisfied with the job he's doing," said Frank Tuoti, a 72-year-old retired machinist from New Hampshire.

But he concedes that the tariff instability has made him "a little concerned about the economy."

Trump's chief spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said a Tuesday morning press briefing will focus on the economy, after one on Monday that addressed the administration's migration policies.

"No one does it better than President Trump. There is no equal, it's not even close," Tom Homan, who oversees the mass deportation program fiercely criticized by opponents and rights groups, told reporters at the White House.

Now surrounded exclusively by loyalists, Trump since January 20 has given free rein to his impulses in terms of tariffs, foreign policy -- and political revenge.

In the grand entrance hallway of the White House, he has moved a portrait of Barack Obama, America's first Black president, to make way for a painting of himself surviving an assassination attempt.

And in the Oval Office, the billionaire with notoriously brash style and taste has filled the historic room with golden ornaments.

- Arm wrestling -

Barging through the limits of presidential power, the Republican has already signed over 140 executive orders.

In the process, he has called birthright citizenship into question, attacked universities and law firms, rolled back environmental policies, entrusted his mega-billionaire ally Elon Musk with dismantling large parts of the federal bureaucracy, and launched a protectionist trade offensive against much of the world -- before partially retracting it.

Many of his executive orders have been blocked by judges, with whom the executive branch has engaged in an unprecedented bout of arm wrestling.

Trump has built his political career on deepening divisions -- Americans either love him or hate him -- and therefore can not claim the relative state of grace that usually accompanies a US president's first 100 days.

Opinion polls have been unanimous in noting a particularly sharp slide in his approval ratings, fueled by concern about tariffs and his attacks on the institutional order.

According to a poll published Sunday by the Washington Post and ABC News, only 39 percent of Americans approve of how Trump is conducting his presidency.

- 'Too far' -

Fully 64 percent of respondents said he is "going too far" in his efforts to expand presidential powers.

It is impossible to know how long Trump, who at 78 is the oldest US president ever elected, will maintain his frenetic pace.

He has shown signs of impatience. He promised on the campaign trail to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, but has grown frustrated with the complicated diplomacy involved.

Reminded in a recent interview with Time magazine that he often said he would end the war on "day one," the former reality TV star responded: "Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest."

H.Hayashi--JT