Donald Trump enters the stage for his second inauguration as president on January 20. (Kenny Holston/Pool/The New York Times/Getty Images)
The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second term have seen a president emboldened by his November victory move aggressively to enact his agenda and take aim at his perceived political enemies.
Trump has transformed the use of executive authority, dramatically slashed the federal government and reimagined the role of the US in the world.
Photographers have captured many of these key moments. Here are some of the most significant images chronicling his return to office.
Trump’s “flood the zone” strategy was evident on the day he was sworn in. After delivering his inaugural speech in the Capitol Rotunda, vowing a new “golden age of America,” he spoke again in the US Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall and later at the Capital One Arena for an inaugural parade moved indoors due to extreme cold, where he signed his first executive actions.
He signed even more in the Oval Office later that day, taking his first steps toward dismantling key Biden-era policies, ordering a crackdown on immigration, withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, and pardoning about 1,500 people charged in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
A Trump supporter takes photos outside the Capitol on the weekend of the inauguration. (Rebecca Wright/CNN)
A Trump supporter cheers while watching Trump’s inauguration from Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. (Will Lanzoni/CNN)
Atlanta resident Kevin McCarthy and his wife, Janice Hall, had been invited to an inaugural ball but gave up attending after waiting in line in the cold for a few hours. “At some point, McCarthy decided they would have their own celebration in the coffee shop and the two of them danced around for a few minutes,” photographer Stephen Voss recalled. (Stephen Voss/Redux for CNN)
Trump cuts a cake during the Commander in Chief inaugural ball. “Today we celebrate the enduring strength and resilience of our glorious republic, and so it’s highly appropriate that we also honor the men and women who keep us safe,” Trump told the crowd. (Tristen Rouse/CNN)
The pace didn’t stop on day one, with the president unleashing a flurry of new actions daily for the first weeks, often bringing the press into the Oval Office to watch him sign them.
Trump has signed more than 200 executive actions.
Trump has taken few domestic trips outside of regular weekends at his Florida or New Jersey properties. But on his first weekend in office, he made a promised visit, alongside the first lady, to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and from wildfires in California.
On that trip, he floated the possibility of eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency, attacking the Biden administration’s disaster response and later tangling with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
He went on to Las Vegas, where he highlighted his “no tax on tips” pledge before addressing House Republicans at his Miami-area resort.
After visiting the Asheville area, Trump traveled to California to see damage caused by the Palisades Fire. Here, he speaks with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
Trump ended the trip in Las Vegas, delivering a speech to supporters at the Circa Resort and Casino on January 25. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
After making hardline immigration policy a major focus of his campaign rhetoric, he celebrated an early legislative victory on January 29 when he signed the Laken Riley Act, which requires the detention of migrants charged with certain crimes.
Trump has subsequently mobilized wide swaths of the federal government to arrest and detain undocumented immigrants, and his administration has taken the unprecedented step of sending migrants to Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison. He’s invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law previously used during wartime, to target migrants the administration alleges are members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.
The case of one Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration admitted in court documents was mistakenly deported, has emerged as a major flashpoint — setting up a constitutional showdown between the White House and the courts, which have demanded the Trump administration facilitate his return.
The first national tragedy of Trump’s second term struck close to home on January 29 when an American Airlines plane and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided over the Potomac River, killing everyone on board.
During a briefing room address to the nation the next day, Trump briefly stepped into a consoler-in-chief role before baselessly blaming Democrats and diversity initiatives for the crash.
Trump took office one day after a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect. Weeks later, he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Oval Office, the first world leader to visit in his second term. At a joint news conference, Trump laid out his plan for the US to “take over” Gaza, which he’s repeatedly described as a “big real estate site.”
In March, the ceasefire shattered as Israel launched a new onslaught on Hamas in Gaza. The Trump administration continues to pursue a deal between the two parties and has held direct talks with Hamas representatives.
Meanwhile, the administration continues to target pro-Palestinian voices in the US, especially on college campuses in the wake of protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. It arrested Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident, accusing him of being a Hamas sympathizer without providing evidence.
The Trump administration has also targeted Harvard University as part of what it says is a crackdown on antisemitism on college campuses, freezing $2.2 billion in funding and setting up a major clash over academic freedom, federal funding and campus oversight.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Cape Town, South Africa, hold flags on February 22 while protesting Trump’s idea for the US to “take over” Gaza and redevelop the war-torn enclave. (Esa Alexander/Reuters)
Activists march through downtown Chicago to show support for Mahmoud Khalil on March 11. “It can be challenging to make fresh and interesting pictures at protests, especially when they happen so frequently,” Getty Images photographer Scott Olson said. “When I began to walk past this demonstrator, he moved his poster to block his face. I made one quick image and kept moving. In the edit, I noticed the elements lined up nicely.” (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, has emerged as a key player in Trump’s second term with his reign at the Department of Government Efficiency.
Officials from DOGE have moved rapidly to dismantle key pieces of the federal government, starting with the US Agency for International Development. Cuts have subsequently reached the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Internal Revenue Service, among others.
Musk, who has been an omnipresent figure at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, underscored his role in cutting bureaucracy by wielding a chainsaw on stage during an appearance. But his power has also sometimes rubbed some Cabinet officials the wrong way.
As a special government employee, Musk — the Tesla and SpaceX CEO — is supposed to only work for the government for 130 days or less per year. He’s said he’ll start allocating less time to DOGE next month.
Though the president said on the campaign trail that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day, the reality has proven more complicated. After wrongfully detained American teacher Marc Fogel was released from a Russian prison on February 11, Trump touted “good will” on ending the war.
But Trump’s open hostility toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — which came to a head during a remarkable Oval Office confrontation on February 28 — set things back. European leaders rallied around Zelensky as Trump castigated his Ukrainian counterpart and repeated Russian talking points. Trump’s patience with both foreign leaders has waned as he awaits a deal to end the war, although he and Zelensky held another, much calmer sit-down in April on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral.
The Trump administration also continues to advocate for US control of Greenland, which its residents have resisted. In a high-profile show of force, Vice President JD Vance was deployed on a controversial trip to an American military installation on the semiautonomous island as Trump has vowed to acquire the land “one way or another.”
After losing power last fall, Democrats have struggled to land on the best way to challenge Trump. However, there have been increasing signs of pushback to Trump’s agenda out in the country, especially as ire built at Musk’s unelected power.
Rep. Al Green raises his cane to protest during Trump’s address. The Texas Democrat, who was removed from the House chamber, later told reporters he had said Trump has “no mandate to cut Medicaid.” (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Sipa USA/AP)
Members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus protest Trump’s address by wearing pink. “There was a growing sentiment among the public for Democrats to ‘do something,’ to push back on Trump’s policies,” photographer Haiyun Jiang said. “Wearing pink was one of the ways some Democrats delivered a dissenting message.” (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times/Redux)
In April, over 1,400 “Hands Off!” protests were held at state capitols, federal buildings, congressional offices, Social Security’s headquarters, parks and city halls throughout the entire country. Even Republican lawmakers have faced significant frustration from constituents at town halls across the country.
Elected Democrats have tried to take their own stands. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker mounted a historic protest, spanning 25 hours and 5 minutes, on the floor, warning against the harms he said the administration is inflicting on the public. And Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen also made headlines when he traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia.
Trump called March’s Signal chat scandal — when his national security officials shared sensitive details about strikes in Yemen on the Signal app and inadvertently included an Atlantic editor — the first real “glitch” of his second term. Trump ultimately pinned blame on national security adviser Mike Waltz, who added editor Jeffrey Goldberg to the text thread.
Trump was less concerned by the role of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared significant information about plans to attack Houthi targets in Yemen. But Hegseth was back in the spotlight in April after revelations that he discussed military plans in a second Signal group chat, this time with his wife and brother.
Trump has said he has Hegseth’s back, but the episode brought more attention to the disarray in his inner circle at the Pentagon, which hasn’t been lost on the White House, CNN reported.
Themes of retribution and revenge have been woven through many of the president’s initial actions: revoking former President Joe Biden and other top Democratic officials’ security clearances, pulling security details for top officials from his first term, gutting the Kennedy Center board and installing himself as its chairman, dismissing the national archivist, and directing his Justice Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence to open broad investigations into the Biden administration’s “weaponization” of law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
An emboldened Trump even hung in an Oval Office hallway a framed front page of the “New York Post” with his mug shot from his Georgia election interference case.
Trump has long used tariffs — and the threat of tariffs — as a key negotiation tactic, later pausing them or narrowing their scope. That played out in the first weeks of his term and led up to his so-called Liberation Day on April 2, when he unveiled across-the-board 10% tariffs on all imports along with expansive new reciprocal tariffs on about 60 countries.
The move sent markets spiraling and its significant impact on the steady bond market prompted Trump to reverse course, issuing a 90-day pause on the higher rates as he escalated tariffs on China. Trump’s team claims it is currently negotiating with a number of countries, but the US is now fully embroiled in a trade war with China.
Trump announces new tariffs in the White House Rose Garden on April 2. The president has repeatedly touted tariffs as a way to help the US government rely less on income taxes as a main form of revenue. But economists are largely in agreement that tariffs are paid by the country importing the goods and have historically led to higher prices for consumers. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 3. Global markets were severely rattled by Trump’s tariff announcement. “The New York Stock Exchange is one of the few places left where humans still have a hand in trading,” Associated Press photographer Seth Wenig said. “I planted myself in front of one of the busier posts during the opening bell, usually the busiest time.” (Seth Wenig/AP)
First lady Melania Trump has been largely missing from the first 100 days of the second term, opting to spend the vast majority of her time in Florida. After joining the president for inaugural festivities and his trip to North Carolina and California, the first lady was out of Washington for four full weeks, returning to host a dinner for the nation’s governors.
In her first public remarks, she previewed a reboot of her “Be Best” platform, visiting Capitol Hill to advocate for a bill aimed at protecting victims of deepfake revenge pornography.
Her first major event of the second term was the annual Easter Egg Roll, which drew criticism for the solicitation of corporate sponsorships.
Trump’s first trip abroad brought him to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, whom he met during his first term.
One day before his death, the ailing Pope — who had been critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies — met briefly with Vance.
Trump’s 100th day in office comes as views of what he’s done so far turn deeply negative — his 41% approval rating in CNN’s latest poll is the lowest for any newly elected president at 100 days dating back at least to Dwight Eisenhower — including Trump’s own first term.
