Tomorrow, April 29 will mark the one-hundredth day of President Donald J. Trump’s term. Mr. Trump emphasized in his campaign and his first months of presidency that he will take an active approach to creating legislation and leading during his time as president. However, he has faced many barriers in his attempts to make changes.

In the first 20 days following his inauguration, Mr. Trump signed 12 executive orders. In the 49 days since he has signed another 18, according to whitehouse.gov . These orders focus on strengthening American defense, creating programs to control domestic crime, regulating business and trade, and restructuring government divisions and agencies.
Before his presidency, Mr. Trump’s administration released a “contract with the American voter” wherein he outlined his 100 days agenda, according to cnbc.com.  Mr. Trump listed 175 specific actions that he plans to take during his presidency, 29 of which he would like to complete before April 29, according to trumptracker.github.io. 
Appointing Supreme Court Justice Mr. Neil Gorsuch was one of Mr. Trump’s major achievements so far in his presidency. Justice Mr. Antonin Scalia died over a year ago, but the Senate stalled approving his replacement because of the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Trump suggested Mr. Gorsuch, and, after weeks of fighting and filibuster in the Senate, the Senate gave Mr. Gorsuch a majority vote.
 

As the first 100 days draws to a close, Mr. Trump’s promise to collaborate with Democrats and Republicans alike proves to be unfulfilled. The two parties are at a standoff as Democrats in Congress refuse to pass aspects of Mr. Trump’s budget plan regarding increasing military spending and funding to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico, according to The New York Times. 
Although Congress has not passed the military budget increase, Mr. Trump has been taking strides towards his promise of strengthening American military offense against ISIS through direct military action. April 14, the United States dropped the nation’s largest nonnuclear bomb in Afghanistan. The bomb, categorized as a massive ordnance air blast bomb (MOAB), targeted an ISIS cave and tunnel complex, according to CNN.
This was a highly controversial decision as many liberal and moderate sources believe that the bombing was too aggressive. White House representatives defended the attack as a necessary part of the United State’s fight against terrorism, according to The New York Times.
“The United States takes the fight against ISIS very seriously and in order to defeat the group we must deny them operational space, which we did,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, according to CNN.

A similar controversial action Mr. Trump’s administration took was instituting a travel ban on refugees, visitors, and green card holders from seven Middle-Eastern countries. This ban was controversial because it immediately stopped travel to and from these countries, even for legal United State’s residents and their families, according to bbc.com.
At the very beginning of his presidency, Mr. Trump created legislation to begin work on his promises. However, as he spent more time in office his decisions were met with resistance from both parties which slowed down his decision making. Out of 175 promises, he has completed 11 and is in the process of fulfilling 23 others.
– Daisy Steinthal, Staff Writer