Tangle - SPECIAL EDITION PREVIEW: My take on Trump's first 100 days (Part Two)

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Yesterday, we published Part 1 of our review of the Trump administration's first 100 days. You can read that here. Today, we are going to cover some of the promises, controversies, and stories we didn’t have space for in Part 1. Then we’ll share some arguments from the left and right, and then Tangle Executive Editor Isaac Saul gives his take on Trump’s first 100 days. To access the full version of this podcast and more Friday Edition and Sunday podcasts click on the link for Ad-Free podcasts below:Ad-free podcasts are here!Many listeners have been asking for an ad-free version of this podcast that they could subscribe to — and we finally launched it. You can go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.This podcast was written by Isaac Saul, Ari Weitzman, Will Kaback, Lindsey Knuth and edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Hunter Casperson, Kendall White, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From executive producer, Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening and welcome to the Tangle podcast, the place we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and today is part two of our review of Trump's first 100 days in office. Yesterday, in case you missed it, we published part one of our review of Trump's first 100 days. There is a podcast and a newsletter version of that review.

You can go back to yesterday's episode if you missed it, and I highly recommend that you do. Today, we're going to cover some of the promises and controversies and stories that we didn't have space for in part one. And then we're gonna share some arguments from the left and the right, and then I'm gonna give my take on Trump's first 100 days.

A quick reminder that today's episode is a members only episode. So, you know, part way through this, the music will fade out. My voice will disappear into the ether and you'll have to cough up some of that sweet American dollars to listen to the full thing, which you should do, because being a member gets you ad-free podcasts, exclusive content like this, and it supports our work more broadly. All right, with that, we're gonna start

with some of the stories that we missed from yesterday. Throughout Trump's first 100 days, there were plenty of big stories that broke on issues that were not centerpieces of his campaign. We didn't really know where else to share those stories of accomplishments or controversies or whatever else. So we decided to cover a few blurbs in a section titled Things We Missed.

Where appropriate, we will reference promises Trump made related to the story. First up is banning trans women and girls from women's girls and sports. President Trump centered criticisms of democratic policies on transgender people in his campaign's final stretch, in particular, trans women and girls participation in sports. In October, Trump suggested that if elected, he would take prohibiting all participants who do not meet the government's definition

of biological females from competing in girls and women's sports. On energy production, Trump promised to bring down the cost of energy and drill baby drill. Then on his first day in office, he signed an executive order declaring a national energy emergency and directing department and agency heads

to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining and generation of domestic energy resources, including but not limited to on federal lands. Battery storage and solar and wind energy were excluded from the orders definition of energy. Trump also moved to open 625 million acres for oil and gas drilling and has overseen the start of production

on new oil ventures involving US energy companies. However, uncertainty about the administration's trade policies has hindered some aspects of its energy agenda. Lastly, US oil prices have decreased over 20% to four-year lows since January 20th amid lower oil demand growth forecasts. Next up is his executive orders on targeting DEI programs. President Trump and his campaign surrogates spoke out against diversity, equity, and inclusion

programs in government schools and other areas of U.S. society. Additionally, the campaign planned to reinterpret civil rights era laws to address purported anti-white discrimination and rollback government policies designed to aid minority groups. Broadly, Trump sought to cast his campaign as a rebuke of the left's social agenda during President Biden's term, often used interchangeably with the DEI. Trump has continued to center this issue in the early days of his administration, signing a slew of executive orders that aimed to dismantle DEI initiatives across the federal government. One of his first orders called for the elimination of all DEI-related mandates, policies, programs,

preferences, and activities within the federal government. An order issued on his second day revoked previous executive actions that promoted DEI in federal operations, eliminated affirmative action requirements for federal contractors, and directed federal agencies to identify corporations, nonprofits, and educational institutions that may be engaged in discriminatory DEI practices. Subsequent orders targeted issues

like DEI in foreign service and subjects taught in K-12 schools involving gender ideology or critical race theory. Trump has also issued a slew of executive orders targeting law firms since February that he claims have engaged in conduct detrimental to critical American interests. The order suspended security clearances

and access to government buildings for lawyers from the targeted firms, and also called for a review of their federal contracts. Some of the firms have responded by making deals with the White House that include a commitment to pro bono work on behalf of the administration and acknowledgments of wrongdoing. Others have sued to challenge the orders, and federal judges have blocked large portions of them from going into effect while the cases play out. Related to January 6 pardons, President Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of roughly

1,500 people who had been charged in connection to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots, fulfilling a campaign promise. A note, although Trump specified that he would pardon those wrongfully convicted, his pardon did not commute unrelated sentences of those who were pardoned for their January 6 participation. We also have to make mention of Signalgate and some of the controversies at the Pentagon. In March, The Atlantic revealed that editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg had been inadvertently added to a Signal group chat with Trump administration officials as they discussed impending military operations against the Houthis in Yemen. Goldberg published a partial transcript of the chat with details on military operations

excluded and then published the full transcript after the Trump administration challenged his story. In April, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegsath, who shared sensitive details about the Houthi strikes in the signal chat, came under scrutiny after defense department officials who had been fired for allegedly leaking sensitive information criticized his leadership. Additionally, the New York Times reported that Hegsath shared sensitive information about the strikes in Yemen in a second signal chat that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer. These incidents preceded an NPR report that the Trump administration had begun the search to replace Hegseth, but the White House denied the story. We'll be right back after this quick break. On Social Security and Medicare, President Trump consistently promised on the campaign

trail and during his first term in office that he would not support any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. However, after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency was tasked with identifying waste, fraud, and abuse within these programs, the administration has significantly cut jobs at the Social Security Administration.

Additionally, the budget blueprint adopted by House Republicans calls for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, to find at least $880 billion in savings over 10 years. Although the Congressional Budget Office calculated that those savings would not be possible without cuts to Medicaid, Trump told TIME that he would veto any bill that includes cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. House Speaker Mike Johnson also affirmed that these programs would not be cut, though

he did not specify where the proposed budget cuts would come from. And wrapping up here on some of the stories we missed is also the strikes against the Houthis. Beginning in March, the United States has carried out regular strikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels, which President Trump said were retaliation for the Houthis attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waters.

Trump also redesignated the group as a terrorist organization after President Biden removed the Trump era designation to allow aid deliveries to civilians in Yemen. Trump had previously criticized Biden for carrying out strikes against the group. And finally, Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization. During his first term, President Trump moved to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and World Health Organization, and he promised to do so again if re-elected.

Biden reversed the removal orders during his term, and on his first days in office, Trump followed through on these promises, signing executive orders to withdraw the U.S. from both organizations, which will take effect next year. year. All right. That is it for some of the stories we miss, which now brings us into some of the editorializing and opinions out there about the first 100 days. We're going to start with what the left is saying. The left is uniformly critical of the start of President Trump's term, with many arguing that several worst-case scenarios have already come to pass.

Overall, their core critiques focus on the impact of the Department of Government efficiencies, cuts to government, Trump's posture towards traditional US allies and adversaries, and the administration's use of executive power and tariffs. Commentators on the left say Doge has been ineffective and chaotic, making frequent mistakes while failing to provide the transparency

that Elon Musk promised. In The Nation, Robert Borusaj highlighted negative effects of Doge on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, writing, Trump promised repeatedly in his campaigns to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the heart of America's limited safety net. Yet, Musk's Doge operatives parachuted into Social Security offices illegally gaining access to computer systems, calling shuddering regional offices Eliminating staff rewriting computerized systems while planning cuts of 7,000 employees and offering buyouts and early retirement to the entire staff of 57,000 the New York Times Maureen Dowd said when people begin to realize that their Veterans Affairs office has been closed

Or when Doge is messing around with Social Security and Medicare when it filters down to them, which it's going to do really fast. It's cliche to say he's like the Wizard of Oz, but the curtain is opening. Some, like Jacobin's Nick French, also note that Doge has failed to make a dent in federal spending. For others, Trump's foreign policy has been the most alarming. members, along with our ad-free daily podcasts, Friday editions, in-depth interviews, upcoming new podcast series, bonus content, and much more. If you want to receive all that and give your support to help grow Tangle Media, please go to ReadTangle.com where you can sign up for a newsletter membership, a podcast membership, or a discounted bundle membership, which gets you both access to the premium newsletter

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all of our premium offerings with you. We'll be right back here tomorrow. For Isaac and the rest of the crew, this is John Law signing off. Have a great day, y'all. Take care. Bye, y'all. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited and engineered by John Wall. The script is edited by our managing editor, Ari Weitzman, Will Kadak, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bacopa, who is also our social media manager. Music for the podcast

was produced by Diet 75. If you're looking for more from Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website. you