Examining Trump's First 100 Days in Office: His Plan, Promises, and Pursuit of Making America Great Again

In his “Contract with the American Voter,” President Donald J. Trump pledged to pursue and implement an ambitious program of reforms during his first 100 days of office. Trump’s agenda would be unrealistic for even an experienced president cooperating efficiently with a supportive Congress. Trump himself took office with no prior political experience and an uneasy relationship even with congressional Republicans. It comes as no surprise, then, that most of the items in the Contract with the American Voter have not been achieved.

If there is a single theme to Trump’s first 100 days, it has been learning how things get done rather than getting them done. After the failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act in March, Trump said: “We all learned a lot. We learned a lot about loyalty. We learned a lot about the vote-getting process. We learned a lot about some very arcane rules in, obviously, both the Senate and in the House. So it’s been—certainly for me, it's been a very interesting experience.” Going forward, the question is whether, and how, that experience translates into action.
Read more...

"On November 8th, Americans will be voting for this 100-day plan to restore prosperity to our economy, security to our communities, and honesty to our government. This is my pledge to you."

Featured speakers

Symposium authors

Vikram David Amar
Dean, College of Law at the University of Illinois
Verity Winship
Professor of law at the University of Illinois
Arden Rowell
Professor of law at the University of Illinois
Stephen Rushin
Assistant professor of law at the University of Alabama
Heidi Kitrosser
Professor of law at University of Minnesota Law School
Jonathan Hafetz
Professor of law at Seton Hall
Robert Mikos
Professor of law at Vanderbilt University
Michael Helfand
Associate professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law
Richard Kaplan
Professor of law at the University of Illinois
Robin Fretwell Wilson
Professor of law at the University of Illinois
Ryan Graver
President of MedAxiom Ventures
Larry Sobal
Executive Vice President of Business Development for MedAxiom Ventures
Robert Williams
Executive director of the Paul Tsai China Center
Derek Muller
Associate professor of law at Pepperdine University
Lindsey Ruta Lusk
University of Illinois College of Law
Bradley Williams
University of Illinois College of Law
Lesley Wexler
Professor of law at the University of Illinois
RonNell Andersen Jones
Professor of law at the University of Utah
Lisa Grow Sun
Associate professor of law at Brigham Young University
Margareth Etienne
Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs at the University of Illinois College of Law
Eric T. Freyfogle
Professor of law at the University of Illinois
Robin Bradley Kar
Professor of law at the University of Illinois
Daniel J. Hemel
Assistant professor of law at University of Chicago