The First 100 Days: Bret Stephens on Trump’s Troubled Return to Power
JUDJ-Prepared Summary from April 30, 2025 | Still 45 Months to Go: Trump, America, and the World. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the speaker.
In a recent America at a Crossroads discussion, New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator Bret Stephens joined veteran journalist Larry Mantle to assess the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s return to the presidency. A long-time conservative and self-described “never-Trumper,” Stephens offered a sharp critique of the administration’s early moves—despite acknowledging a few policy decisions he agrees with. The conversation explored the contrast between Trump’s rhetoric and results, the conservative disillusionment with the modern Republican Party, and the damage done by poorly executed governance.
Giving Credit Where Due
Despite his overall disapproval, Stephens began by recognizing a handful of Trump’s actions that he believes were justified—or even overdue. These included tightening control of the southern border, ordering military strikes on Houthi forces in the Red Sea, and eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the federal government.
On immigration, Stephens argued that Trump succeeded “almost through rhetoric alone,” tapping into public frustration over uncontrolled migration. He praised the administration’s actions against the Houthis as more forceful and effective than the “calibrated tit-for-tat” approach under President Biden. And although deeply critical of how the administration has handled DEI rollbacks, he supported the impulse behind them—believing that DEI had morphed into an ideological mandate inconsistent with traditional civil rights values.
But those acknowledgments served a larger purpose: to strengthen his critique. “No one can accuse me of having Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Stephens said. “But these first 100 days have been the most disastrous I can recall.”
When Governance Becomes Theater
One of the most prominent failures Stephens identified was the launch of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk. Intended to rein in bureaucracy and shrink the federal workforce, the initiative has instead drawn lawsuits, created fear among career civil servants, and, in Stephens’ words, “gave good government reform a bad name.”
Stephens contrasted DOGE’s chaos with the smarter, more measured efforts of Al Gore’s “Reinventing Government” campaign during the Clinton administration. “You can’t fix government with a chainsaw,” he said. “You just end up doing more harm—and wasting more money—than the system you’re trying to reform.”
DEI and the Backlash Cycle
Stephens warned that Trump’s heavy-handed attacks on DEI are likely to backfire, despite their resonance with some voters. He distinguished between supporting equal opportunity and opposing what he sees as a rigid, ideology-driven push for equal outcomes—particularly within government hiring and contracting.
Yet he conceded that Trump’s sweeping and often punitive approach, such as pulling research grants and purging reading lists, undermines the effort. “Even when he’s pressing in the right direction, he always goes too far,” Stephens said. “He ends up making the opposition look more reasonable by comparison.”
A Party Unrecognizable
Looking beyond Trump’s policies, Stephens lamented what he sees as the transformation of the Republican Party from a pro-trade, pro-immigration institution to what he called “a cult ruled over by a very angry master.” The conservative ideals he admired as a Reagan-era Republican—fiscal discipline, global alliances, liberal democracy—have been replaced by grievance politics and personal loyalty tests.
“The Republican Party I believed in doesn’t exist anymore,” he said bluntly. “It’s opposite land.”
A Caution, Not a Collapse
Despite his deep concerns, Stephens ended on a guardedly optimistic note. America, he reminded viewers, has endured worse. From Andrew Jackson’s defiance of the Supreme Court to FDR’s internment of Japanese Americans, the nation has survived grave failures of leadership before.
“No damage is irreparable,” he said. “There’s a lot wrong in America right now, but there’s also a lot right. We just need the wisdom—and the will—to put the pieces back together.”
About America at a Crossroads
Since April 2020, America at a Crossroads has produced weekly virtual programs on topics related to the preservation of our democracy, voting rights, freedom of the press, and a wide array of civil rights, including abortion rights, free speech, and free press. America at a Crossroads is a project of Jews United for Democracy & Justice.