The previous low for a US President at or near 100 days in office in polls dating back to 1945 was Trump at 42% in 2017.
University of Otago professor of international relations Robert Patman told The Front Page it’s been “a rocky ride” and “chaotic and shambolic” – and that’s not really surprising.
“Trump has put so much emphasis with his senior appointments on loyalty rather than competence.
“There’s this perception that some people like Elon Musk and his team of youngish software engineers who are overseeing taking a chainsaw to the public service – they’re not particularly competent or experienced in the running of governance,” he said.
More than 120,000 federal workers have been fired in an attempt to cut “at least $2 trillion”. This target has since halved, and last month Musk spoke about savings of about $150 billion.
“We’ve seen important facets of American soft power, like US Aid disestablished, with the loss of 10,000 jobs. That’s going to have a long-term effect on how the world perceives America to some degree,” Patman said.
" Trump and his supporters seem to have got it in their heads that the American economy was in an appalling state, when in fact it was the best economy in the world by every objective or impartial economic measure," Patman said.
Trump’s handling of international relations has also caught the ire of some foreign leaders, especially after his tariff announcement affected global markets.
Just yesterday, Trump announced a “100% tariff” on all movies not made in the United States, which has sparked confusion here and internationally over a lack of detail and how it would be implemented.
Patman said his back-and-forth on the Ukraine-Russia conflict is a danger not just for the US, but for New Zealand too.
“The outcome of the conflict is crucial and has big implications for the Indo-Pacific. Two of the biggest backers of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are China and India.
“Here we have the most powerful country in the world led by Trump, who sees himself as a strong leader, and what does he do? He cosies up to the aggressor that has illegally invaded a liberal democracy and sides with the aggressor against the victim of aggression.
“Through Chinese non-sentimental eyes, that looks like weakness. Yes, he has added belatedly some criticisms of Putin, but the peace settlement deal that he’s pushing is basically solving all of Putin’s problems – it could’ve been written in the Kremlin.
" He’s upended 80 years of American foreign policy. He’s effectively dismantling what’s called the rules-based international order, which most liberal democracies, including our own, depend on.
“But, Trump’s vision of international relations is very different from New Zealand’s. He sees the world in top-down terms, a world that’s run by great powers with America, the greatest power of all, sitting at the top table and negotiating deals with the likes of Putin and China.
“I think New Zealand will have to speak out at some point because what America is doing in its foreign policy is actually directly undermining our national interests. New Zealand, like many small and middle powers, needs rules. It needs institutions because they provide a level playing field for small countries to operate in,” he said.
Listen to the full episode for more on Trump’s first 100 days in office
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
