An unpopular president continues to push radical changes on the country

All of that is correct. It is not, however, the whole story of the first 100 days of Trump’s second term in office.

There is a competing narrative, that of a president who continues to radically remake government, global alliances, the checks and balances of constitutional government, aspects of American culture and the power of the presidency itself. He may not get all he wishes, but he remains the dominant actor in the world, forcing others — institutions, foreign governments, lawmakers, others — to adapt and sometimes to appease.

The   latest poll   from The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos echoes other recent surveys in charting the public disaffection with aspects of Trump’s first months in office.

Approval rating? Down. Support for his immigration policy? Deteriorating. The economy? Worse than a few months ago with many   consumers fearing a recession   ahead. Exceeding his authority as president? Yes, say most Americans.

Will some softening in the polls truly deter the president and his advisers as they pursue this agenda? Not unless the numbers get materially worse, or a more robust resistance gathers force. He has begun his second term with a zeal for controversial policies and so far has tried to carry them out by bulldozing whatever checks lie in his path.

Not that Trump isn’t given to course shifts or making it up as he goes. He’s done it repeatedly now on his tariff policy. But no president in how many years has been as enamored with tariffs as Trump.

Many economists see Trump’s tariffs as a huge mistake, and the public has   serious reservations . But the trade war is not over. He may have blinked but he hasn’t yet abandoned his belief that other countries owe the United States and that he will be the president who collects the tolls. The notion of an America that, as Trump has said, has been “ripped off” for decades undergirds much of his worldview.

For 80 years, the U.S. has been the protector and the lender in chief for its allies. Trump says those days are over, whether shouldering much of the financial cost of NATO or absorbing trade imbalances with allies. European leaders are rethinking what it means if the U.S. is no longer their reliable partner. The changes, even in partial form, could be seismic.

The war in Ukraine continues, with Russia last week launching some of the deadliest strikes in months. “Vladimir, STOP!” Trump wrote on social media after one night’s poundings.

The dealmaker is frustrated and impatient. He tells   Time magazine   that when he said he could end the war in a day, “It was said in jest.” He demands concessions from Ukraine but says the Russians are making a concession by not wanting to take over all of the country they invaded. No wonder Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), a member of his own party, said that Putin is “ playing America   as a patsy.”

At home, significant changes are already being felt. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man,   is expected to head back to Silicon Valley   to repair his electric vehicle company , whose earnings dropped drastically. But he leaves behind the U.S. DOGE Service and the underlying goal of his closest advisers, which is to upend the executive branch and bring the bureaucracy more tightly under the president’s control. Trump has wiped out many of the executive branch’s internal checks —   inspectors general , for example — and is trying to cow   some independent agencies.

The budgetary savings produced by Musk’s team are minimal. The shock to the system and the changes likely to come in the government’s priorities and lines of authority are hardly minimal. Agencies are being redrawn or dismantled. Musk’s influence may be fading, but Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, and   Russell Vought , the director of the Office of Management and Budget, are firmly in place. So too is embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at least for now.

Trump can go too far, as he did when he publicized, again on social media, his desire to get rid of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell. The markets responded with a meltdown, and Trump was   forced to relent   to say he does not plan to fire the head of the independent Fed. But even when he backtracks from his most extreme statements, the threat of disruption lingers.

On immigration, little has gone according to plan, though crossings at the southern border have declined dramatically. (They were declining in the final months of the Biden administration.) The pace of deportations frustrates the president and White House officials. Administration lawyers have been scolded by different judges for failing to comply with immigration orders. And on Friday, the administration reversed course   by restoring visas   for many foreign students, pending a policy review.

But if there are true second thoughts about overall policy inside the administration, there’s no evidence of it yet. The president and his team are on a mission to fulfill a top campaign promise, and they are playing hardball as they never did during his first term.   The arrest   of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan on Friday for allegedly interfering with immigration enforcement is a clear escalation, meant to signal   his willingness to intimidate opponents.

Public support for   Trump’s   immigration policies has dropped. In The Post-ABC-Ipsos poll, it has gone from a net positive of two percentage points in February to a net negative of seven points today. The public narrowly disapproves of deporting immigrants suspected of being members of a criminal group to a prison in El Salvador without a court hearing.

But administration officials still seem to be operating with the belief that their stated policy of deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records resonates better with the public than arguments about the rule of law advanced by Democrats, who struggle for a consensus position on immigration.

Most presidents seek signature legislation in their first 100 days. Not Trump. He has governed by fiat in the form of executive orders, displaying a conception of presidential power that goes far beyond what his predecessors practiced.

To many Americans, his reach for power is frightening. Trump shrugs. “I don’t feel I’m expanding it,” he told Time magazine about his view of the office. “I think I’m using it as it was meant to be used.”

What could force a true course change? The   courts are the most obvious , but the litigation underway will take many months to play out. In the meantime, Trump is forcing changes that will be difficult to fully reverse.

Congress should be another potential check on the presidency, at least as the Constitution sets out the relationship among the branches of government. Given the polls, Republicans may be losing patience with the president, but they show no willingness to exercise their constitutional powers, fearing the consequences of a president who has promised retribution against those who have crossed him.

“We are all afraid,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said recently, as quoted by the   Anchorage Daily News . “… I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”

Support for Trump and his policies could continue to decline. Political pressure could grow. Congressional Republicans could cause damage if they chop at Medicaid in their new budget, as the numbers suggest they must. Democrats could retake control of the House in 2026. But the pace and scope at which Trump is moving means the disruption wrought during his first months in office could be long lasting.