As President Donald Trump took office, he immediately made moves that would affect the tech industry. From halting enforcement of the TikTok ban to rolling back Biden’s AI order, his actions have been swift and impactful.
With a strong support from tech billionaires who attended his inauguration and even visited him at Mar-a-Lago, Trump wasted no time in selecting nominees and chairs for key agencies that oversee technology. But what exactly has he done in his first 100 days as president? Keep reading to find out.
1. Legal Battle Over DOGE Leadership
One of the biggest controversies during Trump’s first 100 days was over who had legal control over DOGE. Trump was accused of breaking the law by removing climate change references from USDA websites while also appointing conservative podcaster Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director.
2. Government Agencies Under Threat
The government continued to face threats under Trump’s administration, with federal workers being threatened with firing if they didn’t answer an email from Elon Musk within 48 hours. Additionally, there were concerns about a State Department “estimate” for a $400 million order of armored Teslas and how much Apple’s promised investment in the US was actually new.
3. Strange Encounters and Unusual Events
Amidst all these changes and controversies, some strange events also occurred during Trump’s first 100 days in office. Someone hacked HUD HQ TVs with an AI-generated video featuring both Trump and Musk, while conservative podcaster Dan Bongino was named deputy FBI director.
4. Reshaping Policies
Trump also made significant changes to policies affecting technology during this period. The SEC ended its investigation into Robinhood crypto, Apple responded to tariff threats with a $500 billion US investment plan, and Musk claimed that federal employees had 48 hours to explain their recent work or resign.
5. DOGE’s Influence on Government Work
DOGE continued to make headlines during Trump’s first 100 days, with federal workers being asked to justify their recent work or resign and the SEC dropping its investigation against OpenSea. There were also concerns over the head of US Social Security allegedly feeding information to Musk’s DOGE, and the GSA shutting down EV chargers as they were deemed “not mission critical.”
6. Damage Control
As Trump continued to make drastic changes in his first 100 days, there were growing concerns about the long-term effects on America’s future. Some even feared that Musk’s actions could cost us decades in progress.
7. Meetings and Agreements
Trump also met with various tech leaders during this time, including Tim Cook of Apple and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Meanwhile, Coinbase announced that it had settled its lawsuit with the SEC.
8. Chaos Ensues
With so many changes happening in such a short period of time, chaos ensued within government agencies as well as online communities. Federal employees who accepted a “fork in the road” resignation offer ended up getting fired anyway while three different court hearings took place regarding DOGE.
9.Musk vs The Government
Elon Musk was at odds with the government multiple times during Trump’s first 100 days, from facing protests for Tesla vandalism to storming federal weather forecasters’ headquarters with his rapid unscheduled disassembly comments.
10.Effects on Environment and Energy Policies
Trump’s policies also had significant impacts on environmental issues and energy policies, such as firing those who worked towards protecting the environment and allowing cars to pollute more under new transportation secretary guidelines.
11.Social Media Battles
There were several instances where social media played a role in Trump’s first 100 days in office – from CBS preparing materials for Harris’ interview to Twitter settling a lawsuit over Trump tweets for $10 million.
12.Trade Wars and Tariffs
Trump’s first round of tariffs also caused tension with other countries, with Canada announcing retaliatory measures and Trump imposing sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China.
13. Changes in Leadership
Several changes in leadership took place during this time as well. Brendan Carr became the new head of the FCC while Vivek Ramaswamy stepped down from DOGE.
14. AI Projects and Data