First 100 Days : University of Illinois Law Review

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."

Donald J. Trump Contract With the American Voter

Topics of discussion

Featured speakers

Akhil Reed Amar

Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University

Jeffrey R. Brown

Dean, College of Business at the University of Illinois

Andreas C. Cangellaris

Dean, College of Engineering at the University of Illinois

Assistant Professor of Law at University of Chicago

Professor of Law at Washington University

Erin F. Delaney

Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University

Professor of Law at the University of Illinois

Thomas and Karole Green Professor of Law at Washington University

Symposium authors

Vikram David Amar

Dean, College of Law at the University of Illinois

Professor of law at the University of Illinois

Professor of law at the University of Illinois

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

Professor of law at Vanderbilt University

Michael Helfand

Associate professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law

Professor of law at the University of Illinois

Robin Fretwell Wilson

Professor of law at the University of Illinois

President of MedAxiom Ventures

Executive Vice President of Business Development for MedAxiom Ventures

Robert Williams

Executive director of the Paul Tsai China Center

Associate professor of law at Pepperdine University

Lindsey Ruta Lusk

University of Illinois College of Law

Bradley Williams

University of Illinois College of Law

Professor of law at the University of Illinois

RonNell Andersen Jones

Professor of law at the University of Utah

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