2026/07/29 by Aaron Childree
paper · doi:10.1017/s1049096526102315
ABSTRACT President Trump used the unilateral power of the presidency in extraordinary ways during the first 100 days of his second term. This article examines his use of executive action using a dataset of every action issued in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, along with a similar dataset for his first term and other recent administrations. At the outset of his second term, Trump issued substantially more executive actions than his own first administration and his recent predecessors; however, this also came with historically low legislative productivity. His unilateral policy making is notable for the many revocations of previous executive actions and startling uses of the pardon power. The areas that Trump acted within most were government operations, tariff policies, and policies related to law and crime. These findings reveal important details of Trump’s unilateral presidency and demonstrate that his executive actions are likely to erode the traditional boundaries of presidency power if not held in check by other institutional actors.