Trump marks first 100 days but focus on security riddled with holes
By: Rodney Jaleco | Published: May 8, 2025
Reading Time: 5 minutes
WASHINGTON, D.C. — He campaigned on a promise of getting things done quickly. President Trump marks his first 100 days facing a maelstrom of court challenges, market chaos, controversy and growing anxiety here and overseas that threatens to upend global security.
Even his centerpiece get-tough immigration policies are starting to lose its luster. Despite his frequent boasts about pushing back inflation – which he acknowledged was what got him over the line last November – consumers have barely felt it and has since been supplanted by fears that Mr. Trump’s sweeping and seemingly indiscriminate tariff war will drive prices up and tip the economy into a recession.
The US has stepped up attacks against the Houthi in Yemen – hitting over 800 targets since March. Operation Rough Rider aims to finally stop Houthi attacks in the Red Sea but according to the US Central Command the Houthi predations on Red Sea shipping – though diminished – continue.
The Iran-backed Houthis began targeting commercial ships in late 2023 in support of Gaza’s Hamas militants after they mounted a deadly cross-border attack against Israel, using both suicide drones and ballistic missiles.
The US pulled all the stops in this year’s Balikatan war games with the Philippines, deploying for the first time the shore-to-ship Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction Missile (NMESIS) that reinforced the Typhon intermediate range missile system already in the country that can lob nuclear-capable Tomahawk cruise missiles over large parts of China. The NMESIS, positioned in the Philippines’ northern-most Batanes islands, could menace hostile warships in the strategic Taiwan Strait and Babuyan Channel.
The Philippines – like all of America’s allies – have been hit by the Trump tariffs. While the White House dismissed this as a negotiating tool, it has left doubts and a bad, almost bitter taste to members of the counter China, counter Russia coalition. Japan, South Korea, India, Australia have opened tariff trade talks but most see Mr. Trump’s tariff war as unnecessary, arbitrary and bereft of strategic sense.
The US tariffs on most countries have been pushed back to early July, largely a result of serious backlash from US allies as well as a spiraling Wall Street. The White House has left certain sectoral tariffs (steel, auto and aluminum) against Canada, Europe and a narrow group of trading partners but focused its ire on China that’s engaged the US in a tit-for-tat tariff war.
President Trump is also forging ahead with another campaign promise to stop the fighting in Ukraine, even if he’s quickly learning he can not do it in just 24 hours as he vowed on the stump last year. State Secretary Marco Rubio warned the US was ready to step away from mediating a peace process if no ceasefire is achieved this week.
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What the US “stepping away” actually means also leaves many questions – for one, the US has already abandoned its leadership role in helping Ukraine, leaving the European Union and NATO to fill the void. Russian Pres. Putin appears to have only given lip service, conceding only enough to ensure harmony with Mr. Trump but stubbornly pursuing his military campaign – believing he has the momentum with the ground hardening on the Ukrainian frontlines.
Pres. Trump also initiated indirect talks with Iran, both sides declaring promising initial results. The US wants Iran to give up efforts to build their first nuclear bomb and bankroll terrorist groups across the Middle East, in exchange for lifting a decades-long sanctions regime.
On its face, the Trump administration appears to be moving resolutely on the security front, and yet its other seemingly non-related initiatives are tripping up any gains.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a critical cog in the Trump security team, has apparently done a lot of that tripping. After the first round of “Signal-gate”, which erupted after a journalist was mistakenly included in a Signal chat that discussed a then imminent strike against Houthis, he figured in a second incident that this time included his wife and personal lawyer.
The Pentagon chief was also plagued by the resignation of top aides, mostly political appointees he had known and worked for during the presidential campaign. Lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans have assailed Mr. Hegseth’s conduct. Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen accused him of creating “chaos embroiling our uniform military”. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee, has ordered an expedited investigation of “Signal-gate”. The conservative National Review editorial described leadership at the Pentagon as a “circular firing squad”.
“Hegseth has stumbled badly,” the editorial said, “but with the right help, it needn’t be a fall.” That sentiment appears to have reached Mr. Trump, who has backed his Pentagon appointee but also confessed they’ve “talked” following the spate of negative headlines.
Pres. Trump has received significant pushback on many of his domestic policies – from the courts and political allies – but the biggest threat is the lack of institutions or even confidantes that could right his oft-tottering security priorities. For a man who decides according to whoever gets his ear last, there is a worrying lack of competent security experts within earshot.
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