Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Chaos Of Trump’s First 100 Days
Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor condemning Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office as “a hundred days from hell,” warning that Trump is not governing as the president of a democratic republic, but instead imposing his “Trumpian ethos” and governing like a king. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Donald Trump’s first 100 days have been a 100 days from hell.
Over the past week, as I’ve thought about this 100 day mark, as I met with people throughout my state – with business owners and nurses and seniors and veterans and many Republicans – I couldn’t think of another way to describe the sentiment I felt back home: these 100 days have been 100 days from hell.
Donald Trump is not governing like a president of a democratic republic. He is acting like a king, a despot, a wannabe-dictator. Remember that, during the campaign, he indicated he’d be a dictator just on day one. But everything we’ve seen so far shows he wants to be dictator for much, much longer. And it’s eating away at America’s rule of law, America’s norms, America’s fundamental values. And people are scared and people are angry.
Seniors in Buffalo tell me they’re legitimately worried about whether or not they’ll keep seeing their Social Security checks – that's not just a political expression – and they wonder how they're going to pay the rent, buy the food, buy the drugs next month, if their check isn't there.
When doctors and health workers in Albany tell me they fear losing Medicaid funding for their hospitals and clinics, they're worried about caring for their patients, who desperately need help and may not get it, and they're worried about their jobs.
When Republican business owners on Long Island tell me they’re losing sleep over Donald Trump’s tariffs, it's because their businesses may go under.
It is not just a political game. People are really worried in ways that I haven't seen in a long time.
And when young people across New York tell me they’re scared of being rounded up on the streets and sent to a prison in Louisiana because of the way they look, or because of some blog post they may have shared a year ago, it’s hard to fathom that this is all happening in America, in 2025.
100 days into this presidency, there is a feeling of incompetence and indecision and chaos from the White House, in the White House, eating away at much of the country, emanating from the man who occupies the Oval Office.
Donald Trump promised a “Golden Age” on the first day he became president. What Americans got instead was fools gold.
We knew Donald Trump was lying by the time he pardoned 1,600 insurrectionists a few hours later – pardoned outright criminals who beat up cops. So much for “Back the Blue.”
He pardoned lawbreakers who had an intent on disrupting the Congress as we counted electoral votes. What a disgrace. What kind of morals is he setting for this country? This will go down in history as one of the ways America has declined under Donald Trump.
So this morning, let’s talk about Donald Trump’s so called Golden Age. Democrats are going to hammer away at this topic all day long today, as we’ve done many days in the past. And tonight, we will come to this chamber and hold the floor until late tonight to mark these dismal 100 days by speaking the truth.
Tonight, we will come to the floor and hold the chamber to mark these dismal hundred days. And what is the truth?
The truth is this, no president in modern history has promised more on day one and delivered less by day 100 than Donald Trump. In record time, the president has turned a golden promise into an economic ticking time bomb. It’s getting worse every day, and he calls it progress.
Let’s remember what Donald Trump said again and again on the campaign trail:
“Starting on day one,” he said, “we will end inflation and make America affordable again.”
“A vote for Trump,” he said, “means your groceries will be cheaper.”
“We are going to get your energy prices down by 50%.”
None of this has come to pass. Well, the opposite is happening. The economic winds are pointing in the wrong direction and reaching hurricane speed.
Americans are still paying more and more today for their groceries, their rent, their housing, their gas, their cars and auto parts, drugs, and household necessities. And Donald Trump’s asinine trade war has made it all the worse.
Forty-four percent of families now believe they will be worse off financially a year from now – a level of pessimism not even seen during the Great Recession or the 1970s stagflation.
According to the AP-NORC poll, half of Americans are worried about a recession and expect inflation to keep going up. And these aren't just poll numbers. When I talk to New Yorkers, when I hear from Americans, that's exactly where they're at.
Consumer sentiment is at a decades-long low. It has plunged by 30%.
So, the consumers are holding back. They're not spending. They're not planning that trip to see the grandkids. They're not thinking of buying a new car or new furniture because they're worried.
And then businesses, seeing that, hearing that, they hold back. I've heard from business after business, large and small, that everything is on freeze, that everything is hold. You know what that does? That leads to a recession.
In fact, Amazon announced that they will begin displaying how much tariffs contribute to the total price of products to consumers.
I urge more companies, particularly national retailers that compete with Amazon, to adopt this practice. If Amazon has the courage to display why prices are going up because of tariffs, so should all of our other national retailers who compete with them. And I am calling on them to do it now.
To the large businesses that sell to consumers, I say: show your customers how much tariffs are hurting in their pocketbooks. People deserve to know the impact tariffs have on their finances. And certainly, when people hear it, they'll let their Congressmembers and Senators know. And then businesses will have a chance to get rid of these tariffs, which are so stultifying their ability to move forward.
And it’s also small businesses: they don’t want to get blamed for hiking prices when Donald Trump’s tariffs have put them in a terrible position – in a position that says, raise your prices of close your doors. They hate doing either.
And finally, let’s not forget Donald Trump’s favorite measuring stick, the stock market, which he has been conspicuously silent about over the last few months. The Dow Jones is on track for its worst April since 1932.
Did you hear that, Donald Trump? Your beloved stock market is on track for the worst April since 1932, the last year of Herbert Hoover.
I ask this chamber, is this what a Golden Age looks like?
Are we supposed to feel good that Donald Trump has singlehandedly pushed us to the brink of a recession? This president, who governs chaotically and reverses himself like a weather vane in a windstorm, is driving the robust American economy into a ditch.
I think if you asked Americans to pick one word that describes Donald Trump's economy and how he's handling it, it would be one word, a five-letter word: chaos. Another five-letter word is Trump. Chaos equals Trump. Trump equals chaos.
Are Americans supposed to just take it when Donald Trump says families should be okay with prices going up, with experiencing some “pain” and “disturbance”? That's what he says. It's okay if prices go up. You'll get some pain and disturbance. Pretty rich coming from a billionaire.
American consumers are not supposed to take it. There is precious little, if anything, on the economic front to feel good about 100 days into Trump 2.0.
And don’t take it from me: today, Donald Trump has lower approval ratings than he did at this point in 2017.
In fact, he has the lowest approval ratings of any president through 100 days in the last 80 years, when they started doing these polls. The only thing historic about Donald Trump’s Golden Age is how fast public confidence in him has collapsed, faster than any other president in modern history.
Americans don’t trust him on the economy, nor should they. They don’t trust him on keeping America safe, nor should they. They don’t trust him on his ability to fight for the interest of ordinary people, because they know that the whole place is run by a whole coterie of billionaires that don’t really care about average folks at all.
And we are only 100 days in.
Finally, let me say this: as Donald Trump races to sabotage the American economy, he has likewise already inflicted lasting harm to the foundations of American democracy.
When our Founders drafted the Constitution, they feared precisely a man like Donald Trump.
They feared a man who sees the rule of law as a nuisance, who considers the truth as an inconvenience, who regards his fellow citizens as little more than subjects. Either kiss the ring, bow before the throne, or watch your back: that is the ethos of Donald Trump. Kiss the ring, bow before the throne, or watch your back, the Trumpian ethos.
In 100 days, Donald Trump has moved with lighting speed to weaponize the federal government against anyone he thinks might oppose him. Plain and simple, Donald Trump does not believe in democracy, or debate, nor do the people around him. He does not believe in honest disagreement – he simply wants to crush his opponents. And that is what dictators do.
He wiped the government clean of its independent watchdogs and rid government of most measures of transparency.
He has fired public workers by the tens of thousands and illegally paralyzed agency after agency that helps every day Americans.
He has attacked the free press. He has attacked our education system. He has attacked our scientists. He is systematically attempting to weaken any political opposition, anyone who might hold him accountable.
In the name of security – which is a favorite justification for many of histories’ despots –Trump is arresting people with little due process and in some cases even without regard to immigration status.
Last week, four American citizens – all of them children, two of them battling life threatening cancers – were deported from the United States, from their homeland, and sent to places like Honduras. Let me repeat: these are American citizens, Donald Trump. If you thought something like this could never happen in America, then unfortunately you were wrong. It is happening right in front of us.
And what did Donald Trump have to say about the risk of deporting U.S. citizens? He said “Let me tell you that nothing will ever be perfect in this world.” That’s what he said. That’s disgusting. Just disgusting. If it was a member of his family trapped in such a calamity, would he say “tough luck, nothings perfect”.
Donald Trump’s inability to feel empathy for people who do not look like him is shocking to the core.
So, as America marks 100 days of the worst president of our lifetimes, I ask American to look at this administration for what it is: a full frontal attack on the core elements of what America truly great – the rule of the people over kings and oligarchs; the rule of law and not the dictates of an authoritarian; respect for the rights of all people; and a commitment to “promoting the general welfare” for the whole of society. Not cruel, cheap, and lying scapegoating.
So, let us commit ourselves to continue to struggle against this administration and to uphold the core values and principles of this great nation.
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