President Trump completed the first 100 days of his second, non-consecutive term last month. On that occasion, the Budapest-based conservative think tank Center for Fundamental Rights has released a rundown of his five greatest accomplishments in that brief period of time.
They put the start of the peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine at their #1 spot, one of the main messages of his 2024 campaign. Alas, there have been quite a few bumps on that road, and as a result, the US State Department announced they are withdrawing from the mediator role in the conflict. However, some significant strides have been made, such as the rare minerals deal between the US and Ukraine, or an Easter ceasefire announced by President Putin of Russia.
In their analysis, the Center writes:
‘Donald Trump has radically changed the direction of US policy on the war in Ukraine. In contrast to the strategy of Joe Biden—and the European political elite—he has called for realist diplomacy on the matter. As with Nixon’s 1972 visit to China, which radically shifted the balance of power in the Cold War, early engagement with Putin bypassed traditional channels.’
Next on the list is the mending of the US–Hungarian relations, which has been badly damaged by the previous administration. As the Center puts it: ‘Hungary is one of the winners of the geopolitical realignment’ that has been brought about by Trump’s victory last fall. They cite Senior Hungarian government official Antal Rogán being put on a sanctions list by the Treasury Department as the lowpoint of that tense relationship.
However, with the new administration, the sanctions have been lifted from Rogán. Former US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman was an avid critic of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, often voicing his misgivings even on his domestic policy; and promoting the LGBTQ agenda. Along with President Biden, he too is gone from his position. The Embassy is currently being run by Chargé d’Affaires Robert Palladino on an interim basis.
Number three on the list of President Trump’s accomplishments is a questionable pick by the Center—his tariffs. All major US stock indexes are currently down year-to-date, and they still have not fully recovered from the original dip caused by the tariffs. However, the people at the Center argue that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the drawback of too heavily relying on other countries for manufacturing, and protective tariffs can help fix that.
Dismantling USAID comes in at #4.
‘State-funded influence groups masquerading as "civil organizations" have sought to overthrow national governments that resist gender activism, migration pressure, warmongering, or the globalist climate ideology. The Trump administration has made it clear: America will no longer be exporting the woke revolution,’ the analysis wrote. However, the authors also warn that ‘the network is not disappearing—it is relocating to Brussels and the European institutions.’
At last, at #5, is the one that is most popular with the American people: closing the border. Illegal border crossings have been at record lows at the Southern border ever since President Trump took office again. As the Center points out in their piece, Trump has even enlisted the military and National Guards to border control duty. Thanks to the cooperation agreement with the government of El Salvador, some of the worst, gang-affiliated offenders are now detained at the Central American nation's infamous max security prison, CECOT.
'There are considerable parallels between the President's migration policy and the similar measures by PM Orbán, especially in the emphasis on the importance of border protection and national security,' the Center's analysis also highlights.
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