President Donald Trump portrayed a strong image alongside his Cabinet on Wednesday afternoon, a day after he crossed the 100-day mark of his time in office.
Trump sat between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as each member of his Cabinet listed what they see as the administration’s accomplishments of the last three months.
As the Deseret News reported, the president has been busy since his inaugration. He’s overhauled the U.S. immigration system, the military and education. He’s banned biological males from competing in women’s sports, taken on higher education, eliminated thousands of federal jobs and is remaking the world order on trade and conflict.
But the economic report from Wednesday morning, showing the nation’s economy contracted in the first quarter, put a damper on Trump’s 100-day celebration with his Cabinet. The president resorted to blaming his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
Many Trump-appointed officials in the room joked their boss kept them very busy and offered him praise for his work so far.
“President, your first 100 days has far exceeded that of ANY other presidency in this country. Ever. Ever. Never seen anything like it,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. She also claimed Trump saved 258 million lives by seizing fentanyl at the southern border, a number she did not back up. Bondi said she is fighting 200 lawsuits and 50 injunctions against the Trump administration.
Musk and his many hats
Billionaire Elon Musk also attended the meeting, even though he isn’t a Cabinet member. He works with the Department of Government Efficiency to reduce federal spending, waste and fraud, but is starting to pivot away from his government work.
“We all want to thank you,” Trump said to Musk. “You really have sacrificed. You have been treated unfairly, but the vast majority of people in this country really respect and appreciate you.”
Elon Musk, center, listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington. | Evan Vucci, Associated Press The Tesla owner said he sacrificed his “cars, which is not great.” Tesla‘s shares have dropped while its cars have become the target of vandalism across the country since Musk became a regular at the White House.
Musk wore two hats stacked on top of each other, embroidered with “Gulf of America,” at the meeting. “They say I wear a lot of hats,” Musk joked. “Even my hat has a hat.” He plans to exit DOGE next week, according to reports.
The economy is Biden’s mess, Trump says
Wednesday morning, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the U.S. economy contracted 0.3% in the first quarter of this year. This marks the first drop in the gross domestic product in three years.
As the Deseret News reported, imports surged in recent weeks in advance of the expected price hikes related to the tariffs.
The president wrote a post on Truth Social in the morning, calling it “Biden’s stock market, not Trump’s.”
At the Cabinet meeting, he again blamed the Biden administration for the contraction.
“I have to start off by saying, that’s Biden, that’s not Trump,” Trump said. ”Because we came in January.”
Andrew Bates, a former spokesperson to Biden, said in a statement to news outlets that despite being handed over “the best-performing economy in the world,” the U.S. is “plummeting toward a Trumpcession.”
Trump’s trade rep says tariffs are changing the world order
Trump said he’d heard about Samsung‘s interest in building a U.S. facility as he walked into the Cabinet meeting.
“If we didn’t do the tariffs, they wouldn’t be doing that,” he said.
Although Trump’s tariff policies made exceptions for the tech industry, the current administration is clear about prioritizing domestic manufacturing. Some tech giants like Samsung would rather not risk the hefty taxes for importing their goods into the U.S.
IBM, also mentioned during the meeting, announced Monday that it’s investing $150 billion in the U.S. over the next five years.
Jerry Chow, IBM fellow and director of quantum infrastructure, left, and Daniela Bogorin, IBM quantum research engineer, remove the outer chamber from a quantum computer in Yorktown Heights, New York, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. | Ted Shaffrey, Associated Press China is the only country that faces high tariffs of 145%. The country’s leaders responded to Washington’s move by levying a 125% tax on American products.
Trump said Beijing is struggling under the Trump White House’s tariff policies.
“They’re sending boats, the biggest boats in the world, carrying cargo like nobody’s ever seen before. … They’re coming, and they’re turning around in the Pacific Ocean,“ he said, adding nobody wants to pay the high duty fees.
Speaking to the fears about empty shelves, Trump said: “Well, maybe the children will have to have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”
The bigger picture is that the tariffs are “reordering global trade — that hasn’t happened since the end of World War II,“ said U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer.
Critics opposing such import taxes argued nations would retaliate against the U.S., and opt out of negotiating.
“They said no one would have offers. We have dozens of written offers. We have lots of countries in this week,” Greer said, before jokingly adding it’s a “break” for him to join the Cabinet meeting amid the visits and calls.
The White House was set to host an “Invest in America” event later on Wednesday.
Vance has an observation for the media
Vice President JD Vance had a finger-wagging message for the media that labeled the Trump White House as “chaotic.”
“I believe that I am the youngest member sitting at the table,” he said. The vice president argued that since the time he was born, he has witnessed the U.S. lose its status as the manufacturing hub to China, fail to meet military recruiting goals and allow millions of migrants to enter the country illegally.
Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi listen during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington. | Evan Vucci, Associated Press “What has happened in 100 days is that we started to reverse every single one of those negative trends,” he added.
Vance offered another observation. After looking at the data, he said that under Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s leadership, “we now have people breaking down the doors to join our military to the media assembled here.”
But, the vice president argued, the media spent more time reporting on the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador in March, than ask why military recruitment is higher under Trump.
Garcia entered the country illegally and is allegedly a Salvadorian gang member. Courts have said Garcia should be brought back to the U.S. but the Trump administration hasn’t complied nor given any indication of whether they plan to negotiate with El Salvador to bring him back.
“I would never tell you that. And you know who else? I’ll never tell a judge,” said Rubio, when asked about a formal request to bring back Garcia.