It is lunchtime at a Texas eatery called Trump Burger and diners are enjoying fast food and the frenetic first 100 days of their president’s second term.Donald Trump imagery is everywhere in this joint with a dozen tables — in cardboard cutouts of the man eking out his trademark forced smile, on banners from the 2024 campaign, and on hats and T-shirts displayed for sale.It is a franchise of a company with four such Trump-themed outlets in Texas and no equal anywhere else in America.This particular one opened in 2020 and is in Bellville, about a 90-minute drive northwest of Houston in a county where 80 percent of voters cast their ballots for Trump over Kamala Harris back in November.The chain is not linked to the Trump Organization.On weekends the Bellville eatery is particularly busy as bikers on roaring Harley-Davidsons roll up, as do families in pickup trucks with big tires.The menu features the Trump Burger or the supersized Trump Tower with two hamburger patties, the latter costing $16.99.Those and other sandwiches all come with the word Trump emblazoned on the bun.Also on offer, in writing at least, is something called the Biden Burger, described as being made from old tomatoes, stale buns and costing a whopping $50.99 — though presently unavailable due to “cheating and inflation.” -‘On the right path’-On a recent day, many customers told AFP they were delighted so far with Trump 2.0.Jason Sullivan, 47, who works in oil and gas, said Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” attitude toward fossil fuels and dismissal of climate change concerns as he rolls back Biden-era environmental restrictions have been a godsend.”We’ve seen a boom and actually sometimes new projects and developments that happened not just in Texas, but across the country so far,” said Sullivan.”A lot of projects that were put on the back burners from the previous administration are now coming to fruition,” he added.Kim Vanek, a 59-year-old retiree, said the first 100 days of Trump’s second stint in the White House have gone swimmingly.Working at a dizzying pace, the Trump administration has moved to slash the government by firing tens of thousands of civil servants, launched a global trade war with tariffs against most countries, and begun a mass deportation of undocumented people.It has also all but ended US overseas humanitarian aid, locked horns with the media and universities, and launched a campaign of revenge against people Trump sees as enemies.”He’s been planning now for four years to get back in here and people think it’s going to happen overnight, things are going to change overnight,” said Vanek.”It’s not, but he’s on the right path. You’re going to see a lot of good things come out of the next three years.”- ‘Could have been done better’ – But not everyone at Trump Burger is impressed with Trump’s performance so far.August Money, a 34-year-old Republican who works in health care technology, said the on-again, off-again tariff rollout — aimed at forcing companies to relocate their factories to the United States — was chaotic.”I understand the larger goal of really wanting to bring back domestic manufacturing,” said Money.”Hopefully most of it is really just his, you know, famed negotiating techniques. But yeah, it could have been done better. The calculations they used didn’t really make a lot of sense,” said Money.He also criticized the administration for deporting alleged gang members to a grim El Salvador prison without even a court hearing.Money said, “That’s dangerous and a slippery slope right there.” 

President Donald Trump’s various U-turns are leaving Americans disillusioned — especially after he was elected on vows of guaranteeing economic prosperity.He has floated wanting to fire the Fed chair before backing off for now, and he slapped tariffs on China only to then promise compromise and mollification.”There is no chance the US flip-flops on trade the past month were remotely planned,” Joseph Grieco, professor of political science at Duke University, told AFP.”It’s been one improvisation after another.”In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in early April, when President Trump was already downgrading his trade war with many countries to focus his ire on China, just 40 percent of respondents approved of his job performance — a seven-point slide from February.With the exception of Bill Clinton and now Trump, US presidents dating back to Ronald Reagan have had an approval rating topping 50 percent after their first 100 days in office, Pew noted.However, the pollsters pointed out that the ratings for Trump, ever the divider who plays to his strengths, are essentially on par with those in 2017, at the same time in his first term.- Majority dissatisfied -Specifically, nearly six in 10 Pew respondents were critical of the Republican billionaire’s trade policies.Another opinion poll, by Reuters/Ipsos, notes that just 37 percent of Americans now say they are satisfied with the president’s economic approach.This is substantially below the upbeat numbers early in the first term for Trump, whose strong point, politically speaking, has always been the economy.Results of a YouGov poll from early April reinforced the bad news for the real estate tycoon. A majority of Americans, 51 percent, were now dissatisfied with Trump’s economic policies.That was a four-point slide from late March, before his earth-shaking tariff announcements — which were themselves followed a week later by a sweeping U-turn by Trump. Absent a clear White House strategy, the world’s markets are on edge, alternately soaring or plunging on the slightest remarks by Trump or his top officials on trade or monetary policy.Such whipsaws have brought anxiety to millions of American investors, especially those whose retirement savings are in stock-related plans.Concern only grew with the president’s amped-up criticism of US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, calling him a “loser” for refusing to cut interest rates.The attack on the central bank’s independence sent markets tumbling — before Trump backed off, assuring on Tuesday he had no intention of firing Powell.- Adulation, too -It is virtually impossible to know how the trade confrontation with China will play out, even as Trump says the 145 percent tariffs he has slapped on the world’s second-largest economy will be reduced sharply.According to a recent Gallup poll, 53 percent of Americans believe their personal financial situation will worsen. Since 2001, the renowned polling organization has noted how most people it surveyed have expressed optimism about their wallets.Increasing worry would translate to a reluctance to consume, which could slow economic growth.While the major opinion polls reflect a growing mistrust of White House economic policy, most also agree that such pessimism has yet to reach Trump’s core base of supporters, whose adulation of the president largely has remained strong through thick and thin.In today’s hyper-divided political America, 70 percent of Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents still support Trump’s tariff hikes, while 90 percent of Democrats oppose them, according to Pew.