Georgians are scared, thrilled about President Trump’s changes

To gauge the effects of Trump’s actions, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke with eight Georgians who have lived with the results.

A DeKalb mother whose husband faces deportation. A commercial shrimper hoping tariffs will revive his foundering business. A federal worker forced to cancel plans to foster a needy child when she lost her job.

They’re exhausted, thrilled, scared, hopeful.

And, like much of the rest of the country, they’re wondering what comes next.

Executive orders

President Donald Trump wasted no time attempting to put his stamp on the federal government. The same day he was sworn in, Trump signed 26 executive orders, ranging from crackdowns on immigration to sweeping pardons for most of those charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Since then, Trump has continued to use executive orders to try to enact his agenda. Many have been challenged in court.

Legislation

President Donald Trump has signed just five bills and resolutions since he took office in January. That’s far less than the 30 he had signed into law at this point in his first term. The first bill Trump signed this year was the Laken Riley Act, named for a murdered Georgia nursing student, which would give immigration agencies broad authority to detain undocumented immigrants accused of a crime.

Pardons and commutations

On the evening of his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued pardons to about 1,500 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Forty-four of them went to people with Georgia ties. The mass pardons are unlike anything previous presidents have done on Day One.

Financial markets

The U.S. stock market has been on a rollercoaster ride during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days. Investors initially welcomed Trump’s return to the White House, but his administration’s erratic rollout of steep tariffs on foreign goods and his attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell have rattled the markets. Some analysts have warned a recession could be on the horizon.