GOP strategist and Executive Director of Principles First Brittany Martinez joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss President Trump's first 100 days.
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00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes.
00:07Joining me now is Brittany Martinez, Republican strategist and executive director of Principles
00:11First. Brittany, thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for having me back.
00:16We reached that official marker of the first 100 days in office and President Trump's an
00:21interesting case, as we know, because this is his second first 100 days. And I want to talk about
00:27what he's done in this time. He signed dozens of executive orders, started, paused and ratcheted
00:34up global trade wars. He criticized leaders on social media, as well as one to their face in
00:40the Oval Office. And he's also made decisions that had the power to shake global markets.
00:45I'm curious, how exactly would you characterize President Trump's first 100 days in his second
00:51term? What grade would you give that if it was a report card?
00:54Well, we could do pass fail, not the pass one. You know, it's so funny, I think that the first
01:01100 days have been an absolute dumpster fire. I think we talked about it one of these last times
01:06how executive orders are don't have lasting power. So if you really do want to be a policy and change
01:11maker, you have to work with Congress. And that's just something that he hasn't wanted to do. And
01:16you know, it's not just me, the American people are dissatisfied. He has the lowest approval rating
01:21of any president in the first 100 days of a new administration in 70 years. That is incredible
01:26in a terrible way. And he's very, very careful about his image. And so I'm sure he's looking at
01:31some of these poll numbers that are coming out and trying to see where he might be able to make
01:36some adjustments. Where do you think he needs to take some or make some adjustments? Because I want
01:41to talk about those numbers just a little bit. ABC News, Washington Post, Ipsos released this poll
01:46that shows President Trump has the lowest approval rating at this 100 day marker than any president in
01:53over eight decades. So that means Trump 2.0 has a worse approval rating than Trump 1.0. Why do you
02:00think that is? And what do you think needs to be changed ASAP? I think a lot of people who voted for
02:06him were on the fence. They weren't happy with Biden. Harris only had a few months to try to get it
02:11together. I don't think she was able to. And they said, you know what, let's just give Trump
02:14another chance, even though he's someone who is very divisive, obviously. I think that he, on the
02:20campaign trail, said, I'm the best for the economy. I'm going to fix the economy. I'm a businessman. I know
02:25how to fix this. And people believed him. And then what did he do immediately upon getting in tariffs? And
02:31now people are like, oh, wait, I actually don't think that's a good thing. And Amazon, I guess, is or is not
02:36going to be putting how much tariffs cost on products. But, you know, I think they're paying attention
02:42and more Americans, or the majority of Americans, I should say, think that the economy is the fault
02:49of Trump right now. And we're only a quarter into his presidency. And I guess my recommendation would
02:55be do tax cuts. That's what he should have done first before tariffing everybody, right? And we
03:00have the budget coming up and those sorts of things. But let's give relief to the American people.
03:05The Biden economy was on its way up. However, it takes time for Americans to be able to feel
03:10those side effects. And so even though they were talking about an opportunity economy,
03:15Americans were still hurting. And now they voted for someone they thought would give them relief.
03:19And they're saying that's not the case. And I think a lot of people are starting to get concerned
03:23and get buyer's remorse. The economy shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025. And that's the first
03:31time the economy contracted in a couple of years. But President Trump is saying, hey, this isn't my
03:36economy. That is not my fault. I want to read exactly what he posted on Truth Social. Quote,
03:41this is Biden's stock market, not Trump's. I didn't take over until January 20. Tariffs will
03:46soon start kicking in and companies are starting to move into the US in record numbers. Our country
03:52will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden overhang. This will take a while, but not has nothing
03:57to do with tariffs, only that he left us with bad numbers. But when the boom begins, it will be it will
04:02be like no other. Be patient. When do you think this tariff boom will happen? If at all, economists
04:09aren't saying this message. They're not singing the same tune. They're saying, hey, with tariffs,
04:14a recession is more likely than not. They're not. They're seeing, hey, rising prices could happen
04:20because of tariffs will happen. There will be less disposable income. So there's a major disconnect
04:25between what President Trump's saying and what everyone else is saying. What do you think about his
04:29post right there? I mean, I'll be honest, I think the president is a pretty stubborn man. He doesn't
04:35want to be proven wrong. He's going to go full guns blazing on this. I don't know that I don't know
04:41what would change his mind other than very, very poor approval ratings. And I think we're on our way
04:45there. And, you know, I think he thinks he knows best and is sort of put himself around people. He
04:52surrounded himself this term with folks who may be are not as qualified from the first term. Think about
04:58all the people who ended up getting fired. And then, you know, they're on his bad list. Right.
05:02And so now he wants to be surrounded by people who trust him, believe in him, say whatever he says
05:09is fine and great and will go out on TV, especially and support him. And so I think that's I don't know
05:15what he can do other than to remove the tariffs and say, you know what, we tried it. It was wrong.
05:21Also, it's really rich coming from a billionaire who says it's going to hurt a little bit. Oh,
05:25kids, instead of having 10 toys, maybe you'll just have two toys and they might be a little
05:28bit more expensive than they normally would be. I mean, it's giving Jimmy Carter vibes. And
05:33that's not how you want to be starting the beginning of your presidency.
05:36And that's messaging that people didn't like coming from Democrats when Democrats were saying,
05:42no, the economy is doing well. If you're just thinking it, it's that it's not doing well is
05:46essentially all in your head. And that's a large reason why they lost in 2024. A bipartisan
05:52resolution to undo Trump's tariffs failed in the Senate this week. It doesn't seem like while
05:58Republicans or while Democrats rather in Congress are more vocal about opposing tariffs, it doesn't
06:04seem like Republicans want to really get involved or get in Trump's way. That's at least something
06:10that Congressman Mike Levin said to me earlier today. He said, Republicans are saying one thing
06:15privately, a different thing publicly. Do you think there needs to be congressional action here when it
06:20comes to President Trump's tariffs? I think so. And Congress all about signed away that power
06:25about a month ago or so when they said, oh, you know what, Trump can have control of the tariffs.
06:30But the thing is, is that our founders created three separate but equal branches of government so
06:35we can have checks and balances. I think they'd be rolling over in their graves if they saw what
06:39we'd done on this tariff thing. And yeah, I think Congress needs to check the president on this
06:44and especially Republicans. You know, it's one thing for Democrats to oppose. But when you're on
06:49the opposite side, you're generally going to oppose when it is a Republican who brings forth actual
06:54concerns. I think that brings credibility to the issue that, hey, this isn't just something
06:58that the liberal lunatics are worried about, which is what the Trump administration has called
07:03some of the people going out and protesting. It's like normal Republicans and people who are
07:08fiscal hawks saying, you know what, this isn't the way to do things. And this isn't going to help
07:11the American people. Something else that President Trump won on is his messaging surrounding
07:17immigration. And Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said that in his first 100 days, the border
07:23is now secure. And CBP found that there were record low border crossings back in March. Although
07:29President Trump's deportation policies are largely controversial in this first 100 days, do you
07:35think immigration is a bright spot or rather brighter spot when you're looking at the economy
07:39and tariffs? But how would you grade President Trump on his immigration stance?
07:44I think immigration, maybe for the first time ever in a presidential, was ranked really high
07:49in what people were worried about right there next to the economy. And so I think Americans
07:54also wanted someone who is going to be strong on our border security and make sure that our
07:58America's generosity isn't taken advantage of. However, I don't think that the way some of these
08:03things have been handled has been very helpful to the president. So, you know, I don't think
08:08tariffs are great. I don't think what he's done with immigration is great, especially with some
08:11of those very out there cases that people are paying attention to. I think that Americans are
08:17concerned. And also, I think that some Americans aren't totally buying what's coming out of the White
08:22House. And they're saying, well, release all the documents and let us decide for ourselves. And
08:26we're getting sort of some redacted paperwork, I guess, for lack of a better term, or just
08:31certain certain pages of certain documents. Right. And, you know, I think it's important to have
08:36strong border security, but I don't know that he's done it the best way either. And I think he
08:41needs to sort of sharpen the way that he's doing things. When we talk about Elon Musk, he was taking
08:48a sledgehammer to the government, right? And we said, you know, you need a scalpel approach. And so I
08:53think the president should take some of that into consideration and do a scalpel approach of how he's
08:58handling tariffs and immigration XYZ, because he's kind of going full force immediately. And
09:05Americans are kind of a little concerned, I think. I want to now set our sights abroad. There are two
09:13wars that President Trump talked about on the campaign trail. And one of them, he said, I will
09:18end it in a day. And that was Russia, Ukraine. That war is still ongoing. The United States is in the
09:23midst of negotiations between the two. Some experts I've spoken to have said President Trump seems to
09:28be rushing. This seems to be appeasing President Putin just a little bit there. When it comes to
09:34the Middle East, there is still a war between Israel and Hamas. How would you grade President
09:38Trump's foreign policy? Talk to us about that. I don't think very great either. I mean, when we
09:44talk about ending these wars, one, as a proud American, I know that we like to consider ourselves
09:49a global superpower. However, ultimately, at the end of the day, if Putin or Hamas doesn't want to end
09:55the war, I don't know how much influence a U.S. president could have. And I don't think that's
10:00specific to Trump. I would have said the same thing about Biden. I think it's important for us
10:04to be able to come to the negotiating table and bring people together. However, I don't know when
10:10Republicans became Putin's sympathizers. When you think about the Cold War and Reagan
10:15and tear down that wall, I think that we've taken a very stark, different approach from back then.
10:23And we have to remember, I think we're doing a better job on this with Israel is that Israel did
10:28not start this war. It was Hamas. Ukraine did not start this war. It was Putin. And we have to
10:33remember who our allies are and who our adversaries are. I want to talk about one of the scandals that
10:39really rocked this first 100 days because there was a development about an hour before you and I
10:44sat down. I'm talking about Signalgate when National Security Advisor Mike Waltz inadvertently added a
10:50journalist to a signal group chat when discussing pretty imminent plans to attack the Houthis in
10:56Yemen. And just moments before we sat down, there is reporting that Mike Waltz will be leaving the
11:02Trump administration soon. What are your thoughts on this? I'm not surprised. I don't think Hexeth is far
11:09behind, to be honest with you. I think that Signalgate was absolutely atrocious. I know that
11:14the White House tried to make it seem like it wasn't that big of a deal. I think they know inside
11:19that it was kind of a big deal and that they need to be careful. Then of course, we saw those
11:23additional messages that came out from Waltz on Signal again with his wife. And I think it was
11:27outside advisors. And so I think this is the right move. You know, I feel bad for Waltz because I think
11:35he is one of the more credible people who are part of this administration. He's a veteran.
11:40He was in Congress for a long time. I think he, you know, obviously he went about this the wrong way.
11:46I think that this is a lesson to everybody that we need to have proper protocols in place. I'm sure
11:51he will be fine. But, you know, as as someone who is concerned about the level of people Trump is
11:57surrounding himself with and the expertise that they have, I am kind of worried that now this guy who
12:03does have some actual legitimate experiences will be gone, but he did mess up. So I think that's
12:09the right move. And Trump did need to point at someone to for the blame. So to your point,
12:16Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth found himself in a bit of a signal gate 2.0 where there were
12:20additional messages with him, family members, I believe an attorney talking about the attack plans
12:26as well. What do you make of that? Do you think you said that you think he's going to be out the door
12:31too? Do you think he needs to leave as well? Do you think, Walt, that's one guy that's enough?
12:36Or what do you think about him?
12:39You're right. And I'm sorry, I said that it was Walt's with those messages. It was Hexa. Thank
12:42you for the reminder. Yeah, I think he's got to go. I mean, it's one thing to be talking about this
12:47very high level, potentially confidential or not, depends on who you ask information with folks who
12:53are privy to that information. And I think it's which is already bad enough. And then I think it's
12:57another thing to talk about that very classified, confidential or, you know, top secret type of
13:04information with folks who aren't supposed to be privy to that information. And I think that's
13:09dangerous. It was already dangerous that they were using a signal gate, but now using it with people
13:14who aren't really even supposed to be getting this information. Yeah, I think his name is, excuse me,
13:20I think his days are probably numbered at this point.
13:22And I think it would be impossible to not talk about President Trump's 100 days, first 100 days
13:29of this second term without mentioning Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, the face of Doge,
13:34President Trump's, one of his seemingly senior advisors. What do you make of his involvement in
13:40these first couple of months? What do you want to see from him? Maybe do you want to see less of
13:45him? I mean, what does that look like? I think we are going to see less of him. And he's said that
13:50he's going to be sort of taking a step back, whether he is volunteering to do that, or he was
13:55voluntold to do that. I don't know. I've heard murmurs from folks at the White House that the
14:01chief of staff, Susie Wiles, wasn't entirely thrilled with Elon Musk. And so I think it makes
14:07sense. He had a very wild and intense two months or so. And I think we've seen him over the last few
14:14weeks. I was talking to someone yesterday and I was like, you know what, I feel like I haven't really
14:17seen him in the news that much. I think that's a good thing. He's not an expert in this field.
14:23I think he's done some really great things for the world. I don't think politics is one of them.
14:27I think he should go back to trying innovation and technology and getting us into space and,
14:32you know, different kinds of cars and energy, et cetera. I don't think that this is the right
14:37world for him. And so I hope that we see less of him. And I'm glad that we have seen a little less
14:43of him these last couple of weeks. And to your point, he was in the news. It was fast
14:47and furious. And now, like you said, we are seeing less of him. He's less visible in the
14:53White House, less visible next to Trump. What do you want to see from the Trump administration
14:58in these next over a thousand days? Because we still have a long time to go of President Trump
15:052.0. What do you want to see? A and B, how realistic to what you want to see do you think
15:10is actually going to happen? I would love to see adults in the room as opposed to sycophants
15:17who just regurgitate his talking points. We need people with experience who aren't afraid to stand
15:23up. And listen, are you still going to find allies? Of course. But I think it's also smart not to be
15:28surrounded by yes men. I would love to see him have people who are serious leaders who are part of
15:34the administration and in high level positions. Do I think that's going to happen? I don't know.
15:40Fingers crossed. At this point, probably not. It'll be really interesting to see who takes over
15:45Walt's position. I think that might be a great indicator of what direction Trump does decide
15:49to go in. But, you know, time will tell. I'm not too sure. I'm not going to hold my breath on that
15:55one, I think. I mean, I think that's really interesting because it is kind of now is a good
16:01time to reflect on where exactly you see as a Republican your party going because we have these
16:06first 100 days of Trump. And as you said, the major difference between Trump 1.0 versus Trump 2.0 is
16:13the people that he's surrounding himself with. Before it was all Republicans. Now it seems more
16:20yes men, more people who are sycophantic to what he wants, more people that aren't going to say what
16:25he doesn't want to hear. Do you think that's a true characterization? And what does this mean for
16:30the future of your party? I think it is and I don't think it's helpful. I think you and I have
16:35talked about it before. I mean, Trump is a very unique character and he has gotten this fan base
16:41essentially of people who really like him. But Trumpism doesn't necessarily work for other
16:46people. We've seen other people try. Vivek is the first person who comes to mind and people were
16:51pretty turned off by him. Right. And I don't think he's going to be all that successful in Ohio. And so
16:57it can work in this moment and maybe it'll work a little bit longer than that. But if you're unwilling
17:02to bring in people who are going to have that pushback and only doing, you know, press secretary
17:07briefings to the special media people who are the influencers, which is crazy, by the way, a couple
17:14times a week, as opposed to the normal press briefings, right? Like what it almost feels like
17:18state run media. And I hate to think of that because First Amendment, right to freedom of speech and
17:24freedom of the press is so important here. So I would love to see more of that. Even if CNN or AP or
17:31whatever is doing a bad story on you, at least let them get it out there and don't bar them. I think
17:36like the way that he might have to the AP or at least there's conversations about it. I don't recall
17:40what the final predict was on that. But I don't think it's helpful because here's the thing right now,
17:47it's easy to be surrounded by like-minded people. I think Democrats are still in disarray,
17:52but they're not going to be in disarray forever. And they are going to get it back together at some
17:57point. I'm not saying it's tomorrow necessarily, but it's better for us to have lots of options out
18:03there rather than be so to pigeonhole ourselves into just one specific arena and then let Democrats
18:10essentially take over everything else that's left over. Because because what he's focusing in on is such
18:15a small percentage compared to the entire population, I think. And I think something we saw in the last
18:21election is that voters will turn on you if they feel that the economy is going down a path they
18:27don't want it to go down. And based on the numbers, based on the economy shrinking, based on tariff
18:32economists saying tariffs will have your prices increase, your disposable income go down. That
18:38seems the way the economy is heading. So we have a lot of conversations in store, I am sure. And I hope
18:44we can talk sometime soon. Brittany Martinez, thank you for joining me. Anytime. Thanks for having me.
18:51Thank you very much.
18:59I am very happy with you.
19:00I also have a great interview.
19:04Thanks for turning me.
19:12Thanks for having me.