Top News Today –
100 Days Of Trump:
A Report Card
Saturday marked 100 days since Donald Trump took occupancy of The White House. So, how’s he doing? Let’s take a look.
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Before Trump made it to Washington, he presented America with a laundry list of promises he would jumpstart during his first 100 days. Those promises include:
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So, exactly how many promises has Donald Trump actually kept?
Soon after his surprise victory last November, Donald Trump couldn’t stop playing up the significance of his first 100 days and how he was going to get so much done. Trump pledged that he alone could “Make America Great Again” and that under his leadership America would be winning so much, we’d all grow tired of winning.
However, as his 100th day approached following loss after loss after loss, Trump jumped through hoops to dial back the importance of his first 100 days, calling it a “ridiculous standard.” He also publicly admitted (via Twitter, of course) that “being president is hard.” Oh, really?
The egotistical and self-centered billionaire somehow convinced himself he could run the most powerful nation on the planet (with 3 branches of government to answer to) the same way he runs his businesses (with no one to answer to). Trump fooled himself into believing all he had to do was snap his finger and he could have anything he wanted. The first-time politician quickly learned that is not how a government or the gridlock of Washington works.
So, again, how’s he doing? To put it bluntly, Donald Trump’s first 100 days have been nothing short of a disaster.
Despite his attempts at a propaganda campaign to convince the American public otherwise, his inauguration and the subsequent parade was one of the worst attended in US history. His 2nd day in office began with a worldwide Women’s March against him — pink pussy hats and all. His attempt at a “Muslim ban” was met with record protests at airports and other venues across the country. In fact, his travel ban has twice been blocked by the courts, effectively ending it.
Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned after only 2 weeks on the job for lying to congress about his connections to a foreign adversary. FBI Director James Comey publicly announced that Trump and several of his associates are currently under investigation for alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia. Also, a federal judge blocked Trump’s plan to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities.
“The Donald” failed to convince Republicans to coalesce and mobilize a GOP monopoly on power in Washington. Mexico repeatedly made it clear they are never paying for his wall. Trump has since backpedaled on who will pay for the wall, now saying America will pay for it “first” and Mexico will (somehow) reimburse the US. His own Homeland Security Director admitted that the wall idea is too expensive and may end up being a segment of chain-link fences instead of a continuous wall (due to rivers, mountains, and Native American lands along the border).
Oh, and his signature goal — repealing Obamacare — crashed and burned in embarrassment.
So, where’s all the “winning” Trump promised we’d all get tired of?
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Ronald Reagan used his first 100 days to turn around the nation’s mood and lay the foundation for a successful presidency. George W. Bush, who, like Trump, came into office amidst deep political divisions after a polarizing general election, used his time to heal political wounds. However, Donald Trump has done exactly the opposite. Instead of uniting the country (as promised) and following through with his “What do you have to lose” vow to minorities who were skittish about his candidacy, Trump has instead exacerbated questions regarding his inexperience and temperament.
Ever the used car salesman, Trump continues to create White House photo-ops that big things are getting done in the Oval Office (they’re not) and that despite all the major accomplishments in these first 100 days, the “fake news” media refuses to cover his successes (there aren’t many).
Needless to say, people are beginning to catch on.
“It’s not me … 65% of the American public, maybe 60%, are saying he is doing a bad job, he has got to figure out something for his second 100 days because it hasn’t been very good so far,” CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said last week.
Truer words have never been spoken.
According to a recent Gallup Poll, Donald Trump’s approval rating is at a disappointing 43% which is the lowest of any US president in history at this point in their presidency.
If this is the formula to “Make America Great Again,” where do we sign up to demand our money back?!?
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He said he wouldn’t bomb Syria. You bought it. Then he bombed Syria.
He said he’d build a wall along the border with Mexico. You bought it. Now his secretary of homeland security says “It’s unlikely that we will build a wall.”
He said he’d clean the Washington swamp. You bought it. Then he brought into his administration more billionaires, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls than in any administration in history, to make laws that will enrich their businesses.
He said he’d repeal Obamacare and replace it with something “wonderful.” You bought it. Then he didn’t.
He said he’d use his business experience to whip the White House into shape. You bought it. Then he created the most chaotic, dysfunctional, back-stabbing White House in modern history, in which no one is in charge.
He said he’d release his tax returns, eventually. You bought it. He hasn’t and says he never will.
He said he’d divest himself from his financial empire, to avoid any conflicts of interest. You bought it. He remains heavily involved in his businesses, makes money off of foreign dignitaries staying at his Washington hotel, gets China to give the Trump brand trademark and copyright rights, manipulates the stock market on a daily basis, and has more conflicts of interest than can even be counted.
He said Clinton was in the pockets of Goldman Sachs and would do whatever they said. You bought it. Then he put half a dozen Goldman Sachs executives in positions of power in his administration.
He said he’d surround himself with all the best and smartest people. You bought it. Then he put Betsy DeVos, opponent of public education, in charge of education; Jeff Sessions, opponent of the Voting Rights Act, in charge of voting rights; Ben Carson, opponent of the Fair Housing Act, in charge of fair housing; Scott Pruitt, climate change denier, in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency; and Russian quisling Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.
He said he’d faithfully execute the law. You bought it. Then he said his predecessor, Barack Obama, spied on him, without any evidence of Obama ever doing so, in order to divert attention from the FBI’s investigation into collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives to win the election.
He said he knew more about strategy and terrorism than the generals did. You bought it. Then he green-lighted a disastrous raid in Yemen — even though his generals said it would be a terrible idea. This raid resulted in the deaths of a Navy SEAL, an 8-year old American girl, and numerous civilians. The actual target of the raid escaped, and no useful intel was gained.
He called Barack Obama “the vacationer-in-Chief” and accused him of playing more rounds of golf than Tiger Woods. He promised to never be the kind of president who took cushy vacations on the taxpayer’s dime, not when there was so much important work to be done. You bought it. He has by now spent more taxpayer money on vacations than Obama did in the first 3 years of his presidency. Not to mention all the money taxpayers are spending protecting his family, including his two sons who travel all over the world on Trump business.
He called CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times “fake news” and said they were his enemy. You bought it. Now he gets his information from Fox News, Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, and InfoWars.
– Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary
Great post DJ. Very informative and (as always) backed up by actual Facts.
And you're right of course- "Trump's first 100 days have been noting short of a disaster."
And isn't it sad, if not frightening, that WE (Americans who actually give a d*mn about Our country) have to be grateful that this fool's presidency has (thus far) been such a disaster because just imagine if he had been successful in carrying out his madness on this nation -and the World -with Real world disastrous consequences!?!
And to think. We're just 100 days into this nightmare. As long as Trump is in in the White House he is, IMO, the #1 threat to Our National Security, to say nothing of Our democracy and way of life. The #2 threat, IMO, being the people who voted for him and who continue to back him no matter what he says or does.
And about Trump voters………..
As I've expressed before, I do not believe for one minute that most Trump voters love Trump. Frankly I don't think most of them even like the guy. They know he's full of sh*t. They know he's a serial liar and loud-mouth CON-man. But they've convinced themselves that he is the only person standing between them and the "Others" taking over *their* country.
On other words, despite the American news media's intellectually LAZY narrative about Trump support being primarily about "ecnomic anxieties" I contend that support for Trump is primary rooted in White Nativism/White Tribalism with economic anxieties being related to that. My guess is, most Trump voters will continue to LIE to themselves, over and over again, making excuses (Scapegoat) his many Failures which was (easily) predictable.
However, if the day should come when his voters begin to figure out that he can't even do THAT (protect them and "their" country from being taken over by the "Others") we will begin to see some Real erosion in support for him. Perhaps not a huge drop-off at first…but a gradual drop-off nonetheless.
Btw DJ, your thinking (your post) has lots of company this morning from diverse political spectrums -.liberal, moderate, conservative and even some really right-wing sites.
Keep up the great work!
On a related note…………..
"President Trump’s first 100 days have been mostly a flurry of shallow symbolic gestures."
Excerpt:
There is a {so-called} reality-television program called American Pickers, and what happens on it is this: A junkman drives around in a van and offers to buy other people’s junk, sometimes haggling over the price. The supporting characters are assistant junkmen and sundry onlookers. It is as though someone decided to remake Sanford and Son without actors, Redd Foxx’s humor, or a plot.
Its popularity is as inexplicable as it is undeniable.
Because NOTHING actually happens on American Pickers, the show relies on the illusion of action, which is created through camerawork and editing. Junkman offers $x for a quantity of junk; Junk-Haver produces a look of concentration. The camera cuts quickly back and forth among the faces of Junkman, Deputy Junkman, Assistant Deputy Junkman, Junk-Haver, and Sundry Junk-Having Onlookers. And then there is a commercial for erection pills.
The application to the first 100 days of the Trump administration is of course obvious.[…] – Kevin Williamson, writer at National Review
NR Reader:
It's not his fault, of course, Trump now blames the Constitution for his abysmal 100 days:
On our checks and balances, he says: "It’s a very rough system, it' an archaic system … It’s really a bad thing for the country.” […]
NR Reader:
In football terms, this last week was flooding the zone; lots of motion with very little accomplishment. It was a hail Mary pass without any receivers. As a businessman, Trump campaigned on getting things done during his first 100 days, and woefully, he has little to show, hence those last ditch, fruitless efforts. {Look at} the list of legislation he promised in 100 days […]
And there also THIS "Breaking News" ………….
A bipartisan budget deal was reached last night to avoid a government shutdown.
" U.S. Congressional Talks Yield Deal To Fund Government Through September"
The House of Representatives and Senate must approve the deal before the end of Friday.
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. congressional negotiators have hammered out a bipartisan agreement on a spending package to keep the federal government funded through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, a senior congressional aide said on Sunday.
The House of Representatives and Senate must approve the deal before the end of Friday and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature to avoid the first government shutdown since 2013.
Congress was tied up for months trying to work out $1 trillion in spending priorities for the current fiscal year. Lawmakers were supposed to have taken care of the fiscal 2017 appropriations bills by last Oct. 1 […] – HuffPost
In short, the Repubs gave the Dems almost everything they wanted, including continued funding for Planned Parenthood. And Trump got almost none of what he wanted. No money for his wall; No money to increase deportation law enforcement; a $12 million dollars increase in defense spending which is $18 million dollars LESS than Trump had wanted etc)
Re: the bipartisan budget deal reached last night………
Politico Reader:
So the master negotiator, with a Senate and House majority conceded every possible point in order to avoid a political failure in a government shutdown? Sounds swampish. People wanted a successful businessman; they got a poor politician. […]
Politico Reader:
Nah, they got a morally bankrupt, lying, socially degenerate moron; a creature that lives and breathes in the muck of the swamp he promised to drain. He employs disingenuous {suckers} (daughter and SIL included) to fatten the family coffers. This is the single most corrupt fucking entity to hit the DC streets since dirt itself was young. {D*mn} you Don. And everything you're associated with. […].
Politico Reader:
Good to see that House Republicans agree that a "Border Wall" is a figment of one person's imagination–Trumpy the Clown!! […]
RedState Reader:
Reading the details, Paul Ryan basically went into the fetal position at negotiations and gave Democrats everything they wanted for just a defense spending increase in return.
What's the point of electing Republicans anymore?
GOP leaders are miscalculating. They think caving to avoid a shut-down and being total cowards will prevent public backlash but it's going to end up costing them the very people who put them in office.
Worse. Hucksters like Trump will continue to thrive in the party because of the fecklessness of leadership. […]
You say your paper is supported by actual fact, but you say he hasn't kept any of his promises, albeit he hasn't fulfilled most of them, but he has kept a few. If there's an explanation to that it's because the dems keep getting it his way doing everything they can to make it seem like he's a failure.
The Repubs got in Obamas way for all eight years but he made it work. He got Obamacare passed and they tried a hundred different ways to end it while he was still around but failed. So what you are saying is no excuse. A party that likes or blocks something is how government works. The president job is supposed to find a way to make it work anyway. But Trump has no friends in congress. He beat up on Dems and Repubs the whole campaign so nobody really likes him or owes him anything. The Repubs only go along just because they have to save face. So these are facts and the biggest fact is Trump is a failure.
Oh boy I knew this was coming today. Thanks DJ. I took the poll and gave Trump a F because he talked a big game in the campaign but can't follow through on nothing I can see. The biggest thing he was elected on was he was going to kill Obamacare. But that turned out to be his biggest flop and embarrassment so far. Then he promised coal minors he was going to bring all their jobs back but that's a lie and everybody except the coal minors know it. Trump's problem is he thought this was all going to be easy and he could do whatever he wants like he runs his Trump company. But this isn't like that this is government. All those years he was tearing Obama down for not getting everything done is starting to come back on him and I love sitting back watching it. Like they say karma is a B.
..(continuing on a related note)……
"The End of Trump’s Revolution?"
After 100 days in office, his promise of “America First” has disappeared, and he has morphed into a conventional Republican.
“From this moment on, it’s going to be America First. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families.”
Excerpt:
At his inauguration, Trump made this pledge to the American people. Despite leading the first unified Republican government in a decade, Trump failed to deliver on this pledge in his first 100 days in office.
The brand of populism that helped Trump’s rise to power has been squeezed out by the longstanding division within the Republican Party between the GOP establishment and the conservative movement. Over the past 100 days, a conventional Republican presidency wedded to conservative orthodoxy has emerged, albeit with Trump’s distinctive character flaws.
A Trumpian populist policy agenda has also been hampered by the dynamics within the White House. After the failed travel-ban orders and his demotion from the National Security Council, Steve Bannon saw the influence of his populist faction wane. Major infighting with Jared Kushner’s centrist faction further undermined Bannon’s standing and endangered his position in the administration. This chaotic environment ultimately allowed Paul Ryan and Reince Priebus to persuade Trump to favor orthodox conservatives’ priorities. […] David A. Cowan, TAC writer
TAC Reader:
Mr. Cowan it was reported today that Trump has lied to us Americans, including his supporters who did not blink when during the campaign he said he could walk up to a random person in NYC, shoot them dead, and suffer no loss of support, on average about 5 times per day over the last 100 days.
Please explain your use of the word “populism” in relation to The Donald.
Is there not one conservative in America with the guts to admit that the very thought of the man makes our collective stomachs turn and that he is a national embarrassment of extraordinary proportions? […]
TAC Reader:
I knew that many of Mr. Trump’s stands on issues were clearly designed to appeal to a certain base and were hopelessly impossible to implement.
But I thought that once attaining power he would actually have intelligent ideas on how to solve some pretty difficult issues in this country.
He has abandoned both. And I don’t think that was his intention. I think he is just sadly in over his head. […]
TAC Reader:
Oh please. Trump ran on a series of slogans, a sales pitch that was little more than empty rhetoric. To think that the man who routinely screwed over the small business contractors who worked for him, imported workers to staff his Mar a Lago resort, and had his products (as well as those of Princess Ivanka) manufactured in China ever had the interests of his white, working class voters at heart was pure wishful thinking. America first? Who are you kidding? Trump’s motto is and always has been “Trump first.” He’s blatantly using the presidency to further enrich himself and his family.
This turn of events comes as no surprise to those of us who’ve watched President Tweet for decades and recognize a con man and malignant narcissist when we see one. Yes, the GOP needs to be reordered, as does the Democratic Party. But to think that a third-rate charlatan lacking any fixed principles other than self-aggrandizement would be the one to bring about a revolution evinces a huge degree of delusion.
Trump has neither the focus, nor the work ethic to do anything other than take the easy way out. […]