It’s Saturday, April 29, 2017. Today we acknowledge the much-anticipated 100th day since Donald Trump desecrated the office of POTUS. With every acknowledgment of a mile marker come reflection, evaluation, and analysis; and there’s been plenty of all those things going on this week both in the media and in Trump’s private moments and public comments. As this momentous day has approached, the usual chaos which has become the trademark of this White House has escalated to frenzy as 45 throws things at the wall—everything his troubled mind can think of—just frantically hoping something, anything, will stick. Having faced unprecedented resistance during his short time in office, he desperately longs to legitimize his “presidency” and to win the adulation he so deeply craves. Alas, however, all we continue to see as we cross the invisible line into his next 1,361 days is the now-familiar blank expression, the vacant eyes, and the videos of him childishly displaying his most recent executive order to the cameras as if showing his kindergarten classmates or his mommy the picture he just colored. In the absence of a single piece of legislation, his large stack of executive orders—most of them worthless, dealing with matters which could have been resolved by a simple phone call—is the only tangible thing he can point to as an “accomplishment” during this almost three-and-a-half months. Sad for him, sadder for our country.
Here’s a quick recap of the week.
- Let’s just start with those executive orders. Trump has so far signed 30 of them, more than any other president in history within the same length of time. The one who comes closest to Trump’s number is Lyndon Johnson who signed 26 orders during his first 100 days. According to Leada Gore, “Trump has also signed 13 Congressional Review Act resolutions, more than any other president. The resolutions are designed to identify unnecessary regulations and block them from being issued.” These facts might be somewhat less noteworthy if the ceremonious, show-and-tell signings had been accompanied by any real legislation, but we all know that hasn’t happened; so that stack of black folders is all Trump has to show for “achievement.” Pathetic, Donald.
- The best news of the week is that the Republican leadership’s second repeal-and-replace attempt met the same fate as the first. Late Thursday, leaders were forced to scrap the vote, after conceding that they simply couldn’t muster the necessary support to pass the bill. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy assured the public, “As soon as we have the votes, we’ll vote on it.” Speaker Paul Ryan echoed that statement. Trump was desperately hoping to push through a bill this week, regardless of what it looked like (it’s not like he ever reads this stuff), in order to place success in beginning the process of repealing and replacing the ACA on his 100-day report card. Fortunately for the millions who depend on the ACA, that process will be delayed a bit longer.
- Tonight, the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner will convene, with all of the traditional elements except for one small difference: the “president” will not be in attendance. Trump is the first “president” since Ronald Reagan to skip the event often jokingly dubbed the “nerd prom,” but we forgave Reagan because he was busy recovering from a bullet wound received in the failed assassination attempt. Trump, on the other hand, is just being churlish and spiteful: dissing the media who have treated him “very badly” and have been “so unfair” to him and whom he has named “the enemy of the people.”
- While the lavish White House Correspondent’s Dinner proceeds, Trump will be doing his favorite thing: holding a campaign-style rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he’ll be getting a lot more love than he’d have gotten at the dinner. He just can’t seem to get enough of the adulation from those screaming crowds. Most presidents find it unnecessary to continue campaigning after they’ve won the election; but Donald Trump is clearly NOT most presidents, and since winning the election has so far been his only success, his narcissistic ego needs an occasional replay of those happy times. Sunday morning update: The New York Times Sunday morning headline: “Trump Savages News Media at Rally to Mark 100th.” Looks like the second 1,361 days will be a lot like the first 100. Sigh!
- In that Reuters interview, Trump also admitted that he misses his old life. Gee, Donald, at last we agree on something: we, too, miss the time when you had your old life and you were not part of our lives. Ah, those were the days! The most jaw-dropping part of this nostalgic moment was this comment: “’I loved my previous life, I loved my previous life. I had so many things going,’ Trump told Reuters. ‘I actually, this is more work than my previous life. I thought it would be easier.’ Then, later: ‘I do miss my old life. This — I like to work. But this is actually more work.’” (CNN) Seriously? Let me see if I understand what you’re saying. You thought being president of the most powerful country in the world—running the entire government of that country—would be EASIER than being a reality TV star? Really? And you have no shame in actually admitting such stupidity to the entire world? Wow!
- On Thursday of this week, Trump told an interviewer from Reuters, “There’s a chance that we could end up having a major, major, conflict with North Korea, absolutely.” Not only is “major, major conflict with North Korea” a terrifying prospect, but normal presidents don’t make public statements like this! We seem to have fallen into a dark hole that has no bottom. Each day brings a new display of ignorance more abysmal than the last. Yet so far none of 45’s violations of the Constitution, of ethics, of common decency have been sufficient to trigger serious investigations and actions by Congress to reign him in. Shame on them!
- During his campaign, Trump issued a two-page document called “Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter,” which begins with the line, “What follows is my 100-day action plan to Make America Great Again.” And then there is a list of the things which he would easily accomplish within that time period. I think it’s safe to say that Candidate Trump embraced the 100-day marker, looked forward to basking in his accomplishments on April 29. Fast forward to the week just preceding April 29, and we hear Trump as “president” whining about the 100-day evaluation: “It’s an artificial barrier”; “Not very meaningful”; “A ridiculous standard.” Nevertheless, throughout the week leading up to this ridiculous, non-meaningful, artificial report card, he blustered on and on about having the most successful 100 days in history, doing more than any other president has done in that short time, yada yada yada. And then he scheduled a rally in Pennsylvania where a screaming crowd would agree with him and bolster his narcissistic ego. And so it goes.
- On Saturday, April 29, Trump reminded us all that May 1 is Loyalty Day. A Guardian article explains, “The day [May Day] is a US tradition dating back to the cold war, when it was a bolster to stop May Day becoming a rallying point for socialists and unionised workers, but for an embattled president learning politics on the job it has an added resonance.” Or one could say, for a “president” who hasn’t learned that loyalty has to be earned, it can’t be demanded, May Day may be another straw at which he desperately clutches to create a little support. “Sad,” as he would say.
- In a Fox News interview marking 45’s 100th day, Mr. Nothing Sticks to Me turned to blaming the Constitution itself for his failure. The same Guardian article mentioned in #8 reports: “He blamed the constitutional checks and balances built in to US governance. ‘It’s a very rough system,’ he said.’“It’s an archaic system … It’s really a bad thing for the country.’” Archaic? Bad thing for the country? That damned constitution! How on earth can a dictator be expected to get anything done when the constitution keeps cutting off his power and giving it to the legislative or judicial branch of the government? That’s so unfair. This may well be Trump’s most offensive and narcissistic statement yet. When looking for someone or something to blame for his own failures, even our 230-year-old constitution is not safe. This may also be among his most dangerous statements so far; in Trump’s thinking, anything which limits his power is bad, up to and including our treasured constitution. Just a short 101 days ago, we had a president who knew, loved, and taught our constitution; now we have one who’s never read it and who blames it for not allowing him to become the dictator he so longs to be. How did we get here?
- Meanwhile, Trump’s approval ratings continue to hover around the 40% mark—historically low for any president at this early stage in his tenure. The only surprise here is that there could possibly be 40% of this country’s voters who DO approve of this train wreck! There’s much more work to be done!
The only positive news to come out of this last 100 days is that millions of Americans have begun to take more seriously than ever before the words “government of the people, by the people, for the people” and to take personal responsibility for seeing that—in the words of Abraham Lincoln—such government “shall not perish from the earth.” I read this morning that Trump is being sued by a group of youths, the youngest of whom is nine, for 45’s irresponsible attitude toward climate change. And that group will be among the thousands participating in Saturday’s march, the third such event during this nascent administration, to the White House to express the marchers’ disapproval of Trump and the Republican Congress’s inaction on climate change. Such hands-on involvement in government is something many of us have never seen to this extent, at least not since the Viet Nam days. Thanks to all of the marchers, protesters, letter writers, phone callers, meeting attenders, writers, and beautiful young lawsuit filers who represent all of us who love our democracy and refuse to stand idly by and watch it being destroyed.
That’s it for this week. See you next week, back here in The Swamp, when we’ll be 7 days into the second 1,361.