President Donald Trump recently said that it is ridiculous that we judge a President by their first 100 days. He then followed those thoughts up by stating that his first 100 days have been great. He is right on both counts.
The idea of the first 100 days as a benchmark started with Franklin Roosevelt. The country was in bad shape due to the beginnings of the Great Depression. FDR had just come off a decisive victory over incumbent President Herbert Hoover because the promises made by Roosevelt in the 1932 campaign. The country was looking for quick answers to their problems, and FDR delivered on many of his campaign pledges in his first 100 days. Every new President since FDR has used the electoral mandate of the American people to deliver on the promise of their respective campaigns. If the new President wants to do something big, it must get done in the first 100 days.
That is the story we are all told, and it is a media created myth. FDR invented the idea of the first 100 days, but he was not referring to the first few months of his own administration, he was referencing the 100 day session of the 73rd US Congress. Many of Roosevelt's programs to fight the Great Depression were started in the first few months of his administration, but many of these programs were created via executive order, and it took much longer than 100 days to make them legal. The intentional slow pace of the US Congress meant it was years before many of FDR's New Deal Programs were made legal, or were thrown out completely. FDR's true legacy was created by what the President did over the years, not in his first few months.
Since FDR, there was little talk about the importance of the first 100 days. Nearly ever President after FDR, and almost all of them before, still worked to pass big pieces of legislation almost immediately. That is what happens after an election. The candidates made promises to the American electorate, swift action is always expected. Easy to pass electoral red meat, that is what gets done in the first 100 days. The concept was largely forgotten about for decades after FDR.
With the inauguration of Barrack Obama, the media love affair with the first 100 days suddenly reappeared. Once again the country was in the midst of a big economic problem attributed to the policies of the previous administrations. The American voter expected President Obama to do something quickly. The press quickly jumped on the easy narrative of the first 100 days, and constantly questioned President Obama'a administration about their successes in this very short amount of time. President Obama was tired of the idiotic idea of being judged by the first 100 days, and even remarked that "The first hundred days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference". Eight years later, Obama has proven that the 100 days idea is unworthy.
This is why President Donald Trump is right that the first 100 days mark is an idiotic standard. The press has not cared about this moronic ideal with forty-two other Presidents. The legislative process is intentionally slow and difficult. The media should not set up unrealistic expectations with the American people. If Donald Trump is going to make America great again, he will need a hell of lot longer than fourteen weeks and some change.
Understanding that the first 100 days is a dumb standard, President Trump is also correct in saying that his first 100 days have been wildly successful. The success may not be easy to see, but it is still there. The impact of President's Trump may not be as clear to the American people like FDR's or Obama's, but his actions have been equally important to setting up the future of United States. This may sound like fake news to the 54% of American voters that did not want Donald Trump to be President (that is a majority of the voters in case some people are still confused by this). The three million more people who voted for Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump may not see success in the new President's first 100 days, but it is still there. That is a fact.
The first big success for the new President was his ability to keep the vacant Supreme Court seat in the hands of the conservatives. Unfortunately, this was not really any success from Donald Trump, but more of a spoil from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's war on the US Constitution. Not happy with already disrespecting the wishes of the Founding Fathers during Obama's Presidency, great Leader McConnell also decided to throw out centuries of Senate rules and decorum to get his way. Maybe we should chalk up the Supreme Court victory to the America hating temper tantrum of Leader McConnell. But, President Trump did say Neil Gorsuch's name on television, so he should get some of the credit.
As far as policy victories, President Trump did promise to make sure all Americans would have healthcare coverage. Thanks to the incompetence of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the GOP's campaign promises on repealing the Affordable Care Act was seen for what it really was, pointless political pandering. Speaker Ryan, along with the help of the Freedom Caucus, made sure that Obamacare would be the law of the land for the foreseeable future. President Trump and Speaker Ryan did try to put a new "replacement" bill up for a vote, but their majorities in the House and the Senate could not be counted on to follow their party leaders wishes. Thanks to the terrible leadership of Speaker Ryan, and the "who knew healthcare was so complicated" malaise of President Trump, most Americans can get healthcare coverage thanks to the ongoing existence of Obamacare. Trump has been able to keep his campaign promise that all Americans will have access to healthcare, thanks to his predecessor.
The election of Donald Trump was going to return America to time before we promised to be the world's policeman. Before he supported the Iraq War, Donald Trump was always against it. The never ending battles in the Middle East were going to end, promised candidate Trump. Sure we may still be at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but all the messed up military operations in Trump's first 100 days are really the fault of Obama. Trump did bomb Syria, after he cleared it with Russia, but that was because Obama did not do it years before. Yes, Trump did say that Obama should not bomb Syria, but that is Obama's fault for listening to an uninformed blowhard. Yes we are gearing up for war in North Korea, but that is because Truman did not finish the job almost 70 years ago. And Obama, he is to blame for North Korea. So President Trump may not want to be the world's policeman, but Obama has made him do it. It may not be a first hundred days success, but it is not President Trump's fault.
The economy has done a lot better under President Trump. Sure, all the economic data in the early days were still a reflection of the Obama Presidency, and the new economic figures are not looking quite as good, but Trump is delivering on making the American economy strong. He promised to end NAFTA, but backed down when he saw how stupid that is. He promised to hold China accountable on currency and trade, but after sharing cake with the Chinese President Trump had a change of heart. Candidate Trump promised to improve the economy by fixing the crumbling infrastructure, but President Trump may need more than 100 days to get a win here. The Republican led Congress can not seem to get anything passed. Trump promised that the economy would not be affected by his glorious border wall on the US - Mexico border because the Mexican government would pay for it. Another pivot for Trump when he learned that Mexico is a sovereign nation. The economy under President Trump has survived the last 100 days because the ideas of candidate Trump have all been thrown out. I'm sure Trump's tax returns show how great of an economic mind the President has, we should judge him on that hope.
Candidate Trump also promised to surround himself with the best minds in all of America. Sure his initial campaign manager, his first national security adviser, and a few other appointees have all been tied directly to the Russian government. Again, this was all Obama's fault. Why should we expect a man who wants to be President of the United States to look into his own confidants? Why the high expectations?
President Trump did appoint some great outside the box type minds. Adviser Kellyanne Conway and Press Secretary Sean Spicer may not seem to grasp basic things like being coherent and not telling lies, but they try real hard. Just look at Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, a man who did not know what the Department of Energy is responsible for. Or how about Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos? She may know a lot about bear attacks at US Schools, but her lack of compassion and knowledge about the US Education system can be easily overlooked by her large political contributions. Trump does have great political minds like son-in-law Jared Kushner and failed Hollywood wannabe Steve Bannon in the Oval Office. Unfortunately, these two geniuses have been allegedly fighting, but how is this President Trump's fault? At least he picked his daughter Ivanka to right the ship. That has worked out well. It is not fair to judge President Trump on the 90% of questionable picks, we should only look at the good ones.
When Barrack Obama was elected in November of 2008, he promised to work for all Americans. After eight years of constant obstructionism from congressional Republicans, never ending hit pieces by Fox News, and hateful treatment from private citizen Donald Trump, President Obama left the White House with a high approval rating. President Trump promised to be even better than the terrible Obama.
In the unimportant first 100 days, Trump has achieved record low approval ratings. That is not really his fault. The media keep pointing out that the new President is signing UnConstituational, and unenforceable, Executive Orders on immigration. Maybe if the Republican controlled Congress passed the immigration laws they keep promising, President Trump would not have to worry about the courts correctly interpreting his bad ideas. The press has also been highlighting all the times President Trump has tried to deny health to women and lower class workers. Why would women across the country correctly point out how inhumane this is? The President has said that his administration is pro-science. Why do people who support science, and actual scientists, get so upset when President Trump promote proven anti-science ideas with his administration. The new President wants to make sure the ideas of the minority, the 46% of the voters who actually supported him in the 2016 election, get equal billing with the proven work of people who actual understand science. President Trump is not dividing the country, it is the women who care about their own agency, the racial minorities that do not want to be hate crimed, and the real scientist who are using their expertise to make the new President look bad in front of the press.
Judging President Donald Trump on his first 100 days is not fair, but assessing his accomplishments is breathtaking. On the campaign trail Donald Trump made a lot of promises to the voter who was not happy with business as usual politics. With the help of political inept billionaires, incompetent DC insiders, and his children, President Trump has quickly evolved into a business as usual President. Endless and pointless war? Check. Giveaways to political donors? Check. Broken promises to the American electorate? Check. Blaming your predecessor for your inadequacies? Check. With all of that in mind, Donald Trump has had a great first 100 days. Just like the great 100 days of the fourty-four men who preceded him. With the greatness of his first 100 days, how great will the first one-thousand be?
RD
RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He never got to the great tax plan of President Trump. You know, the one that will never pass. Do you have any thoughts on it. Come tell us.
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