Alright, so this is admittedly a lazy post.
Saturday marks President Trump’s 100th day in office, and I was gearing up to do a whole big thing on it. But, as it turns out, every other media outlet on the planet seems to have beat me to the punch. So I instead sorted through rubble and picked out a bunch of videos that I think nicely sum up Trump’s track record thus far.
As Trump himself recently acknowledged, placing such significance on the first 100 days in the White House is a “ridiculous standard.” The ritual started with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who entered office in the midst of the Great Depression and pushed through an impressive torrent of policy measures in his first months that helped jump-start America’s crippled economy. He took extraordinary measures to address extraordinary times, and therefore, using the same standard to evaluate the fledgling success of subsequent presidents is a bit of a superficial construct.
But as cliché as it’s become, judging a new president’s performance during this short time frame does give some indication of his (and likely one day, her) leadership skills and ability hit the ground running and start making good on campaign promises. Which is perhaps why Trump, as a candidate, talked so much about the ambitious agenda he planned for his first 100 days in office. It’s also probably why he’s continued to make hyperbolic claims about his accomplishments during this period, even while decrying the convention.
But let’s face it, by most accounts — liberal and conservative alike — Trump’s performance to date has been pretty underwhelming, at least compared to the sweeping list of promises he made before taking office.
Traditionally, presidents have come into office on a wave of public goodwill and a mandate to lead. Trump, however, lost the popular vote and entered the White House with the lowest public approval ratings in recent history. And unlike his predecessors, he also came into office with absolutely no government experience, a fact that’s become evident in the mounting number of rookie-move stumbles, infighting and embarrassing setbacks as his administration comes to grips with the harsh reality of Washington politics.
Nonetheless, Trump has indisputably enjoyed a number of notable early accomplishments, including more than a dozen executive orders signed and the confirmation of conservative Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch (albeit with the help of a major rule-change maneuvered by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, making the confirmation vote filibuster-proof).
So without further ado, here’s how a host of other media outlets have chosen to capture Trump’s first 100 days. And scroll to the bottom of the post to explore the Associated Press’ excellent interactive scorecard.
Washington Post: By the Numbers
Fox News: The big challenges
New York Times: A 2 minute snapshot
And yes, even the Simpsons …