If you have been marveling at the total incompetence of our 45th pr*sident and wondered if Donald Trump was really that bad or your viewpoint was just a product of your hatred for him, rest assured that you are not alone. Your perhaps biased assessment is shared by people who actually study this stuff for a living, reports Domenico Montanaro.
With any new president, there's a learning curve. But for President Trump, it's been steeper than others.
"Mount Everest" is how Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, described it ahead of Trump's 100th day in office, which is coming up Saturday, April 29. "It's as steep as they come and ice-covered, and he didn't bring very many knowledgeable Sherpas with him."
Let's call it the "Who knew?" learning curve of revelations for the Dons.
•On Obamacare repeal: "Nobody knew health care was so complicated."
•On China's leverage over North Korea: "After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy..."
•On the Export-Import Bank: "Actually, it’s a very good thing. And it actually makes money..."
•On NATO: "So they asked me...about NATO, and I said two things. ‘NATO's obsolete’ — not knowing much about NATO..."
•On the U.S. government: “I never realized how big it was...”
•On European Union trade deals: “Ten times Trump asked [Angela Merkel] if he could negotiate a trade deal with Germany. Every time she replied, 'You can’t do a trade deal with Germany, only the EU,'" the official told The Times. "On the eleventh refusal, Trump finally got the message, 'Oh, we’ll do a deal with Europe then.'"
Now, you're getting it, Donnie!
"This man is without experience, and it's showing," said Robert Dallek, the presidential historian and author of multiple books on presidents, from Roosevelt and Truman to Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan. "Particularly in his dealings with Congress, he's been an utter failure in the sense that he's gotten nothing passed. He's issuing all sorts of executive orders, like immigration limits; they're failing. The attempt to get health care reform failed. I'd give him failing marks for his 100 days." [...]
"Is this an entry-level president? I think that's too generous," Perry argued. "Unless he would be an intern, he would not have a position in the White House — with no educational experience, no military experience, no government, no political experience, most of it was running for president."
Trump’s 100th day in office is this coming Saturday. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first president to ever be measured against the 100-day marker and he basically set the gold standard: passing
15 major pieces of legislation. Then there’s Trump: 0.