A lifetime ago, when I was just 18 years old and newly enlisted in the Army, I earned a drill sergeant’s wrath. I don’t remember why, and he likely didn’t need a reason. I was a private and just happened to be in the vicinity of a drill sergeant, and that’s really all it took to earn their wrath.
It was Sgt. Fabiano, the one drill sergeant you wanted to avoid at all costs. Sgt. Fabiano went up one side of me and down the other. As a private in basic training all I could do was stand at attention and take it—well, that and hope he did not ask me a question. No answer you could give would ever be right, and it would only lead to more push ups.
This was when it happened: the first time I ever heard the phrase “soup sandwich.” Any veteran reading this can tell you that no matter what a drill sergeant says, no matter what he does, you do not laugh. Well, Sgt. Fabiano exploded with, “Son, are you so *expletive deleted* stupid that you would make a *expletive deleted* soup sandwich!”
At this point, 18-year-old me cracked the slightest smile. And then I did enough push ups to push Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, a foot into the ground.
During my time in the service I learned a lot of sayings that are very specific to the military: high speed, low drag, high and tight, embrace the suck, soup sandwich, and many, many others. Most of these terms were pretty descriptive, and normally described a situation better than any other thing you could say.
Which brings me to the current president. Trump has been in office for just more than 100 days. In previous administrations, we have seen some pretty big things happen during that initial time period.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt closed all the banks and pushed the Emergency Banking Act through Congress. He started the New Deal with the creation of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the National Industry Recovery Act (NIRA). Not too shabby for a traitor to his class.
Harry S. Truman was sworn in on April 12, 1945. On April 16th, he gave a speech to a joint session of Congress where he assured the American public he would continue President Roosevelt’s goal of unconditional surrender from both Germany and Japan. He made the decision to go on with the United Nations conference in San Francisco, and studied voraciously to prepare for the Potsdam conference. Germany surrendered, he learned of the atomic bomb and decided to drop it on Japan not long after his first 100 days. Japan’s surrender followed (please, no debates on whether Truman should have or should not have ordered their use: that is immaterial to the subject of this post).
Dwight D. Eisenhower, while he did not do a lot legislatively, did end the Korean War. John F. Kennedy’s first 100 days included the creation of the Peace Corps, food stamp pilot programs, and ordering the Bay of Pigs invasion (they can’t all be winners). Just after his first 100 days, he gave a little speech before a joint session of Congress in which he said:
I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.
Lyndon Baines Johnson’s first 100 days were an extension of JFK’s agenda. He signed the Civil Rights Act, renamed Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy, and created the Warren Commission. His “War on Poverty” started when he appointed Sgt. Shriver to spearhead the effort. Richard M. Nixon: ugh, not a lot of winners here, as he ordered the wiretapping of journalists covering the Vietnam War, ordered the bombing of Cambodia, ordered stepped up training for South Vietnamese soldiers, and oversaw the “Vietnamization” of the war. But to end on a high note, he awarded Duke Ellington the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Gerald R. Ford’s first 100 days included his pardoning of Nixon, a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers, and the “Whip Inflation Now” program in which he encouraged Americans to wear “WIN” buttons.
Jimmy Carter—well, the Carter Library did a bit of a slam dunk on this one on Trump’s 100th day.
Ronald Reagan had a fairly exciting first 100 days, what with being shot and all. According to a New York Times article from 1981 that is sickeningly full of praise for Reagan:
Mr. Reagan's achievements so far are contained in a package of proposals including 83 major program changes, 834 amendments to the budget this year and next, 151 lesser budgetary actions and 60 additional pieces of legislation. Not until March 31 did he sign his first bill - cutting back dairy price supports - on a breakfast tray at George Washington University Hospital the morning after he was shot. If the bulk of his program is enacted, it won't be until much later in the year, and it is far from certain what form it will be in by then.
George H.W. Bush created the Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform, and that is about the only thing of substance. Bill Clinton, on the other hand, had to deal with the bombing of the World Trade Center, started the conversation about national health care, and:
He steered his $1.5 trillion budget outline through Congress in record time, and responded boldly and generously to Boris Yeltsin's cry for help. There have also been less dramatic gestures that nevertheless bespeak a kinder, gentler and less ideological Administration, including the family leave bill and the dismantling of the Reagan-Bush restrictions on abortion.
George W. Bush’s first 100 days started with a discussion on cutting taxes and returning a surplus back to taxpayers as the high points. He also had to deal with an international incident when there was a collision between a U.S. Navy EP-3E ARIES II aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8II interceptor. The Chinese pilot was killed and the 24 crewmen from the U.S. plane were held captive for 11 days.
During Barack H. Obama’s first 100 days he signed an executive order closing Guantanamo Bay prison, signed a prohibition on torture, signed the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act, signed the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and overturned rules restricting stem cell funding, to name just a few things.
All of which brings us to the current resident of the White House. He has given us executive orders that have been overturned in court and is playing with fire in North Korea. He fired his NSA director, an assistant attorney general, and the director of the FBI. Trump has pissed away a bucketload of money by going to Florida to golf every weekend, and let’s not even mention his shady business deals and bald nepotism.
In short, the only thing he has done in his first 100 days is serve our country a *expletive deleted* soup sandwich.