Donald Trump thinks his cabinet nominees are doing "a great job," and they are—of obliterating his "outsider" agenda.
Really, when you stack up all the ways that his nominees and congressional Republicans have contradicted his biggest campaign pledges this week, Trump’s agenda has almost been leveled to the ground.
Immigration
Take Trump's precious border wall and all those anti-immigrant promises he made. Not only did his Homeland Security pick Gen. John Kelly throughly discount the wall by charging that it won’t “do the job," it's unclear how Trump will pay for it and whether congressional leaders even back his wholly anti-immigrant agenda.
House Speaker Paul Ryan completely rejected Trump's "deportation force," and while Trump is desperately claiming Mexico will pay for his “great wall,” it won't.
So Trump’s mutli-billion dollar wall hinges on taxpayer funding (a broken campaign promise) and Congress agreeing to fund it with taxpayer dollars, which it might not.
Foreign Policy
Trump's foreign policy pledges were notoriously pugnacious and pro-Russian in all the wrong ways. Now there's little evidence that anyone on Capitol Hill or among his appointees agree with much of it, if anything.
"It's pretty clear" that Russia hacked us, says Trump's potential CIA director, Rep. Mike Pompeo, as did other nominees. Also, every effort presidents have made to be friendly with Russia has been "an abysmal failure," notes the Defense Secretary pick, Gen. James Mattis.
Sorry, Trump, but the alliance that is critical is NATO, says Mattis, and we really need to stay in that Iran nuclear deal too.
Oh and by the way, let's sideline that whole torture thing because it's "absolutely improper and illegal," says the next potential attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
Trade Agreements
Actually, Donnie, how about we table ripping up those trade agreements? The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—not so bad, says Rex Tillerson, Trump's Secretary of State pick.
Muslim Ban
Profiling people based on their faith isn't "ever appropriate," says Gen. Kelly, and furthermore, Muslims shouldn't be denied entry into the U.S., says Sessions. So much for that.
So after that dizzying array of assaults on most of Trump's major pledges, what's left?
Repealing the Affordable Care Act, which frankly has always been a bigger priority for Congressional Republicans than Trump. In fact, the two entities are in a bit of disarray over how and when to do it.
But let’s say congressional Republicans succeed in repealing it without a replacement, then Trump's legacy to working class voters will be lining his pockets (screw divestment!), cutting taxes for the richest Americans (one thing he and the GOP actually do agree on!), and robbing 30 million American households of health coverage (!).
That will be some legacy, just not the one he campaigned on.