It's hard to overstate just how devastating this week was to popular vote loser Donald Trump. If anything captures the implosion of Trump's first 100 days in office, it's the downfall of his two biggest campaign promises: building a wall and repealing Obamacare.
The fact that his presidential debut culminated in total retreat on both issues reflects just how little pull Trump has demonstrated at a time when presidents are supposedly at the peak of influence.
We all know this, of course, but congressional Republicans have been promising repeal for seven years straight—they've bet and largely won the last four election cycles on it. When their first effort crashed and burned in front of the disbelieving eyes of their base, Trump himself picked it up, dusted it off and took it back into battle, for another high-profile collapse.
There went the congressional Republicans’ most beloved rallying cry. No one can say they didn't try. They're just unbelievably incompetent, and no one is more grateful for that than the 24 million who GOP lawmakers intended to strip of their health coverage.
And then there's Trump's border wall—his baby—which he was forced to abandon after pressing a funding bid that looked a lot like the brainchild of a two year old. When you can't get something you want so very badly, threaten everyone within earshot until the grown ups send you to your room screaming and crying till you can get ahold of yourself.
In fact, the entire week featured hallmarks of the Trump's first 100 days in office, all of which fall into the categories of Scandal, Incompetence, and Jazz Hands:
•Continued Russia revelations: Michael Flynn likely broke the law
•White House cover ups: Everything Flynn
•Campaign promise retreats: The Wall
•Legislative Collapses: Trumpcare
•Executive incompetence: Another blocked anti-immigrant executive order
•Trump buffoonery: Admitting total ignorance in two interviews (governing is hard, government is big, I knew nothing about NAFTA, etc.)
•Tough talk, followed by a flip-flop: NAFTA
•Unwarranted hype: White House release of 100-day nothingburgers and lots of showy executive order signings
Trump's only real victory in his first 100 days was the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch—which a Republican-dominated Senate pulled off by cheating. Well, that and making US immigration policy so repugnant that border crossings have dropped by 40 percent (of course, he’s also devastated the US tourism industry in the process).
But absent cheating, Trump's got little, if anything, to show in the way of accomplishments. He pounded that home this week by raising his highest priorities into the headlines—his precious border wall and Obamacare repeal—only to have them shot down in spectacular fashion.
Happy 100, Trump.