Okay, let's just start with a dose of reality on Trump's 100 days—not only are historians mocking him, he hasn't achieved a single one of the legislative goals he himself put on the map for his first 100 days.
1. "Middle Class Tax Relief": FAIL.
2. "End the Offshoring Act": FAIL.
3. "American Energy & Infrastructure Act": FAIL.
4. "School Choice and Education Opportunity Act": FAIL.
5. "Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act": FAIL.
6. "Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act": FAIL.
7. "End Illegal Immigration Act": FAIL.
8. "Restoring Community Safety Act": FAIL.
9. "Restoring National Security Act": FAIL.
10. "Clean up Corruption in Washington Act": FAIL.
Now for some snippets from the White House email celebrating "100 DAYS OF HISTORIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS"—what could be more historic than ALL CAPS?
All of these "ACCOMPLISHMENTS" involve Trump doing "more" than any other president, because in the underdeveloped frontal lobe of a man with freakishly stubby opposable thumbs, size matters.
So Trump's three main accomplishments are (drum roll, please!):
1. Signing 13 Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions: "more than any other President." (CRA's, btw, were introduced under Bill Clinton, so by “more,” they mean more than the last three presidents.)
Remember all that campaign talk of “CRA” this and “CRA” that? Well, it’s all come to fruition.
2. Signing 30 executive orders: "more in his first 100 days than any other President since Franklin Roosevelt."
Here's where Trump really shines because President Obama only signed 19 executive orders! No mention that two of Trump’s executive orders sought to enact Muslim bans that were immediately slapped down by the courts. The others? Mostly "cosmetic," as in, they don't amount to a hill of beans, says Yale University law professor Cristina Rodríguez:
“Those orders don’t mean anything right now, necessarily, but it really depends in many cases on what the agencies come back with and whether the administration goes forward with and actually implements the recommendations,” she added. “Often the reviews result in a lot of paperwork.”
3. "A SLEW OF LEGISLATION SIGNED": yes, a "slew," as in "more legislation in his first 100 days than any President since Truman."
None of that legislation is considered “major” by academics who actually study presidencies. Again, a little context from presidential historian Robert Dallek:
"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."
Trump is succeeding in several areas: freeing up corporations to trash the planet through deregulation; stoking anti-immigrant fervor among his nativist base; increasing deportations of people with no criminal record; and killing U.S. tourism.
Oh, and he's working in a lot of golf—more than any previous U.S. president. #MAGA