It has become a tradition in American politics to report on the first 100 days of a president's term.
The tradition started with Franklin D. Roosevelt. When he took office in March 1933 he called a special session of Congress to deal with the depression. They quickly passed 15 major bills and 77 others to stabilize and rebuild the economy. In July Roosevelt looked back on the last 100 days and his accomplishments in initiating his "New Deal" to make the American government work for the people.
In contrast, Heather Cox Richardson reports
"Trump has signed just five measures into law: the Laken Riley Act, which Congress passed before he took office; a stopgap funding measure; and three resolutions overturning rules set by the Biden administration."
The 5 bills is a record low since at least Eisenhower. Instead of ushering bills through Congress, Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders, another record. Many of these EOs were illegal and some unconstitutional, which have triggered 220 lawsuits opposing them - yet another presidential record.
Another difference is that Trump is setting out to destroy what FDR began in his 100 days. Richardson describes it like this
Trump has turned the nation away from 92 years of a government that sought to serve ordinary Americans by regulating business, providing a basic social safety net, promoting infrastructure, protecting civil rights, and stabilizing global security and trade. Instead, he is trying to recreate the nation of more than 100 years ago, in which the role of government was to protect the wealthy and enable them to make money from the country’s resources and its people.
Much has been written on Trump’s first 100 days of his second
administration.
It’s been a full
onslaught against democracy and the rule of law while slashing federal programs
and agencies all in the name of eliminating waste and fraud.
Max Stier wrote a piece
for the Contrarian titled “100 Harms
in 100 Days”
Robert Reich wrote
The most
important lesson of Trump’s first hundred days is that the test of a successful
president after 100 days has nothing to do with how much he gets done or how
much power he accumulates. The real test is how much better off are the people,
and how much stronger is our democracy, than before. By these measures, the
second term of Trump is beyond a doubt the worst travesty in American history.
The Guardian article
lists many of Trump’s “accomplishments" under the following headings:
·
Shattering
alliances
·
Attacking
rule of law
·
Trade wars
·
Government
efficiency
·
Information
war
·
Executive
orders
·
Fortress
America
·
Opposition
and protest
The New York Times
article has deeper dives along similar categories:
·
Foreign
Policy
·
Federal
Government
·
Immigration
·
Imperialism
·
Retribution
·
Tariffs
and Trade
·
Economy
·
Diversity
and Equity
·
Culture
·
Social
Media
TCinLA quoted someone
who posted this on social media: “William
Henry Harrison had a better first 100 days, and he spent 70 of them dead.”
He then quoted Charlie
Sykes: “… Trump is vulnerable and the
cracks are showing. But that does not mean that he is not still dangerous. As
bad as the last 100 days have been, the worst may be to come”.
Well, yes there's that budget coming up...
President Trump continues to dwell in another universe. Tuesday night at his rally near Detroit, he declared “This is the best, they say, 100-day start of any president in history, and everyone is saying it. We've just gotten started. You haven't seen anything yet.”
Exactly what Charlie Sykes predicted.
Sources
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/100-harms-in-100-days
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-most-important-lesson-of-trumps
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-29-2025
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/29/trump-100-days-president
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/28/us/trump-100-days-actions.html
No comments:
Post a Comment