Wednesday, April 26, 2017

100 Days of The Donald

English: Donald Trump at a press conference an...
English: Donald Trump at a press conference announcing David Blaine's latest feat in New York City at the Trump Tower. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
They say the first hundred days of a presidency is the most important, because it sets the agenda for what will happen during the next four to eight years.  For President Donald Trump, he's just now learning the do's and don'ts of what his new office entails.  What follows is a rundown of what Trump did and did not accomplish in his first hundred days in office.  Let's just say it's been interesting.

WHAT TRUMP DID:
  • Drops out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal no one except President Barack Obama was excited about anyway. 
  • Start a trade war with Canada over lumber.
  • Reversed his stance on China as a "currency manipulator", and is getting along better with its leaders, if only to keep North Korea in line.
  • Decided that NATO wasn't as obsolete as he thought it was, as long as member nations pay their bills.
  • Nominated generals, climate change deniers, business leaders and other strange individuals to Cabinet positions.
  • Separated himself from his business dealings by setting up a trust, handled by two unofficial advisors who also happen to be his sons.
  • Brought in daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner to serve as White House advisers.  It also gives Ivanka a better platform for hawking her jewelry and clothing lines.
  • Bombed a Syrian airfield in response to Bashir al-Assad's use of sarin gas on his own people.
  • Spent weekends playing golf and hanging out at his Mar-a-Lago club on the taxpayers' dime.
  • Gets his news from "Fox & Friends", the only source he doesn't consider "fake news".
  • Dropped a 22,000-pound superbomb on an Islamic State bunker in Afghanistan, killing 94.  Who needs diplomacy?
  • Neil Gorsuch became a Supreme Court justice, but only after the Republican Senate changed the rules to get him on the bench.
  • Signed a dozen executive orders that affected federal regulations on such things as internet privacy, immigration and the environment.  In other words, reversing most of Obama's accomplishments.
  • The stock market improved four percent since Trump took office.
  • Has tweeted more than any President in history.
WHAT TRUMP DIDN'T DO:
  • Failed to get his travel ban against people coming from mostly Muslim nations past the courts.  Twice.
  • Didn't get his plan to "repeal and replace" Obamacare to a vote in Congress before the Republicans pulled it.  Yet.
  • Did not declare war on North Korea.  Yet.
  • Failed to convince folks that he's nothing more than a bobo for Russian President Vladimir Putin, or that the Russians gave him and his staff plenty of help to win the election.
  • Let go of grudges against Obama or Hillary Clinton.
  • The number of jobs created was half as many Trump claimed.
  • Separate the rift between Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon.
  • Convince more than half of the American public that he's doing a good job in office.  However, ABC News reports that 96 percent of Trump voters didn't regret choosing him.  Then again. the President considers polls to be "fake news" anyway.
  • Get that wall built on the Mexican border.  Yet.
  • Release his tax returns.
  • Convince wife Melania to move to the White House from Trump Tower, or at least act like she enjoys being First Lady.
  • Resign from office or get impeached.
What will the next hundred days bring us?  How about the next thousand?  One shudders at the thought, given what's happened the past hundred days.

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