Saturday marked President Trump’s 100th day in office. Even though it’s an arbitrary number and way too soon to judge a president’s accomplishments, the “first 100 days” have become a checkpoint for presidents.
Trump has accomplished quite a bit: putting Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court; initiating some pro-life policies; promoting economic growth by restarting the Keystone Pipeline and pressuring companies to keep their operations in the United States.
And he has put some things in motion whose results aren’t yet evident, such as his tax reform plan.
Trump has also been unable to carry through on some of his promises: the courts shot down his immigration orders; the Congress wouldn’t pass his replacement for Obamacare.
And he seems to have changed his mind about some of those promises: He now says he is going to renegotiate NAFTA, not kill it. The border wall with Mexico is now going to be more of a fence, not a wall, and we are going to have to pay for it, not Mexico. He said he wouldn’t get us involved in more foreign wars, but he has fired missiles at Syria and is rattling the saber at North Korea.
What do you make of Donald Trump’s presidency so far? Is his toning down some of what he campaigned on a sign that he is growing in his pragmatism and learning about the complexity of his job? Or do you feel betrayed, as if he is turning into just another Republican politician, or still outraged even though you agree with some of these signs of moderation?
To help you with your reflection, I post after the jump a link to a quite balanced article, from a conservative point of view, about “the good, the bad, and the ugly” about Trump’s first 100 days.
From Deroy Murdock, First Hundred Days, President Trump: Good, Bad, Ugly | National Review:
Judging a four-year presidency at the 100-day mark is akin to watching a baseball game and declaring the home team a success or failure at the bottom of the first inning. But, if America must be governed by absurdist metrics, why not this one?
The first 100 days of the Trump Era recall that old Western: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.
President Donald J. Trump’s biggest accomplishment: He has stopped and reversed Obama’s eight-year slouch toward socialism.
[Keep reading. . .]
Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America (Donald Trump) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Saturday marked President Trump’s 100th day in office. Even though it’s an arbitrary number and way too soon to judge a president’s accomplishments, the “first 100 days” have become a checkpoint for presidents.
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