What has Trump done so far as president? We scored his first 100 days.
This is Mic's daily read on Donald Trump's America. Can you believe we've been together with this president for 100 days already?! As always, thanks for reading.
The final week of President Donald Trump's first 100 days felt like a reprise of the previous 13 weeks of this presidency. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resurfaced in the news amid allegations he broke federal law by accepting money from Russians. The president prepared to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA, only to withdraw that possibility as quickly as it came. Republicans pushed closer and closer to a vote on the American Health Care Act — only to back off late Thursday night. Trump signed another flurry of executive orders that sound important but don't actually do much.
The past seven days generated the typical burst of headlines. A majority of Americans remained unenthusiastic about Trump while his ardent supporters demonstrated unwavering support. Protesters marched for science last Saturday and they plan to march for climate change this Saturday. Democrats threatened to shut down the government over funding for Trump's border wall, a sticking point the president backed down on.
This is the constant chaos Trump has brought to America, a new normal of White House in-fighting and ambitious, controversial proposals that so frequently flop. Just as the "America First" ideology seems to be on its way out, for example, Trump considered destroying NAFTA — only to reverse his position hours later. Despite Republican control of Capitol Hill, Trump and Congress have failed to reach an accord on anything major, except for (probably) keeping the government open for another week.
Yet judging Trump depends on your point of view. His supporters are overjoyed with his push to cut government regulations, slash tax rates, gut the Affordable Care Act and much more. The president has ordered a review of nearly every corner of government in a hunt for regulations to slash. Many executive orders have yet to produce concrete results, but conservatives are hopeful the orders will result in widespread change.
That threat has so energized his opponents that grassroots movements have driven millions of people into the streets to protest his presidency. Even as the Democratic Party still struggles to find its identity, dozens of organizations have sprung up to put their spin on the burgeoning movement to "#resist."
Whether you want the president to succeed or fail narrows your ability to evaluate his work. Those who believe in Trump's "make America great again" vision will view the president's comment that "I thought it would be easier" with a grain of sympathy. Those who champion the "#NotMyPresident" approach see Trump's comment about "major, major conflict" with North Korea as a sign of warmongering.
We're trying a different approach. Below is our scorecard, a literal interpretation of the president's promises: Did Trump do what he said he was going to do?
Reply to this email with your thoughts on Trump's first 100 days. We'll share your responses on Monday.
The definitive scorecard to Trump's first 100 days
In late October, the president made 28 promises for his first 100 days. These were not the only promises the president made for his first 100 days, but they comprised the "contract with the American voter" Trump introduced immediately before the election. Here are Trump's promises, followed by where they stand:
• "Propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress." Not proposed by the president.
• "A hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety and public health)." Done, then rolled back this month.
• "A requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated." Done.
• "A five-year ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service." Done for White House officials, with loopholes.
• "A lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government." Done.
• "A complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections." Not done.
• "I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205." Done.
• "I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership." Done.
• "I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator." Not done — says he won't.
• "I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately." Done.
• "I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars' worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal." In process: Trump ordered a review of what regulations to cut.
• "Lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward." Done.
• "Cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure." Not done.
• "Cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama." Done.
• "Begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States." Done. Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to the Supreme Court.
• "Cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities." Done, but blocked by federal judge.
• "Begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won't take them back." Done.
• "Suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting." Done, but blocked by federal courts — twice.
Overall, Trump is 14 for 18 on these actions and measures.
Trump also promised to introduce ten pieces of legislation in his first 100 days. He has introduced or announced three of them.
• Cut taxes for the middle class and businesses. Announced: Trump's tax plan cuts the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%, but it's unclear how the plan will help the middle class.
• Establish tariffs on goods created by U.S. companies overseas and shipped back. Not done.
• Leverage public-private partnerships to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. Not done.
• Let parents send their child to the school of their choice. Not done.
• Fully repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace with a conservative option. Introduced.
• Allow Americans to deduct child care and elder care from their taxes. Not done.
• Fully fund construction of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Not done.
• Increase training and support for local police to fight violent and drug crimes. Not done.
• Increase funding for the military, reform the Veterans Administration. Announced.
• Enact new ethics reforms to "drain the swamp." Not done.
Trump is 0 for 10 on passage of those pieces of legislation, and 3 for 10 on introducing or announcing them.
Mic's 100 days coverage
• 12 Trump tweets that have aged the worst in his first 100 days
• 10 Trump policy deadlines he missed himself
• Trump's approval ratings compared to all presidents since Harry Truman
• Trump's 100 days brings weakest economic growth in 3 years
• Trump has promised to drain the swamp. Here's where that stands 100 days in
• Anti-Muslim incidents on the U.S. border have spiked
• OPINION: 100 days of Trump brings no regrets for supporters — and people of color are paying for it12 Trump tweets that have aged the worst in his first 100 days
