As President Trump’s first hundred days came to a quiet close, Trump planned a series of big announcements that would reshift the direction of his administration: he’d talk taxes, he’d shoehorn a vote on Obamacare repeal, he’d take a powerful stance against North Korea. That, at least, was the plan at the beginning of the week.
It turned out differently.
Here are Trump’s grades so far:
Week 9: D
As always, we grade Trump along three lines: rhetoric, policy, and the in-between (rhetoric that impacts policy).
Rhetoric: This was not a good week on rhetoric for President Trump. This week, Trump reportedly told the media he didn’t expect the presidency to be so hard; this came after Trump said that he reshifted his thinking on China policy after a ten-minute conversation with the Chinese leader. He continues to trot out his election victory in every media interview, without reference to current accomplishments. Trump still hasn’t commented on the hubbub in Berkeley, which is shocking – that’s an easy win for Trump if he embraces the issue. The high point for Trump was his speech on Holocaust Memorial Day – and indeed, it should have put to bed any lingering doubts over supposed Trumpian anti-Semitism.
Policy: A rotten week for Trump. Another attempted Obamacare repeal failed in the House, at least in part thanks to Trump’s repeated statements regarding the necessity of maintaining pre-existing conditions regulations on insurance companies. The tax reform plan was announced, but lacking sufficient detail. Trump talked about destroying trade relations with Mexico and Canada, then backed out, then talked about it some more. Trump’s sanctuary cities executive order, which was horribly drawn legally, was stayed by a federal judge. Trump also backed off the demand for funding of the wall, signed off on continued funding for Obamacare, and continued to fund Planned Parenthood in order to avoid the dreaded government shutdown.
The In-Between: Trump’s treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, laid out the central proposals for Trump’s tax reform plan. They’re great. They’re also unworkable with the current Congress, given the need to fulfill certain requirements to pass a bill using the reconciliation process. Trump threatened Canada with increased tariffs repeatedly; he floated a trial balloon about pulling out of NAFTA, then had to be convinced not to do so by both his own staff and the leaders of Canada and Mexico. The economy grew at only 0.7 percent in the first quarter this year, which undercuts Trump’s narrative about the boom he has touched off. Trump took a tough line on North Korea, but then said he wanted to pressure South Korea into new trade agreements while threatening to force them to pay for their missile defense system; he then warned of a “major, major conflict” with North Korea. The lone true bright spot: Trump talked about breaking up the 9th Circuit.
The only thing that saved Trump’s week in any major way was the ruckus out of Berkeley and the Democratic infighting over both abortion and President Obama’s sky-high Wall Street speakers fees. Trump continues to benefit from the fact that while he’s not doing a particularly good job overall, his enemies are stepping on every rake they can find.
This week’s grade: F
Final 100 Days Grade: C