First 100 days: A true reflection of Trump, poor reflection of America

Ever since FDR touted some major accomplishments the country needed in his first 100 days, much has been made of this measurement for every president since. Trump is no exception.  

But on this I agree with Trump: that however it got started, the 100 day metric is a ridiculous way in which to measure how a president is doing and an even worse measure of how he/she will ultimately be judged.  

For Trump, we didn’t need to wait to get to his 100 day mark to plainly see how incompetent, fumbling, and inept his administration and he have been on some of the key issues they have laid out for the country — immigration, health care, even jobs.  And how many of his promises or positions has he broken or flip-flopped on since taking office?  

{mosads}His two attempts to implement an unconstitutional “Muslim Ban” have been halted by the courts.  His most recent Executive Order keeping federal money from sanctuary cities was just halted nationwide by the courts as well.  

Trump’s and GOP’s attempts to repeal and replace ObamaCare went down in flames and while they spin about how the bill is on track again, the “new bill” still strips health care from 24 million people while gutting key protections for those with pre-existing conditions.  That will go over well. 

White House launches webpage boasting successes of Trump’s first 100 days https://t.co/uqscXBRb1f pic.twitter.com/09fTFBzK7v

— The Hill (@thehill) April 26, 2017

On the jobs front, well, let’s just say that Trump benefitted from the blood sweat of the Obama administration and the American people’s hard work over the last eight years to get the economy back on track.  Trump was handed a golden economic egg.  But the most recent job numbers were anemic and Trump has passed no legislation that will help create more jobs.  The egg is fragile and he can still break it.

The list of campaign promises on which he has done a 180 gets longer every day: China, it turns out, is no longer a currency manipulator and they don’t have the sway over North Korea Trump thought they did.  Syria is now somewhere we should be involved even in the absence of a long-term strategic plan. Universal health care coverage, which Trump once touted, is no longer anywhere to be found.  The Iran deal is still intact.  DACA is still on the books though shamefully, a DACA student has already been deported. NATO is no longer obsolete and now he decides that the U.S. will remain in NAFTA to the chagrin of many supporters who trusted his blustery isolationist rhetoric on trade.

It is true that it is still early and there is time to right the ship — which is one reason the 100 day mark is not a great arbiter of whether a president will ultimately succeed or fail.  President Clinton’s first 100 days were a disaster, but Clinton is now seen as a president who presided over the greatest economic expansion in the last 50 years.

But even as early as 100 days are, there are troubling signs that it will be tough for Trump to right the ship even as time goes on.  

First of all, Trump suffers from the worst approval rating of any recent president in their first 100 days, hovering right around the 40 percent mark, as he is losing independents in droves.  But he doesn’t seem to care.  He is still only speaking to his small but fiercely loyal base of supporters and worse, he has shown zero interest in broadening that support. This is not a formula for governing effectively.  Even worse for the GOP, midterm elections are always about the current president, and currently Democrats win in a generic congressional ballot.

Senate Dems troll Trump with “corrected” press release on his first 100 days https://t.co/zJ4taXs0lT pic.twitter.com/tnwJ1zA48I

— The Hill (@thehill) April 26, 2017

Secondly, Trump has proven that his business acumen (and I use those terms loosely since he had to declare bankruptcy multiple times) has not translated into “winning” in the White House.  

Trump has erroneously calculated that his trademark “shake up Washington” “Art of the Deal” persona is enough to bend the will of elected officials, judges, and others who stand in his way, to his liking.  This calculation has backfired.  Instead, Washington has dealt Trump multiple blows.  

Thirdly, it turns out you actually need to know something about politics and policy and governing if you want to be good at politics and policy and governing.  Trump and his advisors’ disdain for anyone with Washington experience has thrust them into turbulent political waters with no captain’s experience on how to navigate them without capsizing.

Lastly, and perhaps worst of all, Trump appears to have no moral or value core past which he will not bend.  It’s one thing to be flexible to get something done, but it is wholly another to be nothing but the equivalent of a political Gumby Doll that will bend any which way, depending on who is “handling” it.    

All of this has led to massive failures for Donald Trump in these first 100 days that not only reflect badly on him, his administration, and are a betrayal to many of his supporters, but they also reflect badly on us as a country that has historically led the world with strength, inclusiveness, and moral fortitude.

Sure Trump has had some successes important to his supporters.  Judge Gorsuch was a big one.  Rolling back Obama-era regulations is another. Though touting these as successes is not a unanimous feeling since most Americans believe stringent protections for our air and water, more transparency from corporations and fiduciary protections for borrowers were good things for consumers.  Trump has gutted all of these.   

It is no surprise to Trump’s critics that he finds himself in this precarious position 100 days into his administration.  We all knew that, if elected, the reality show host candidate-turned president who campaigned in fantasy and wild, fact-free hyperbole, would run smack into the wall of the reality that is governing the most powerful nation on earth.  

So while the 100 day metric does not mean much in itself and time may be on Trump’s side, the majority of the country is not.  If he does not change that dynamic, it will bode very poorly for his party in the midterm elections, and for his own re-election in 2020. Those are the metrics that matter.

Maria Cardona is a principal at the Dewey Square Group, a Democratic strategist and a CNN/CNN Español political commentator. Follow her on Twitter @MariaTCardona.

The views of contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.