Mr. Trump's first 100 days
Historians will have a hard time comparing Donald Trump’s first 100 days to the performance of other presidents in the modern era. Even the most slanted Democratic hagiographers must concede that the 45th and 47th president is a dynamo, unlike 46, the lethargic Joseph R. Biden, who frequently signaled the end of the workday by “calling a lid” at 10 a.m.
Mr. Trump’s public schedule often runs late into the evening, and the media often tag along, asking questions throughout the day. The radical transparency includes an invitation to the public to watch live as he signs executive orders, 139 so far. If he maintains the brisk pace, he could eclipse all-time champion Franklin D. Roosevelt, who fired off an average of 307 orders per year during his tenure.
The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, tracks the directives, memoranda and substantial proclamations issued by presidents in their first 100 days, and Mr. Trump has already blown past FDR’s 1933 tally.
Whereas the creator of the New Deal forced Congress into a special three-month session to fatten the federal government, Mr. Trump has spent his early political capital doing the opposite. By CNN’s count, Mr. Trump has canned 121,000 federal employees, or about 5% of the workforce.
From the hysterical coverage afforded the relative handful of fired feds, one could be forgiven for thinking the figure was closer to 50%. What’s unique about Mr. Trump is that he is the first Republican leader to offer more than empty rhetoric about eliminating useless agencies.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is no more. Staff have been sent home, and the headquarters now houses Border Patrol agents. The moving trucks are idling outside the Department of Education as a skeleton crew carries out the remaining, legislatively mandated functions. Congress needs to repeal those duties before the last rites can be administered on this failed experiment in federalizing a responsibility that belongs to the states.
What’s surprising is that Mr. Trump would have accomplished much more had he not also set the record for attracting the greatest number of nationwide injunctions. Gavel-wielding partisans have exploited this constitutionally dubious procedure to block the executive branch from executing the agenda the American people approved in November.
Like a jiu-jitsu master, Mr. Trump has turned resistance to his advantage. The world knows about his midnight dispatch of illegal alien gang members to a Central American prison. Democratic lamentation over the fate of ruffians who pledge allegiance to MS-13 and Tren de Aragua advertises how serious this administration has become about closing America’s border.
That message has been received. The Department of Homeland Security reports that the number of encounters at the southwestern border is down 94% over last year.
Although securing America’s territorial integrity stands out as Mr. Trump’s most popular and successful policy, his diplomatic efforts could use a few more days to mature. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to resist peace overtures, and Russian President Vladimir Putin sees no benefit in accepting a deal before his foe.
Defense contractors enhance the difficulty by working behind the scenes, calling on their allies in Washington to either undermine initiatives that might resolve the lucrative conflict or arrange a new one with Iran. Mr. Trump holds firm on the “no new wars” stance that voters endorsed.
It’s not quite the Golden Age yet, but we certainly are headed in that direction. There’s no telling what more lies ahead in the next 100 days.
— The Washington Times