Well we made it everyone. Donald Trump‘s first 100 days as president has finally arrived and we’re all still here. We’re not living in a Walking Dead like world with some unknown virus turning us all into flesh-eating cannibals. For the very most part we’re still waking up every morning and living in a country where religious fanaticism has taken over or the cult of personality of our dear leader has overtaken society to a point where political discourse has led to political internment camps to the likes of North Korea or even Russia.
So I guess in some way Donald Trump gets credit for the aforementioned. But if we’re drawing parallels to test taking, that would be like scoring a few points for writing your name correctly at the top of the page. There’s still plenty of time left in his presidency and still plenty more to grade within his first 100 days.
So let’s get into it.
The Economy
Lets start out with an easy section here and supposedly one of Donald Trump’s fortes as being that successful businessman heading into the job as president, the economy. In fact his savvy business practices were one of the Trumpkin bullet points when trying to justify his presidential campaign and eventual nomination, you know despite everything else.
Despite proclaiming “the mess” he inherited, Trump benefited from a strong economy upon taking office. The stock market rose 11 percent to record highs just prior to the election and throughout most of Trump’s first 100 days he was able to maintain those respectable numbers. The same could be said about job growth in which case we’ve seen 83 consecutive months of such which again, began with president Obama and something Trump has been able to keep consistent.
However the economy grew just 0.7 percent in the first quarter which on the bright side is still growth but the lowest such growth since 2014. Not to mention consumer spending is down, Trump’s new tax plan was nothing more than bullet points that seemed to benefit the ultra rich rather than the middle class and he’s embarking on massive regulation cuts that he insists will help boost the economy. I’m skeptical that those cuts will end up destroying the environment rather than promote positive economic growth but I won’t penalize him for that. Yet.
Grade: C-minus
His Appointments
Any hope you had in Trump not fumbling the economy starts to end with his government appointments. Remember when he said he was going to “drain the swamp” of Washington lobbyist? Well Trump has for the most part either replaced swamp water with more swamp water or in some cases add more sludge to a DC cesspool. This includes appointing billionaire republican donor Betsy DeVos to education secretary – someone who has zero education experience among other things – climate change denying Scott Pruitt to head the EPA and former Texas governor Rick Perry to take over the Department of Energy – an agency he said he would abolish – to name a few.
There was also his Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch – a conservative darling – who he was able to pass through congress but at the expense of having to change the rules and possibly set a precedent for future deliberations in congress.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions – who may harbor racial prejudices – talked down Hawaii and a federal judge and has to recuse himself from the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia because of his own ties to Vladimir Putin’s government.
Then there’s Michael Flynn, his embattled former National Security Advisor who was unceremoniously fired by the administration a little over a month into his job for lying about – once again – a connection to Russia. But were they lies in the sense that Flynn wasn’t truthful about meetings with the Russian ambassador when discussing such matters with the Vice President or was the former general let go because the media caught on to what was happening behind the scenes? I guess we may never fully know since the Trump White House has refused to cooperate in the matter.
Perhaps Trump’s saving grace in this category from an outright fail is Nikki Haley has so far proven to be a competent voice at the United Nations who’s at least willing to speak some common sense on international issues and defense secretary James Mattis is a respectable former general who hasn’t made us regret his own selection.
Grade: D-minus
Foreign Policy
Perhaps some of his biggest 180’s from campaign Donald Trump to president Donald Trump are his foreign policy step backs taken during the first 100 days.
NATO is now no longer obsolete, China is no longer a serial economic rapist and NAFTA looks like it will be sticking around after calls to pull out were widely popular throughout his boisterous campaign monologues. Not to mention his willingness to engage in international affairs has come front and center with his bombing of Syrian air bases after their chemical attack on innocent civilians and the growing tensions between the United States and North Korea which looks like war can break out at any time.
In some aspect I’m going to give Trump some credit here for coming to his senses on certain international issues. Sure China has an abysmal human rights record however unfortunately they’re a necessary player when dealing with North Korea. Bashar al-Asaad is also someone who can’t be looked at as a long-term solution to the safety and happiness of the Syrian people. The guy should be brought to justice as a war criminal and I think the Trump administration can finally see that.
I also said I wasn’t going to totally kill Donald Trump’s decision in bombing Syria without congressional approval because I get why he did it.
However on that same token, seeking congressional approval is one of the many things that separates our democratically elected republic from a dictatorship and the thought of a possible war with North Korea has had Trump lose points in this category.
Also has Trump publicly called out Putin for his ties to the Syrian regime and their possible involvement in the chemical attacks on innocent people in that region?
Grade: D
Domestic Policy
If there was a section in the test Trump would like to skip over, it starts with his domestic policies that have been outright failures.
So lets see, his travel ban – which masqueraded as a Muslim ban – was originally struck down (thank god), hastily put together and currently sits in limbo. Mexico told the Trump White House to go to hell when it came to paying for that boarder wall. His administration will now seek federal funding for the wall which means tax payers will now cover the cost. His health care bill was a colossal and embarrassing failure for not only himself but the entire republican party and once again his tax “plan” was nothing more than bullet points aimed to line the pockets of the rich.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he’s seen colossal failure on his Muslim ban, asinine border wall and a health care bill that would eliminated health coverage for millions of American’s. However has his failures in domestic policy led anyone to believe this guy will be successful in anything he does while in the Oval Office? The only idea his domestic policy mishandling has shown the American people is the President at some time may have failed multiple civics classes. Or maybe he didn’t take them altogether.
Grade: F
Ethics
Donald Trump’s presidency is the definition of a conflict of interest.
Maintaining his personal business ties, appointing family members to White House positions and his constant trips to Mar-a-Lago at the taxpayer’s expense have only been part of the problem when it comes to presidential ethics being completely thrown out the Oval Office window. Lets also not forget Kellyanne Conway hawking Ivanka Trump’s product line on national television.
And his trustworthiness… My god where do we begin?
How about the first weekend when he had Sean Spicer proclaiming that his inauguration was the biggest ever… period. Or there was mass voter fraud that cost him the popular vote?
Then there were his baseless accusations that President Obama wiretapped his Trump Tower telephones.
The irony when it comes to Trump’s usage of the term “Fake News” and proclamations of lies towards his administration is real.
I could seriously go on all day.
Grade: F
Temperament and Look
Once agin where do I begin?
Trump is still a Twitter fiend who can’t quite help himself when it comes to commenting down on such things as the cast of Hamilton, Arnold Schwarznegger’s run on The Apprentice and Alec Baldwin portraying him on Saturday Night Live.
Then there’s his consistent criticism and demeaning tone when it comes to the justice system to the point of him sounding like a petulant child.
His persistence in blaming Obama for a lot of his shortcomings, need to continue campaigning and the fear he’s instilled in immigrants have all contributed to Trump perhaps being the worst temperamental president in the modern era.
Grade: F
Overall
Yeah it’s only been 100 days and like I said before, we’re still here. However after this first milestone you can’t help but wonder how much worse everything can get? And it can.
At this point a couple of his appointments, piggy backing off the inherited success of the Obama economy and somewhat willingness to go back on a few of those absurd foreign policy campaign promises are the only things separating Trump from outright failure.
Final Grade: D-minus
