Trump’s First 100 Days of Consequence
Note: this is a compendium of links to detailed information about actions taken by Donald Trump in his first 100 days as President of the United States. Over 50 different sources are linked to in an attempt provide a broad range of media sources, from the NY Times and Washington Post to Fox News and Reason.com. Please see the full list at the bottom of this article.
As we approach the potentially seminal (and totally arbitrary) 100-day mark for the Trump presidency, there has been a narrative that his first 100 days have been mostly inconsequential — and if “major legislation” is the yard-stick with which we’re measuring, then no, not much if anything has gotten done in the first 100 days.
However.
We would all be remiss to dismiss the moves that have been made in Trump’s first 100 days that will have lasting — and potentially catastrophic — consequences. While Trump distracts with tweets, lies (and lies and lies), and bloviation, his appointments, dealings with foreign governments, and complete disregard for Americans — even, and perhaps especially, the people who voted him into office — have done damage that will reverberate for a long time.
Appointments
President Donald Trump started his presidency by appointing (and simply not appointing) several extremely controversial people to cabinet positions.
He appointed Betsy DeVos, a billionaire heiress and donor of vast sums of money to the Republican Party, to be Secretary of Education. Her belief in and decades-long push for for-profit charter schools has left Michigan’s educational performance near the bottom of all states in the US, with Michigan charter schools scoring far worse than its public schools. She now plans to push for charter schools across the nation.
He appointed Jeff Sessions, who had previously been denied a judgeship by Congress for racist remarks, to be Attorney General. Sessions has fought legal immigration and immigration reform his entire career and blames immigration for the contraction of the middle class. He promptly ordered a review of all police abuse reforms, signaling an end to the Justice Department holding police to account. He ramped up deportation, including children of immigrants previously protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). He also plans to double-down on the War on Drugs, a racist, punitive, incredibly expensive, and completely failed policy that has driven a 600% rise in the incarceration rate in the US since 1974.
Trump appointed Scott Pruitt, a climate change “skeptic” who doesn’t believe CO2 or humans are factors in global climate change, to head the EPA. Without evidence, and as head of a science agency, he continues to reject international scientific consensus. He has openly declared he’ll be a friend of the coal industry, despite coal being a source of more pollution per unit of energy than any other fossil fuel, and employing far less people than the renewable energy industry according to a report from the US Department of Energy — Pruitt’s own government.
Despite being embroiled in controversy surrounding ties to Russia and Russian influence on US elections, Trump appointed Rex Tillerson, former CEO of ExxonMobil, and recipient of Russia’s Order of Friendship honor, to be Secretary of State — a position he admited he didn’t want. A few short weeks later, ExxonMobil has applied for a waiver to drill in Russia, despite US sanctions against Russia. (Since this writing, the US has denied ExxonMobil’s request.)
Trump appointed Rick Perry, the one-time candidate who vowed to get rid of the Department of Energy (but has since changed his mind), to head the Department of Energy. When offered the job, Mr. Perry didn’t understand what the job was, or that he’d be in charge of the country’s nuclear arsenal. One of his own advisors admitted his understanding of the post was a “learning curve.”
Mr. Trump appointed Ben Carson to be the HUD secretary. Mr. Carson expressed his own concern about his lack of experience before taking the job anyway. Despite heading a $47 billion dollar agency tasked with offering rental, housing, and foreclosure assistance, Carson has himself written that he doesn’t believe housing assistance is an area for government involvement.
Trump appointed Ryan Zinke to be Secretary of the Interior, the agency tasked with overseeing public parks and lands, natural resources, and waterways. He’s a strong proponent of allowing drilling and mining on public lands. As others in the Trump sphere, he is also an admirer of Vladimir Putin.
Trump appointed Tom Price, who as a congressman who has been working for over six years to dismantle the Affordable Care Act to be the Health and Human Services Secretary.
Trump appointed FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who is rolling back Net Neutrality rules, a huge win for ISPs and a huge loss for consumer protection.
These are some of the more publicly discussed appointments of controversy, but there are others. His nomination of Andrew Puzder to be the Labor Secretary ended when Puzder’s positions on labor (including opposing minimum wage hikes) came to light. Mike Pompeo, now-director of the CIA, supports the use of torture, despite all evidence indicating its ineffectuality (and the United Nations Convention against Torture).
And of course, Michael Flynn, an in-arrears registered foreign agent that Trump appointed to be his National Security Advisor, despite Trump’s transition team knowing Flynn might have to register as a foreign agent. Trump only “fired” Flynn when his lying came to light, despite Trump himself knowing about Flynn’s lies for weeks.
In terms of lasting consequence, Trump’s cabinet appointments may be the most consequential actions in his first 100 days.
International Relations
Trump spent his first 100 days alienating the US from its foreign allies in surprisingly aggressive ways. He opened the gate by doubling down on calls to build a wall on the US/Mexico border, immediately alienating Mexico’s President Peña Nieto, who cancelled a scheduled meeting with Trump after Trump suggested Mexico cancel the meeting if they were unwilling to pay for the border wall.
Trump even casually suggested that we might invade Mexico.
Less than two weeks later, Trump “badgered, bragged, and abruptly ended” a phone call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnball, after Turnball tried to confirm Trump intended to honor an agreement between the US and Australia to accept 1,250 refugees — refugees Trump incorrectly styled “illegal immigrants,” apparently misconstruing refugees for normal immigrants.
When Angela Merkel came to the US, Trump “insisted on negotiating a trade deal with Germany”. Trump did not understand that the US had to deal with the EU, and could not deal with Germany directly. It took multiple rebukes by Merkel for Trump to understand. Merkel reportedly later told her cabinet that Trump had “very basic misunderstandings” of trade and the EU.
Trump hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a military dictator that overthrew a democratically elected government, has been accused of massive human rights violations, and was barred from the White House by President Obama. Instead of pushing for the restoration of human rights in Egypt, Trump said al-Sisi had “done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation.”
Trump recently called and congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a referendum that overhauls Turkey’s government, handing Erdogam nearly unlimited power. Turkey’s opposition party, as well as international election bodies, have surfaced numerous reports of election fraud and intimidation, and videos of voting impropriety continue to surface.
Shortly after Bashar al-Assad dropped sarin gas on his own citizens, Trump’s administration responded by firing a volley of tomahawk missiles against a Syrian air strip. This caused confusion, as his foreign policy rhetoric moved from cooperation with al-Assad on ISIS to regime change in Syria, and drew rebukes from Russia who are acting on the side of al-Assad.
Most recently, Trump has been bloviating about North Korea — both attempting to dangle a carrot in front of China (again misunderstanding both trade and international affairs with China), as well as directly threatening a unilateral and preemptive strike against North Korea. His most recent threats were immediately proved to be bluffing, undermining any strength in rhetoric the President of the United States might have.
Finally, let’s not forget about Trump’s attempt to ban Muslims from entering the country. Twice. Importantly, it didn’t include any countries Trump does business in, nor did it include the country that produced the majority of 9/11 terrorists, Saudi Arabia. More importantly, Saudi Arabia provides material support to ISIS, the terrorist organization Trump is professing to fight with these bans.
Trump and his cabinet continue to alienate allies, embrace dictators, support other nationalist candidates, and to conduct foreign policy on Twitter. The administration’s foreign policy is muddied and ill-defined at best, and non-existent at worst.
The Press and “Fake News”
Back home, Trump’s disrespect for the First Amendment protections for the press and the institutions that exist because of it have become legend.
Trump has floated changing libel laws so he can sue news organizations that print what he doesn’t like. He calls any news not supportive of him or his policies “FAKE NEWS”, except for any small bits of that news that might be positive. In fact, he’s even preemptively defending his first 100 days by again attacking the news media.
But most disturbingly, Donald Trump, while President of the United States of America, called the media the enemy of the American People and claimed they were “a great danger to our country.”
His war on information and the news media is a frightening misunderstanding of and disdain for the First Amendment and the respect it demands for the press.
The Congressional Review Act
Trump and his administration, along with the Republican Congress, have used the Congressional Review Act to roll back several important Obama-era regulations.
These bills allow Social Security recipients with mental impairment to buy firearms, remove restrictions against the dumping of mining waste into local waterways, and allows oil companies to discontinue reporting how much money they’re paying foreign governments. They roll back the “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” act, which barred companies from government contracts that had histories of violating wage, labor, and workplace safety laws, and remove wildlife protections in Alaska. They have repealed federal requirements to fund Planned Parenthood.
Probably the bill that got the most press was the removal of consumer privacy protections by allowing Internet Service Providers to sell user behavior and browsing histories.
Just the first 100 days…
Trump’s first 100 days have been as consequential as any president before him. While he hasn’t seen any major legislation passed, his cabinet appointments, foreign policy, and Congressional Review Act bills have already done lasting damage that may take decades to fully repair, and we still have the better part of 4 years to go.
And this is hardly a comprehensive list. He supported kicking 24 million people off of healthcare through the American Health Care Act, going so far as to attempt to strong-arm Congress into passing the legislation. He governs by what he sees on cable news, especially Fox News. He has left departments dangerously understaffed as he purges government scientists and their work. He put Steve Bannon on the National Security Council as he moved to politicize it.
He has accused both Susan Rice and President Barack Obama of serious crimes without a shred of evidence.
He has used the government and his position to enrich his family. His promises to remove conflicts of interest have gone nowhere. Taxpayers spend millions of dollars to protect his family as they work to enhance their own riches, openly capitalizing on their position as the first family.
He has signed executive orders he didn’t read or understand.
We are in the throes of what will likely be a presidency of significant — and likely dire — consequences. Trump lies almost constantly. He has repeatedly acknowledged being surprised by how hard governing is. His lack of experience is only compounded by his ego. Instead of making up for this lack of experience by surrounding himself with experienced government officials, he has appointed his daughter and son-in-law as his top advisors.
If the first 100 days prove nothing else, it’s that Trump can do (and has done) great damage to the United States, both at home and abroad, while lining his own pockets — and he will likely continue to do so over the next four years.
Sources (and many thanks):
washingtontimes.com
forbes.com
politico.com
npr.org
nationalreview.com
washingtonpost.com
cnn.com
nymag.com
reason.com
harpers.org
drugsense.org
drugpolicy.org
politifact.com
cnbc.com
theatlantic.com
philly.com
eai.gov
independent.co.uk
money.cnn.com
fortune.com
chicagotribune.com
usatoday.com
nytimes.com
thehill.com
fusion.net
esquire.com
kansas.com
newsweek.com
wikipedia.org
foxnews.com
usnews.com
twitter.com
apnews.com
thetimes.co.uk
vox.com
hrw.org
whitehouse.gov
economist.com
rawstory.com
newyorker.com
motherjones.com
rollingstone.com
rulesatrisk.org
nbcnews.com
businessinsider.com
vanityfair.com
axios.com
washingtonian.com
time.com
gq.com
bostonherald.com
slate.com
salon.com
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