There will lots of noise and analysis today as the Trump administration hits 100 days. We think the WSJ defined it well. Here is a recap from them:
WSJ:
As the Trump presidency’s 100-day mark arrives, here’s a little secret: That opening stretch often is a rocky one for new presidents. Bill Clinton suffered through a botched economic-stimulus package and a couple of controversies. George H.W. Bush made what turned out to be a disastrous pick for defense secretary. John Kennedy made a historic blunder by approving the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, a failure that continued to haunt him.
So the debate is on over what President Donald Trump has and hasn’t done at the much-hyped 100-day milestone. But history suggests that the precise balance sheet at 100 days means less than what has been learned about how a new president operates—and what kinds of adjustments he makes based on those opening lessons.
Trump’s Wins: A broad rollback of regulations; getting a respected Supreme Court nominee through the Senate; and building what seems to be a solid relationship with China’s president. He also ditched campaign-season impulses and launched a strike at Syria over its use of chemical weapons.
Trump’s Losses: Mr. Trump’s legislative effort on health care collapsed. His travel ban on select Muslim-majority countries stalled. And his national-security adviser was fired. He leveled an unsubstantiated accusation that his predecessor tapped his phones. He set a record for early job disapproval.
Most important indicator: Whether a clear governing coalition emerges. Republicans’ control of the White House and both houses of Congress created an expectation that getting things done might be easy, but the early failure on the Obamacare repeal showed that he can’t count on support from his party’s most conservative wing.
A challenge: We know that Mr. Trump is a restless activist who doesn’t abide by the rules, for better and for worse. His presidency will never be quiet. Yet we also know he can curb his impulses, if he really wants to. The risk for him now is that the volume and looseness of his running commentary will undermine his ability to communicative effectively, at home and abroad, when it’s urgent to do so.
Greatest challenge: The foremost presidential challenge for the next hundred days and beyond is to get Washington beyond the dangers of paralyzing polarization.
Our MSM call out of the day:
As they review the Trump tax cut proposal the MSM is all over the deficit. How are you going to pay for this they rant.
Like with North Korea it appears they suddenly figured out there is an issue.
For the past eight years as Obama doubled the deficit of every President from Washington to George W. did you hear them talking about it?
On the tax cuts the MSM is catching up to the thought we shared the other day that the big issue is going to be the loss of state tax deductions.
Here’s an example from this AM in the press:
– A big tax break skewed toward Democratic-controlled blue states is the next major battleground as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans attempt to rewrite the tax code. The tax policy outline Mr. Trump unveiled Wednesday proposes repealing the deduction for state and local taxes, which lets individuals subtract their home-state levies from their federal taxable income. What makes the latest proposal politically divisive—and could lead to a split inside the Republican Party—is that it would shift the tax burden from low-tax states such as Texas and Florida to high-tax states such as New York and New Jersey.
We hope this tax cut passes for just this reason. It will show people the difference in who they elect and may force some states to reduce spending and taxes. Wouldn’t that be interesting and in turn reward those states who have kept things under control.
After all the federal burden should be the same for every citizen wherever they live right? Today it’s not. What happened to being fair?
Health care repeal and replace stalls again:
Readers of this blog are not surprised. It can’t be done.
Obama, Pelosi and Reid passed a bill with reckoning to come in 2018 and beyond. The costs are going to be huge and passed on to the government.
You can’t lower costs, increase coverage, provide free insurance to 20 million plus, not charge for pre conditions, and cover kids until 26.
The bill is coming due.
Remember when we said why doesn’t the MSM poll itself?
Well there was a poll released Friday on the media. Bottom line was the American people trust the White House far more than the media.
The media earns poor marks from the people. (Only Democrats like them).
Here’s a link to the poll report from Morning Consult.
https://morningconsult.com/2017/04/28/political-media-earns-poor-marks-americans/