Day 91- In court today, the president's lawyers argue that protesters at his rallies have no right to express dissent.
- Their reasoning is that protesters are infringing on the president's First Amendment rights by disagreeing with him.
- Budget Chief Mulvaney says Democrats in the House should help fund the border wall with Mexico because "elections have consequences," and "they lost the election."
- Attorney General Sessions is "amazed" that Trump's second attempt at a travel ban could be blocked by "a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific."
- He's referring to a federal judge from the State of Hawaii.
- Sessions, after vowing to "use every tool" against criminals and drug offenders, has so far filled none of the 93 open US attorney positions.
- South Korean officials and media outlets are expressing their anger at the WH falsely reporting that the USS Carl Vinson strike group was sailing in their direction.
- Presidential candidate Hong Joon-pyo says, "If that was a lie, then during Trump's term, South Korea will not trust whatever Trump says."
- Turning to our trade relations with Canada, our president says, "what they have done to our dairy farmer workers is a disgrace."
- FCC votes to eliminate price caps for Internet broadband service for schools, libraries and hospitals.
- FCC head Pai claims there is "sufficient competition" to keep pricing down for these locations.
- 97% of the locations in question have either two or just one Internet provider as their only choices.
Day 92- Tweets, "No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill!"
- Several mental health professionals, speaking at a congress at Yale University, claim that the president is "paranoid and delusional," and should be removed from office under article 4 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
- Treasury Department says it will not grant ExxonMobil a waiver to drill in areas of Russia currently under sanctions.
- Mysterious shell companies are some of the new purchasers of several million dollars worth of Trump real estate holdings.
- 53% of Trump voters believe that president Obama played more golf than president Trump during their respective first 90 days in office.
- Obama played no golf at all until Day 97 of his first term.
- Surgeon General Murthy is asked to resign, refuses and is fired, according to his wife, Alice Chen.
- No reason was given for his removal, other than the need for a "smooth transition."
- Dr. Murthy was a vocal opponent of gun violence, and the NRA lobbied heavily against his confirmation in 2014.
- Egyptian/American charity worker Aya Hijazi, her husband and four others are released from 3 years of detention in Egypt, in part through the president's efforts.
- House leaders are working on a new version of Trumpcare in an attempt to expedite passing it between Day 96, when the House returns from Easter break, and Day 100.
- This version of Trumpcare appears to retain essential coverage standards, but will allow States to opt out of almost every part of health coverage, as well as allow them to oversee high premiums for preexisting conditions.
- As with the previous version of Trumpcare, it will strip large amounts of funding from Medicaid, a program which has helped to make health care and nursing homes affordable to the sick, the poor and the elderly since 1982.
Day 93- Visits Walter Reed Hospital and hands out a Purple Heart to Sergeant First Class Alvaro Barrientos.
- Says to Barrientos, who appears from the published picture to have lost his right leg below the knee, "Congratulations on behalf of Melania and myself and the entire nation."
- Tens of thousands take part in the March for Science protests in 600 cities across the world.
- Today is Earth Day. To commemorate the day, president issues a statement claiming that "economic growth enhances environmental protection."
- Economic growth, when not sufficiently regulated, has historically been a major cause of environmental degradation.
Day 94- Tweets, "Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall."
- AP releases a transcript of its interview with the president.
- Brings up the release of detained charity worker Aya Hijazi from Egypt, says, "You know Obama worked on it for three years, got zippo, zero."
- Trump has highly praised Egyptian leader Sisi and his authoritarian regime, which has cracked down heavily on activists since Sisi seized power in a military coup in 2013.
- Recounts how he continues to insist to the leaders of Germany and Italy that they "pay up," referring to NATO dues which do not exist.
- Claims the concept of his first 100 days in office is "just an artificial barrier."
- When its pointed out that he and his campaign touted a first 100 day plan, and that he mentioned it in his speeches, says, "Somebody, yeah, somebody put out the concept of a hundred-day plan."
- Asked if he should feel accountable to his 100 day plan, says "No, because much of the foundation’s been laid. Things came up."
- Calls members of the press "very stupid people," for pointing out his 180° change in stance regarding China being a currency manipulator.
- Lists the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch as "the biggest thing I’ve done."
- Asked about other achievements, says, "Our military is so proud. They were not proud at all. They had their heads down. Now they have their heads up."
- Talks extensively about saving $725 milion on the F-35 fighter plane budget, calling it "a massive amount of money."
- The president's proposed budget will increase military spending by $54 billion in one year.
- Promises, on day 97, to roll out a tax reform package that will be, "a massive tax cut. It will be bigger, I believe, than any tax cut ever. Maybe the biggest tax cut we’ve ever had."
- Asked about the border wall, says, "People want the border wall. My base definitely wants the border wall, my base really wants it."
- Adds, "My base, which is a big base; I think my base is 45 percent."
- From there, he drifts for several minutes into his standard re-litigation of the 2016 election.
- Brought back to the subject of the wall and its potential costs, says, "Oh I’m seeing numbers--$24 billion, I think I’ll do it for $10 billion or less."
- Asked what he'll do if he can't get the funding for it from Congress, says, "that wall’s getting built, OK? One hundred percent. One hundred percent it’s getting built."
- Asked about his earlier statements that NATO was obsolete because it didn't focus on terrorism, says, " You know, back when they did NATO there was no such thing as terrorism."
AP: This morning you tweeted that after the possible terrorist attack in Paris, that it will have a big effect on the upcoming French election. What did you mean by that?
TRUMP: Well, I think it will have a big effect on who people are going to vote for in the election.
AP: Do you think it’s going to help Marine Le Pen?
TRUMP: I think so.
AP: Do you believe that she should be the president?
TRUMP: No, I have no comment on that, but I think that it’ll probably help her because she is the strongest on borders and she is the strongest on what’s been going on in France.
AP: Do you worry at all that by saying that, that a terrorist attack would have an impact on a democratic election, that it would actually embolden terrorists to try to...
TRUMP: No. Look, everybody is making predictions who is going to win. I am no different than you, you could say the same thing. ...
AP: I just wonder if you are encouraging, you are the president of the United States, so to say that you worry that it encourages terrorists ...
TRUMP: No, I am no different than — no, I think it discourages terrorists, I think it discourages. I think what we’ve done on the border discourages it.
- Asked about NAFTA, says, 'I am very upset with NAFTA. I think NAFTA has been a catastrophic trade deal for the United States."
- Adds, "If they don’t treat fairly, I am terminating NAFTA.
- Asked about Wikileaks, says, "You know, they tried to hack the Republican, the RNC, but we had good defenses."
- Adds, "They weren’t able to get through to Republicans."
- FBI Director Comey testified that the RNC was hacked, but not to the extent to which the DNC was compromised.
- RNC emails from older domains were obtained, but none were leaked.
- Asked if he supported Assange's leaking of DNC emails, says, "No, I don’t support or unsupport. It was just information."
- The president, at a campaign rally on Oct 10, said, "I love Wikileaks," then proceeded to read out leaked DNC emails to the crowd.
AP: On Iran, which is another thing you talked a lot on the campaign...
TRUMP: And the other thing that we should go after is the leakers...
- Brought back to Iran, says he feels that they are violating the spirit of the nuclear agreement made with the US due to "what they are doing all over the Middle East and beyond."
- The interviewer presses him but he won't give any details as to what he feels Iran is doing to violate the spirit of the nuclear agreement.
- Brings up his Day 40 speech to Congress, says, "A lot of the people have said that, some people said it was the single best speech ever made in that chamber."
- No one has said that.
- On the possibility of an increase in US troops in the Middle East, says, "It could be an increase, then an increase. But not many more. I want to do the job, but not many more. ... This is an important story. I’ve done a lot. I’ve done more than any other president in the first 100 days and I think the first 100 days is an artificial barrier. And I’m scheduled ... the foundations have been set to do some great things. With foreign countries. Look at, look at President Xi. I mean ..."
- Asked if he has the right team in place for the next 100 days, drifts off into another long rant about the 2016 Election.
- Wraps it up with the thoroughly debunked lie or delusion that Representative Cummings (D) MD, told him, "you will be the greatest president in the history of this country."
- Does not allow the interviewer to correct him on this point.
- Brags that his ratings on Face the Nation--the show he calls 'Deface the Nation" were the show's highest since "the World Trade Center came down."
- Complains about being treated unfairly by the "fake media", and asserts that Fox news is not granting him favorable treatment; they are simply reporting on him in the most accurate manner.
AP: Do you feel that one of the things with cable is there’s such real-time reaction with everything you say?
TRUMP: Yeah.
AP: Can you separate that sometimes from that actual decision?
TRUMP: The one thing...
AP: That you have to do...
TRUMP: OK. The one thing I’ve learned to do that I never thought I had the ability to do. I don’t watch CNN anymore.
AP: You just said you did.
TRUMP: No. No, I, if I’m passing it, what did I just say (inaudible)?
AP: You just said...
TRUMP: Where? Where?
AP: Two minutes ago.
TRUMP: No, they treat me so badly. No, I just said that. No, I, what’d I say, I stopped watching them. But I don’t watch CNN anymore. I don’t watch MSNBC. I don’t watch it. Now I heard yesterday that MSNBC, you know, they tell me what’s going on.
AP: Right.
Day 95:- State Department removes a blog post promoting the president's private luxury golf resort, Mar-A-Lago, following criticism over ethics concerns.
- Budget Director Mulvaney says he's offered a deal to House Democrats: If they agree to help fund the border wall, the WH will not cut off subsidies that allow the poor to afford health care.
- President asks the UN for stronger sanctions against North Korea.
- A new poll says 73% of Americans would prefer an independent investigation of the Trump campaign's Russian ties; only 16% feel that Congress should be handling it.
- French presidential election is being plagued by the same type of social media accounts spreading fake news as was seen in the 2016 US election.
- The Russians are again suspected to be at the center of these attempts to elect their preferred candidate in another country.
- Russian hackers are targeting French candidate Macron and leaving Le Pen, the candidate they support, alone.
Day 96- Judge blocks WHs order threatening to take away federal funds from sanctuary cities.
- Senior WH Aide Sebastian Gorka walks out of Georgetown conference after fielding a few questions he didn't like from undergraduate students.
- Gorka opened with confrontational remarks, accusing establishment journalists of using anonymous sources to manufacture fake news stories.
- Members of the audience began to pull out their phones, ostensibly to check on Gorka's bio.
- Questions were then posed about his alleged ties to the Hungarian Nazi-affiliated group, The Order of Vitez, as well as Gorka's harsh anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
- After a handful of questions, Gorka departed abruptly, reportedly "huffing and puffing and just very angry."
- Women's panel in Germany hisses and boos Ivanka Trump after she says her father "has been a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive."
- In a new poll 36% of Republicans say that freedom of the press "does more harm than good."
- Some conservative press reporters and personalities, invited to a briefing at the WH for the pro-Trump media only, are reportedly disappointed that their cell phones were confiscated, rendering them unable to record the event.
- WH denies request from the House Oversight Committee for information on payments former national security adviser Michael Flynn received from Russia.
- The WH's reasoning is, "It is unclear how such documents would be relevant to the stated purpose of the committee's review."
- Both ranking members of the House Oversight Committee then announce that they believe Flynn did not comply with the law that bars former military officers from accepting payments from foreign governments, in Flynn's case the countries were Russia and Turkey.
- Breaking this law is a felony.
- Pentagon inspector general launches an investigation on the Flynn foreign payments.
Day 97- Signs executive order directing federal officials to review existing protected national monuments with an eye towards rescinding those protections in favor of natural resource exploitation.
- Misidentifies the judge who issued the injunction halting the his plans for stripping funding for sanctuary cities as being a judge from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Tells the conservative Washington Examiner that, "There are many people that want to break up the 9th Circuit."
- Vows in a tweet to take the fight to the Supreme Court.
- WH opens a new hotline, 855-48-VOICE, to report crimes or ostensibly any activity by illegal aliens.
- Critics respond by calling 855-48-VOICE and reporting space alien activity.
- WH announces the president is considering signing an executive order directing the USA to pull out of the 23-year old NAFTA trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.
- A few hours later, the president announces that he will not pull out of NAFTA.
- House Republicans add provision to new Trumpcare bill that would allow House members and their staff and families to be covered for essential care and pre-existing conditions if their home State opts out of these coverages.
- The same Republicans are responsible for the State opt-out option.
- As mentioned in Day 92, if passed this option will likely take away or significantly degrade basic health care for tens of millions of older and lower income Americans.
- Treasury Sec Mnuchin announces the president's tax plan.
- Corporate taxes to be slashed from 35% to 15%, nearly guaranteeing a massive increase in the federal deficit.
- Ending taxpayer deductions for paying State and local taxes, which will increase payments for taxpayers in blue states like New York and California.
- Reducing the number of tax brackets by way of dispensing with the top $39.6% bracket for wealthy taxpayers.
- Eliminating the alternative minimum tax, saving money for the 4 million wealthy taxpayers in the upper middle class and above, and further increasing the deficit.
- During the 2016 campaign the president said of his tax program, “It’s going to cost me a fortune, which is actually true.”
- The statement was not at all true
- Doubling the standard deduction, helping lower wage taxpayers, and still increasing the federal deficit.
- Providing unspecified tax relief for families with child care and dependent care responsibilities.
- Repealing estate taxes, helping those with large inheritances from wealthy parents and relatives.
- A clause for further defunding of Obamacare.
- A one-time tax on corporate dollars held overseas.
- The president's tax plan is to be understood as a wish list, submitted to congress a few days before the 100 day deadline.
- Congress will be responsible for creating and passing its own tax plan.
- Experts predict the president's target numbers are unlikely to make it intact into any legislation that emerges.
- After announcing the president's tax plan, Sec Mnuchin is asked if the president plans on releasing his own tax information.
- Mnuchin responds, "The president has no intention....The president has released plenty of information and has given more financial disclosure than anybody else."
- This is an absurd lie.
Day 98- It's reported that the president's reversal on NAFTA happened due in part to Agriculture Sec Purdue bringing an electoral map to the WH and showing the president the areas where voters would be hurt by rescinding NAFTA, and emphasized that most of those voters were Trump voters.
- Reflecting on his first 100 days as president, says "This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”
- Reporters discover that the president still keeps copies of the 2016 electoral map on his desk, and hands them out to visitors.
- Upon signing one of his new Executive Orders, says, "So this is promoting agriculture and rural prosperity in America. And, now, there’s a lot of words. I won’t bother reading everything. But agriculture and rural prosperity in America, that’s what we want."
- After a week of making pointed threats of US military action against North Korea, says "I informed South Korea it would be appropriate if they paid," for the missile defense system installed to protect the country from a North Korean attack.
- A missile and artillery barrage on South Korea would be a near-guarantee in the immediate aftermath of any US-North Korean hostilities.
- Seoul, South Korea's capital of 10 million people, sits a few miles from their border with North Korea.
- House delays new Trumpcare vote until after Day 100, denying the president a legislative victory before that milestone.
- Press Sec Spicer blames the Obama administration for renewing the security clearance of embattled former Trump campaign national security adviser Flynn.
- Obama fired Flynn from the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, two years before Trump hired him for his presidential campaign.
Day 99- Sources close to the Trump-Russia investigation report that the Trump team vetted Flynn before hiring him as national security adviser, and that they were aware of his potentially felonious business ties to Turkey.
- Another North Korea test firing of a ballistic missile fails.
- Gives speech to the National Rifle Association.
- In the interest of context, NRA chief LaPierre once said, "Academic elites, political elites and media elites. These are America's greatest domestic threats."
- LaPierre shares the same principles with Pol Pot, former ruler of Cambodia, responsible for the murders of 2 million of his own people, most of the slain being academic elites, political elites and media elites.
- The president says, "I want to also thank Wayne LaPierre for his unflinching leadership in the fight for freedom."
- Launches into his standard tirade, again re-litigating the 2016 election in mind-numbing detail over several minutes.
- Calls Senator Warren 'Pocahontas' again.
- Touts his accomplishment of helping to streamline veterans benefits, which is an extension of an existing Obama-era program.
- Says, "It’s been a tough fight against those who would go so far as to ban private gun ownership entirely."
- No one in either party in any of the three branches of government has suggested anything like this in more than a generation.
- Says, "The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end."
- Offers no evidence, or even an anecdote, suggesting that gun rights were less protected during the Obama administration in comparison to the Bush II administration.
- Touts his other accomplishment in office, nominating Justice Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
- Claims to have achieved a 73% decrease in illegal immigration since his election.
- Says, "We’ll build the wall. Don't even think about it. Don't even think about it. Don't even think about it. That's an easy one. We're going to build the wall. We need the wall."
- Adds, "And it’s a wall in certain areas. Obviously, where you have these massive physical structures you don't need...and we have certain big rivers and all."
- The Rio Grande serves as the US-Mexico border along 1255 of the border's 1989 miles
- In many places, the river is shallow and easy to cross on foot.
- Says, "Hundreds of individuals from other countries have been charged with terrorism-related offenses in the United States."
- 28 people from other countries have been convicted of terrorism in the 16 years since 9/11. 25 of the 28 convictions were for crimes outside of the US. Only 3 of them were for crimes inside the US. 2 of those remaining 3 were for plotting crimes, not for committing them.
- Congress passes stopgap funding bill to keep the government running for one more week.
- The economy grew slowly during the first quarter of 2017, posting a 0.7% increase in GDP, down from the 2.5% posted in the final quarter of the Obama administration.
- Treasury Sec Ross blames this recent slump on the "dismal economy inherited by the Trump administration."
- In his weekly radio address, announces, ""My fellow Americans, I truly believe that the first 100 days of my administration has been just about the most successful in our country's history."
Day 100- Tweets, "Mainstream (FAKE) media refuses to state our long list of achievements, including 28 legislative signings, strong borders & great optimism."
- The 28 signings are as follows: 13 rollbacks of Obama-era laws, mostly environmental and consumer safety protections, 3 modifications to existing programs, 2 suggestions to modify programs, 2 namings of veterans affairs clinics, 1 encouragement to fly the flag on Vietnam Veterans Day, 1 allowing for the building of a memorial for Desert Storm, 5 executive branch personnel matters, and 1 extension of an Obama-era law allowing veterans to streamline their care outside the VA system.
- Proclaims May 1st as "Loyalty Day."
- An estimated 200,000 people participate in the Climate March on Washington DC.
- The president holds another rally for himself, gathering his supporters in Pennsylvania.
- The Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center hosting the rally normally seats 7600, though the State department of Agriculture claims it can hold up to 11000.
- In any case, there are empty rows at the top of the arena when the president speaks at his free event.
- He claims the crowd is a record-breaker, and that people are lined up outside to get in, but he has always lied about crowd sizes.
- The president saves tonight's vitriol for the media, calling the concurrent White House Correspondent's Dinner, “a large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media consoling each other in a hotel ballroom.”
- He then rails about the "Fake News" media and the "totally failing" New York Times and lies for what seems the hundredth time about how the NYT apologized for their coverage of him.
- At several points the crowd spontaneously breaks out into chants of "Lock her up."
- Later, the chants change to "Build that wall," and the president responds.
- “Don’t worry, we’re going to have the wall. Don’t even worry about it. Rest assured. Go home. Go to sleep.”
- Donald Trump finishes his first 100 days with the lowest approval ratings of any president at this point since the polling began with president Roosevelt in 1932.
Conclusion:
Much better writers are handling this milestone. I will be as brief here as I can.
This president, in his first 100 days, has been contentious and wildly ineffective at his best. Most Americans are thankful for this, as his agenda--such as it is--is disastrous.
The president is a habitual liar. He seems to enjoy it. He sends his lieutenants out nearly every day to tell absurd lies to the country, and he watches them squirm on the screen in his office . He's shown no empathy for others; quite the opposite in cases. He is unable to handle criticism in a positive or even a neutral manner. He is obsessed with being a celebrity figure. He lacks the intellectual curiosity which is essential for uncovering facts and sorting through details. He's done nothing to counter his record of entrenched sexism and bigotry. He has viciously derided our freedoms and institutions whenever they've become inconvenient for his agenda. He has done nothing to show that he is not using his office to enrich himself, his family and his friends. He has antagonized our allies, and he has given comfort and support to regimes who are opposed to our American ideals. And lately he has shown puzzling speech patterns and behavior which appear to be similar to symptoms of age-related dementia.
In conclusion, after following this administration closely for the last 100 days, it is this compiler's opinion that Mr. Trump is unworthy to serve our country in his current capacity. In just 100 days he has already shown himself in many cases to be an historical embarrassment to the office of the president. Going forward, an obligation falls on all of us, to do what we can, using our individual abilities within our legal rights, to ensure that this administration will be known to future generations for its ineffectiveness, rather than the series of disasters it brought about.
