Jake Tapper Says Trump Is 'Cramming Like a Colleg

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Jake Tapper Says Trump Is 'Cramming Like a College Kid' to Finish His 100 Days

Things are looking bleak.



By Jack Holmes
Apr 25, 2017

President Trump believes the idea of Americans judging him on his first 100 days in office is unfair now that he's got very little to show for his first 100 days. Of course, Trump thought the hundred-days was a great metric during the campaign, when he repeatedly made promises about what he would accomplish.

He even drew up a Contract with the American Voter that included a 100-day action plan. But now, as Jake Tapper illustrated Monday, the president considers it a "ridiculous standard" and changed his tune—just like he did on NATO, and on the unemployment numbers (which were rigged under President Obama but accurate under Trump), and healthcare: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/videos/a...ate=040117

As Tapper pointed out, though, the president has filled the void. While only one out of 10 pieces of legislation Trump promised in his Contract with the American Voter even made it to the House (the healthcare bill, which promptly died without a vote) he has been furiously issuing executive orders. Twenty-five, in fact, even though he railed against the use of unilateral executive powers during the campaign. Oh well, whatever it takes to roll back regulations.

If EO's are a way of cutting corners, then they're in line with Trump's strategy for what remains of his 100 days. Tapper characterized his approach as "cramming like a college kid during exam week."

Apparently, the president will try to cram tax reform, resolving a government shutdown, and getting funding for The Wall into one week of Congressional work. Because nothing inspires confidence in the final product like rushing through a bunch of things all at once—each of which, on its own, would normally take weeks or months. That assumes these initiatives will succeed, something that can't be said about anything else Trump has backed in Congress.

Trump's quest to get $1.9 billion in funding for The Wall as part of a funding resolution to keep the government open—in effect, threatening to shut the government down unless he gets it—is politically dire, particularly when a section of the House Republican caucus seems physically incapable of signing on to any kind of government spending. (Democrats, of course, are fiercely opposed.)

Tax reform is a hugely complicated endeavor with many moving parts and competing interests, although the simplicity of Trump's tax plan—which would slash rates for companies and the rich while instituting fewer tax brackets—might help with the speed it gets through Congress.

If only the president had known he'd be judged on his first 100 days before there were only a few left.

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