Donald Trump has fulfilled so few campaign promises as he nears his first 100 days in office that he’s “cramming like a college kid” to dredge up something as he races to the deadline, quipped CNN’s Jake Tapper.
The president is obviously edgy about the milestone that he’ll hit Saturday. He’s already anticipating bad reviews from the press, insisting in a tweet that no matter how good a job he’s done, the media won’t appreciate it. Besides, 100 days is such an arbitrary period that it’s a “ridiculous standard,” he has complained.
But that’s not what he said during the campaign, when he promised on video that he would honor a “contract” with the American voter — “my 100-day action plan” — to deliver much in his first 100 days, noted Tapper, who replayed Trump’s campaign vow on “The Lead.”
“I’m not saying that contract’s in breach, but most of those items on that action plan have yet to come to fruition,” said Tapper. “So the Trump administration is right now cramming like a college kid during finals week in an attempt to deliver on some of the promises that brought his voters to the polls.” For those “keeping score,” only one of the promises for legislation has even emerged: the failed Obamacare replacement.
So Trump has gone from “I alone can fix it” to “nobody knew issues like health care could be this complicated,” scoffed Tapper.
In the last several days, the Trump’s administration has stepped up the pressure to shake loose a commitment from Congress to pay for the border wall, which threatens to unhinge funding talks to keep the government operating past Friday. Trump also said he would unveil his basic tax reform plan this week — but Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said actual details won’t be ready until June.
At least Trump has the polls, which he somehow finds comforting, even though they show that he has the lowest approval ratings (41 percent, according to Gallup) of any president elected to his first term since World War II. But his bedrock supporters seem to be holding strong, with 96 percent saying they would vote for him again.
Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8, prompting Tapper to note about Trump’s tweet: “Still beat Hillary in popular vote? Kind of an odd comment, ’cause he never beat Hillary in the popular vote.”