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100 days: how Donald Trump compares with last five presidents
Source: The Guardian
...
Donald Trump
Inaugurated 20 January 2017
In short
Mileage may vary. Either he is an unapologetic populist whose efforts to drain the swamp of Washington have been met, all too predictably, by powerful resistance.Or he is a buffoonish con whose every gesture showcases his gross incompetence, plus he golfs too much, and he’s probably bad at that, too.
Highs and lows
Empirical analysis has found that presidents enjoy a “honeymoon hundred” with Congress, during which time legislation that a president backs is more likely to pass. If that’s true for Trump, he’s in trouble. His effort to broker a deal on healthcare reform turned out to be as ineffectual as it was ostentatious. His promise to pull off tax reform is equally in doubt. The one spending bill he has managed to sign thus far, a $19.5bn reauthorization of Nasa, was both small potatoes and peripheral. He has struck down at least 10 important Obama regulations, pertaining to clean streams, internet privacy and gun purchases by the mentally ill, but not everyone considers those accomplishments.
Many Americans – more than half, in most polls – believe that Trump is underperforming as president. Strikes against him include his divisive and failed travel bans, his blatant and insulting duplicity when it comes to voter fraud or crowd size, his impulsive conduct of foreign policy, his failure to divest from the Trump Organization, his embrace of Wall Street and of foreign dictators, his addiction to cable news, and a lack of policy seriousness which leads him to confuse Iraq and Syria, confuse which direction the navy is sailing in and to say things like, “Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.”
Trump supporters see his presidency differently. He is praised for responding to a chemical attack in Syria with airstrikes, for generally projecting strength in foreign policy, for undoing Obama-era regulations on the environment and business, for installing a conservative supreme court justice, for protecting American jobs, and for not letting people tell him what he can’t do. It was also cool when he climbed into that truck and honked the horn.
Donald Trump
Inaugurated 20 January 2017
In short
Mileage may vary. Either he is an unapologetic populist whose efforts to drain the swamp of Washington have been met, all too predictably, by powerful resistance.Or he is a buffoonish con whose every gesture showcases his gross incompetence, plus he golfs too much, and he’s probably bad at that, too.
Highs and lows
Empirical analysis has found that presidents enjoy a “honeymoon hundred” with Congress, during which time legislation that a president backs is more likely to pass. If that’s true for Trump, he’s in trouble. His effort to broker a deal on healthcare reform turned out to be as ineffectual as it was ostentatious. His promise to pull off tax reform is equally in doubt. The one spending bill he has managed to sign thus far, a $19.5bn reauthorization of Nasa, was both small potatoes and peripheral. He has struck down at least 10 important Obama regulations, pertaining to clean streams, internet privacy and gun purchases by the mentally ill, but not everyone considers those accomplishments.
Many Americans – more than half, in most polls – believe that Trump is underperforming as president. Strikes against him include his divisive and failed travel bans, his blatant and insulting duplicity when it comes to voter fraud or crowd size, his impulsive conduct of foreign policy, his failure to divest from the Trump Organization, his embrace of Wall Street and of foreign dictators, his addiction to cable news, and a lack of policy seriousness which leads him to confuse Iraq and Syria, confuse which direction the navy is sailing in and to say things like, “Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.”
Trump supporters see his presidency differently. He is praised for responding to a chemical attack in Syria with airstrikes, for generally projecting strength in foreign policy, for undoing Obama-era regulations on the environment and business, for installing a conservative supreme court justice, for protecting American jobs, and for not letting people tell him what he can’t do. It was also cool when he climbed into that truck and honked the horn.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/23/100-days-how-trump-compares-to-last-five-presidents
