On his 100th day as president, Donald Trump touted his achievements in a Washington Post op-ed that emphasized the degree to which his presidency has differed from his predecessors.
“One hundred days ago, I took the oath of office and made a pledge: We are not merely going to transfer political power from one party to another, but instead are going to transfer that power from Washington, D.C., and give it back to the people,” Trump wrote. “In the past 100 days, I have kept that promise – and more.
“Issue by issue, department by department, we are giving the people their country back,” he continued. “After decades of a shrinking middle class, open borders and the mass offshoring of American jobs and wealth, this government is working for the citizens of our country and no one else.”
Trump, cognizant of how his presidency has been covered in the pages of the Post and other press outlets, wrote, “The same establishment media that concealed these problems – and profited from them – is obviously not going to tell this story. That is why we are taking our message directly to America.”
In the op-ed, President Trump ticked off a number of his accomplishments, many of which have been downplayed, ignored, or harshly criticized by the liberal media. Among them: Pulling the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, beginning a crucial renegotiation of NAFTA, rolling back regulations, improving Veterans Affairs, nominating Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, canceling job-killing rules on American energy production, and, perhaps most significantly, fighting illegal immigration.
“What we’ve accomplished on immigration and criminal enforcement is nothing short of historic,” Trump wrote. “After decades of unending illegal immigration and mass uncontrolled entry, we’ve turned the tide as never before — illegal border-crossings are down 73 percent. Visa processes are being reformed to substantially improve vetting and screening, and we’ve launched prototypes and bidding for the border wall to stop the scourge of drugs, human trafficking and illegal immigrants from coming into our country.”
The media – even on the conservative side – has been almost joyfully focused on all the “problems” with Trump’s first 100 days, but the reality is that he could have tied up every one of his campaign promises in a pretty little bow, delivered them personally to the American people, and his presidency would still be largely seen as a failure by the press. These newspapers and networks have a vested interest in seeing Trump fail; many of them feel, in fact, that their credibility depends on it. So no matter what Trump does or doesn’t do, they’re going to stick with their chosen narrative.
But the lowest bar for Trump to rise to – the only one that really matters, in one respect – is to be a better president than Obama/Hillary. By any reasonable standard, he has easily sailed WAY over that meager metric…and we’re still only in the earliest stages.
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