The Trump Administration: 100 Days in 2 Minutes
A whirlwind tour of t
bad day.
His boastfulness knows few bounds. “I truly
believe that the first 100 days of my administration has been just
about the most successful in our country’s history,” he said in
his weekly address on Friday.
His
Twitter account, of course, has been the vehicle for all
sorts of outbursts that
defy tradition, often fueled by the latest segment on Fox News.
Presidents rarely taunt reality-show hosts about poor ratings,
complain about late-night television comedy skits, berate judges or
members of their own party who defy them, trash talk Hollywood stars
and Sweden, declare the “fake news” media to be “the enemy of
the American people” or accuse the last president of illegally
wiretapping them without any proof.
David
Gergen, a White House aide to four presidents, including Reagan,
noted that Franklin
D. Roosevelt talked
about the “moral leadership” of the presidency. “Unfortunately,
we have lost sight of that vision in recent years, and it has almost
disappeared during the first 100 days of the Trump administration,”
Mr. Gergen said.
Another change to the presidency involves Mr.
Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns — a practice of
presidents for 40 years — and his continued ownership of a vast
business empire that includes properties both overseas and blocks
from the White House. “He has overstepped the ethics limits that
have bound all other presidents for decades,” said Norman L. Eisen,
a chief White House ethics adviser under Mr. Obama.
Beyond
that, Mr. Trump has been slow to create a structure like those in
past administrations. Orders and memos have not always been reviewed
by all relevant officials. Meetings are not always attended by key
aides who are leery of leaving the president’s side. “The notion
of a chain of command is gone,” said David F. Gordon, the State
Department director of policy planning under President George
W. Bush.
But if the presidency had grown somewhat stale
under the old norms as its occupants increasingly stuck to carefully
crafted talking points and avoided spontaneity, Mr. Trump has
brought back a certain authenticity and willingness to engage. His
frequent news conferences and interviews can be bracingly candid,
uninhibited, even raw. He leaves little mystery about what is on his
mind.
“The
2016 election wasn’t a delicate request to challenge existing
traditions; it was a demand that our next president do things
different,” said Jason Miller, a top adviser to Mr. Trump during
the campaign. “And while the professional political class struggles
to understand what has happened to their hold on power, supporters of
President Trump — the forgotten men and women he referenced in his
Inaugural Address — love the change they’re seeing.”
Presumably
Mr. Trump will remain impulsive and even impetuous, but he has also
been open to advice. He was talked out of lifting sanctions on
Russia, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, abandoning the
“one China” policy, tearing up the Iran nuclear
agreement, reversing the diplomatic opening to Cuba,
closing the Export-Import Bank, declaring China a currency
manipulator and, in recent days, terminating the North American Free
Trade Agreement. He may still do some or all of these, but by
waiting, he has the opportunity to lay the groundwork rather than
act precipitously.
He
now receives his intelligence briefings most days. And aides said
they had noticed signs of growth in office, pointing to his decision
to strike Syria after
it used chemical weapons on civilians and his private efforts to
persuade Egypt to
release an imprisoned American aid worker. Both cases showed that
Mr. Trump “has absorbed the responsibilities of the office and the
impact of the decisions he makes,” said a White House official,
speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the boss.
Even if Mr. Trump adapts, though, the larger
question is whether the institution will ever be the same. Future
presidents may feel freer to make unfounded statements, withhold tax
returns or keep private business interests without fear of political
penalty. Taboos once broken no longer seem inviolable.
Still,
Mayor Rahm
Emanuel of
Chicago, a senior adviser to President Bill
Clinton and
chief of staff for Mr. Obama, said there might be a backlash once
Mr. Trump leaves office. “After Trump, there will be a collective
desire to return to tradition,” he predicted. “Whoever comes
next will be the anti-Trump in style and character. That’s how it
works.”
Karl Rove, the senior adviser to the younger
Mr. Bush, agreed. “President Trump will make it difficult for
future presidents to step back from the use of social media,” he
said, “but it’s very likely the next administration will be more
restrained and less personal.” The next president, he added, will
probably deploy social media as a premeditated strategy. “It will
be part of a plan, not a method of catharsis.”
Meena
Bose, the director of the Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of
the American Presidency at Hofstra University, said Mr. Trump’s
presidency so far seemed unlike almost any other, except perhaps
Andrew Jackson’s.
She noted that Jackson was seen as erratic at the time but was later
evaluated by historians as a near-great president.
“Might
the Trump presidency be viewed similarly someday?” she asked.
“Difficult to see at the 100-day mark, but that is an artificial
measurement, with so much of the presidency still to come.”
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