First 100 Days Of Donald Trump's First Presidency

The first 100 days of Donald Trump's first presidency began on January 20, 2017, the day Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. The first 100 days of a presidency took on symbolic significance during Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term in office, and the period is considered a benchmark to measure the early success of a president. The 100th day of Trump's first presidency was April 30, 2017.

Institutionally, President Trump had the advantage of a Republican Party majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, but was unable to fulfill his major pledges in his first 100 days, with some approval rating polls reporting around 40%. He reversed his position on a number of issues including labeling China as a currency manipulator, NATO, launching the 2017 Shayrat missile strike, renomination of Janet Yellen as Chair of the Federal Reserve, and the nomination of Export-Import Bank directors. Trump's approval among his base was high, with 96% of those who voted for him saying in an April 2017 poll that they would vote for him again. Near the end of the 100 days, the Trump administration introduced a broad outline of a sweeping tax reform focusing on deep tax cuts. Although Trump had to concede to delay funding for the U.S.–Mexico border wall he had promised, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown a few days before the end of the first 100 days.

Trump signed 24 executive orders in his first 100 days. He signed 22 presidential memoranda, 20 presidential proclamations, and 28 bills. About a dozen of those bills roll-back regulations finalized during the last months of his immediate predecessor Barack Obama's presidency using the Congressional Review Act. Most of the other bills are "small-scale measures that appoint personnel, name federal facilities or modify existing programs." None of Trump's bills are considered to be "major bills"—based on a "longstanding political-science standard for 'major bills'". Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said that "based on a legislative standard"—which is what the first 100 days has been judged on since the tenure of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who enacted 76 laws in 100 days including nine that were "major".

Pledges

Trump pledged to do the following in the first 100 days of his first presidency:

* Appoint judges who will "uphold the Constitution" and "defend the Second Amendment"
* Construct a wall on the southern U.S. border and limit illegal immigration "to give unemployed Americans an opportunity to fill good-paying jobs"
* Reassess trade agreements with other nations and "crack down" on companies that send jobs overseas

* Repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly called the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare)
* Remove federal restrictions on energy production
* Push for an amendment to the United States Constitution imposing term limits on Congress
* Eliminate gun-free zones
* Formulate a rule on regulations "that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated"
* Instruct the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to "develop a comprehensive plan to protect America's vital infrastructure from cyberattacks, and all other form of attacks"
* Label China a "currency manipulator"Wilbur Ross, Andy Puzder & Peter Navarro
Economic Analysis of Donald Trump's Contract with the American Voter
, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., October 30, 2016
* Enforce rules and regulations for China's unfair subsidy behavior, instructing the U.S. trade representative to bring trade cases against China, both in U.S. and at the WTO
* Use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes, including the application of 45% tariffs consistent with Section 201 and 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, to stop China's illegal activities, including its theft of American trade secrets

Inauguration

The first inauguration of Donald Trump was the 58th presidential inauguration and it marked the completion of Trump's first presidential transition which began the morning of November 9, 2016 after his victory in the 2016 presidential election and concluded at noon of January 20, 2017. Donald Trump and Mike Pence were formally inaugurated as the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States at noon on January 20, 2017, at the Capitol, marking the start of the first 100 days of the First Trump presidency.

Presidential Communications

The content of Whitehouse.gov was switched from the Obama Administration version to the First Trump Administration version, while the prior was archived a
ObamaWhiteHouse
This was the third time the presidential website had switched between administrations and the first time switching control of social media accounts such as Twitter. As Trump took the oath of office, the official @POTUS Twitter account switched to President Trump and Barack Obama's previous tweets were moved to @POTUS44Archive. Members of the First Trump administration assumed control of numerous social media accounts while former Obama Administration accounts were similarly archived such as Melania Trump assuming @FLOTUS, Mike Pence assuming @VP, Karen Pence assuming @SLOTUS, Sean Spicer assuming @PressSec, along with others. Trump's cabinet members were given new social media accounts as previous administrations had done and new executive branch websites were created while previous administration websites reside in the National Archives.

Administration and Cabinet

On February 8, when Trump formally announced his 24-member-cabinet—the largest cabinet of any President so far—fewer cabinet nominees had been confirmed than any other president except George Washington by the same length of time into his presidency. Trump's reorganization of the cabinet removed the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers that President Obama had added in 2009. The Director of National Intelligence and Director of the CIA were elevated to cabinet-level. During the transition period, Trump had named a full slate of Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominees, all of which require Senate confirmation except for White House Chief of Staff and the vice presidency.

By April 29, almost all of his nominated cabinet members had been confirmed, including Secretaries of State Rex Tillerson, Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Defense James Mattis, Justice Jeff Sessions, the Interior Ryan Zinke, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, Commerce Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta, Health and Human Services Tom Price, Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, Transportation Elaine Chao, Energy Rick Perry, Education Betsy DeVos, Veterans Affairs David Shulkin, Homeland Security John Kelly, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Pompeo, UN Ambassador Nikki R. Haley, Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt, Small Business Administration Linda McMahon, Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. Only two were awaiting confirmation — Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett.

James Mattis was confirmed on January 20 as Secretary of Defense by a vote of 98–1. Mattis had previously received a waiver of the National Security Act of 1947, which requires a seven-year waiting period before retired military personnel can assume the role of Secretary of Defense. John Kelly was confirmed as United States Secretary of Homeland Security on the first day by a vote of 88–11. Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson was sworn in as Secretary of State by Vice-President Mike Pence on February 1. Trump nominated Tillerson for the position as top U.S. diplomat (the equivalent of a foreign minister) on December 13, 2016. He was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 23, 2017, and by the full Senate in a 56–43 vote. Nikki Haley was confirmed as UN Ambassador by a vote of 96-4.

On January 26, 2017, when Tillerson visited the United States State Department, Undersecretaries Joyce Anne Barr, Patrick F. Kennedy, Michele Bond, and Gentry O. Smith all simultaneously resigned from the department. Former State Department chief of staff David Wade called the resignations "the single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that anyone can remember." The Trump administration told CNN the officials had been fired and the ''Chicago Tribune'' reported that several senior state department career diplomats left the State Department, claiming they "had been willing to remain at their posts but had no expectation of staying."

On February 10, Tom Price was confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, a "$1 trillion government department". The Department of HHS includes National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration. Price, who is a vocal opponent of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, claimed he would "oversee its repeal and replacement." He has published articles in the "small, conservative medical association", the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, to which he belongs, that opposes mandatory vaccination and continued to argue that vaccines cause autism, a "discredited conspiracy theory that Trump has long espoused". In response to questions from Senators at the hearing as to whether he believes autism is caused by vaccines, he responded, "I think the science in that instance is that it does not".

Steve Mnuchin, who was nominated by Trump in November 2016, was finally confirmed on February 13, 2017, as Secretary of the Treasury department after lengthy confirmation hearings.

On February 16, the Senate voted 54-46 to advance Scott Pruitt's nomination as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. On February 16, a District Court Judge in Oklahoma, Aletia Timmons, ordered Pruitt to "turn over thousands of emails related to his communication with the oil, gas and coal industry" in a case brought to court by the Center for Media and Democracy. Lawmakers had criticized Pruitt who sued the EPA 14 times on behalf of the State of Oklahoma.

Trump nominated Alexander Acosta as Secretary of Labor on February 16, when his first nominee Andrew Puzder stepped down after a wave of criticism for having employed an illegal immigrant as a former housekeeper, his "remarks on women and employees at his restaurants", and for his "rancorous 1980s divorce".

Notable non-Cabinet positions

According to a database compiled by ''The Washington Post'' in collaboration with the Partnership for Public Service, as of April 27, 473 of the 554 key executive branch nominations that require Presidential nomination and Senate confirmation, had not yet been appointed, including "Cabinet secretaries, deputy and assistant secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsel, heads of agencies, ambassadors and other critical leadership positions." Only 3 of the 119 Department of State executive branch positions had been filled and only one position in the Department of Defense—the Secretary of Defense, James Mattis—had been filled out of 53 key positions. Trump had not yet nominated anyone for 49 of these positions. On February 28, in an exclusive interview Tuesday with Fox & Friends, Trump said, "a lot of those jobs, I don't want to appoint, because they're unnecessary to have.... You know, we have so many people in government, even me. I look at some of the jobs and it's people over people over people. I say, 'What do all these people do?' You don't need all those jobs... Many of those jobs I don't want to fill. I say, isn't that a good thing? That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. We're running a very good, efficient government."

Prior to taking office, Trump named several important White House advisers to positions that do not require Senate confirmation, including Stephen K. Bannon as his "senior counselor and chief West Wing strategist" and Reince Priebus as Chief of Staff, with a mission "as equal partners to transform the federal government." Other important advisers outside of the Cabinet included Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (later replaced by H. R. McMaster), National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro. Homeland Security Advisor Thomas P. Bossert, Regulatory Czar Carl Icahn, White House Counsel Donald F. "Don" McGahn II, and Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

Michael T. Flynn served as Trump's National Security Advisor from January 20 until his resignation on February 13, 2017. He set a record for the shortest tenure as National Security Advisor in American history. The Justice Department warned the Trump administration that Flynn, who had a "well-established history with Russia", may have been "vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow". Flynn had "mischaracterized his communications" with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence regarding U.S. sanctions on Russia. Flynn's phone calls had been "recorded by a government wiretap" and several days after Flynn was named as Trump's Advisor, Sally Yates, who was then acting attorney general, warned the White House that "Flynn was susceptible to blackmail by the Russians because he had misled Mr. Pence and other officials". According to a February 14 article by ''The New York Times'', it was unclear why the White House did not react to Yates' warning in early January. There were also questions about how much was known in early January by Bannon, Pence, Spicer, and Trump. Yates was fired on January 30, in an unrelated incident.

On February 20, 2017, Trump named "warrior-scholar deemed an expert in counter insurgency", Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, to replace Flynn as National Security Advisor. Trump overruled McMaster's attempt to replace 30-year-old NSC aide Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a Mike Flynn appointee, with Linda Weissgold, when Bannon and Kushner intervened on Cohen-Watnick's behalf on March 11–12. Cohen-Watnick gathered classified files on intelligence information on U.S. persons.

On January 28, 2017, Trump signed a Memorandum, the Organization of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council which restructured the Principals Committee—the senior policy committee—of the National Security Council, assigning a permanent invitation to Steve Bannon, White House Chief Strategist, while at the same time withdrawing the permanent invitations of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Director of National Intelligence. On April 5, the 75th day of Trump's presidency, under guidance from Army Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, the National Security Advisor who replaced Mike Flynn, Trump removed Bannon, who had no security experience, from the National Security Council's principals committee.

Trump's 36-year-old son-in-law, Jared Kushner was Trump's Senior Advisor alongside Stephen Miller. "In his January interview with the ''Times of London'', Trump said that Kushner would be in charge of brokering peace in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He was also labeled a "top adviser on relations with Canada, China and Mexico". On April 3, Kushner accompanied the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph F. Dunford Jr. and Homeland Security Advisor Thomas P. Bossert to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi "to discuss the fight against the Islamic State and whether the United States would leave troops in Iraq afterward." Trump named Kushner as head of the White House Office of American Innovation, established on March 29 and mandated to use ideas from the private sector to overhaul all federal agencies and departments in order to "spur job creation". One of the OAI's first priorities is to modernize the technology of departments such as Veterans Affairs. In his new position, Kushner will work with Chris Christie, who will chair the newly established "President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis" in response to Trump's pledge to combat opioid abuse.

On January 28, in his eleventh Presidential Memoranda, "Organization of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council", White House Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, was designated as a regular attendee to the National Security Council (NSC)′s Principals Committee, a Cabinet-level senior interagency forum for considering national security issues, in a departure from the previous format in which this role is usually held for generals. While at first there was some confusion over meeting attendees, Priebus clarified on January 30, that defense officials could attend the meetings. On April 5, the 75th day of Trump's presidency, under guidance from Army Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, the National Security Advisor (NSC advisor) who replaced Mike Flynn, Trump removed Bannon, who has no security experience, from the National Security Council's principals committee.

On February 2, ''Time'' published an article about Bannon as potentially, the second most powerful man in the world, illustrated with a cover labeling him as the "Great Manipulator". After only a fortnight into Trump's presidency, ''NPR'' described Bannon as "the power behind the throne" and the " gray eminence behind much of what Trump was prioritizing", rivalling Kushner's and Priebus' roles. Mike Pence affirmed in a ''PBS NewsHour'' report that only Trump was "in charge".

Bannon and Steve Miller have been called the "architects" of the inaugural address, executive orders, including the controversial travel and refugees EO, and presidential memoranda.

In an often-cited October 8, 2015, lengthy profile entitled "This Man Is the Most Dangerous Political Operative in America" by Joshua Green, a senior national correspondent for ''Bloomberg News'', Green described how ''Breitbart News'' with Bannon at its helm, had "championed Trump's presidential candidacy" and helped "coalesce a splinter faction of conservatives" who were irate over the way in which ''Fox News'' had treated Trump. Green quoted then-Senator Jeff Sessions as an admirer of Breitbart, which was "extraordinarily influential", with many radio hosts "reading Breitbart every day". Trump cited ''Breitbart News'' to vindicate his claims.

Stephen Miller, Trump's Senior Advisor, was Jeff Sessions' communications director when he served as Senator for Alabama. Thirty-one-year old Miller, Bannon, and Andrew Bremberg sent over 200 executive orders to federal agencies for review before January 20. Miller has been an architect behind the inaugural address and the most "contentious executive orders" including Executive Order 13769.

In a February 12 interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, when asked to provide evidence "for Trump's "unfounded allegations" where former Senator Kelly Ayotte lost her bid for election, and Trump narrowly lost to Clinton in 2016, Miller suggested Stephanopoulos interview Kansas Senator, Kris Kobach, who relied upon a 2012 Pew Research Center study in his voter fraud claims. The day before the interview a Federal Election Commission Commissioner called on Trump to provide evidence of what would "constitute thousands of felony criminal offenses under New Hampshire law."

Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs investment banker and executive, took office on January 20, as Trump's Director of the National Economic Council, (NEC), a position which did not require Congressional confirmation, By February 11, 2017, ''The Wall Street Journal'' described Cohn as an "economic-policy powerhouse" in Trump's administration and ''The New York Times'' called him Trump's "go-to figure on matters related to jobs, business and growth." While the confirmation of Trump's December 12, 2016, nominee for Secretary of Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, was delayed until February 13 by Congressional hearings, Cohn filled in the "personnel vacuum" and pushed "ahead on taxes, infrastructure, financial regulation and replacing health-care law." In November, Trump considered offering Cohn the position as Secretary of Treasury. If Cohn had stayed at Goldman Sachs, some believed he would have become CEO when Lloyd Blankfein vacated that office and his $285 million severance package "raised eyebrows" according to CNN. Bannon and Cohn disagree on the border-adjustment tax, the centerpiece of Paul Ryan's controversial tax reforms presented on February 17, which includes a 20% import tax, export subsidies and a 15% reduction in corporate tax rates that would, among other things, pay for the Mexican wall, which according to a ''The Washington Post'' study, would cost $25 billion and which Trump stated would cost $12 billion.

Domestic policy

United States Domestic Policy Council

The Domestic Policy Council (DPC) consists of Trump and Andrew Bremberg as Directors with Paul Winfree as Deputy Assistant. Council attendees include Mike Pence, Jeff Sessions, Tom Price, John F. Kelly, David Shulkin, Ryan Zinke, Betsy DeVos, Ben Carson, Elaine Chao, Wilbur Ross, Rick Perry, Steven Mnuchin, and—when appointed—the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Agriculture. Additional attendees include Scott Pruitt, Mick Mulvaney (Director of the Office of Management and Budget), Gary Cohn, and—when appointed—the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The Congressional Research Service describes DPC's role as analyses of domestic policies and social programs including "education, labor and worker safety; health-care insurance and financing; health services and research; aging policy studies; Social Security, pensions and disability insurance; immigration, homeland security, domestic intelligence and criminal justice; and welfare, nutrition and housing programs."

Withdrawal of the Affordable Care Act

Within the first hours of Trump's presidency, he signed his first executive order, Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal (EO 13765) to fulfill part of his pledge to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was part of a series of steps taken prior to 2017 to repeal and defund the ACA, including most recently, the FY2017 budget resolution, S.Con.Res. 3, that contained language allowing the repeal of ACA through the budget reconciliation process. A CBO report estimated 18 million people would lose their insurance and premiums would rise by 20% to 25% in the first year after repealing Obamacare. Uninsured could reach 32 million by 2026, while premiums could double. The order states what Trump made clear during his campaign: that it is his administration's policy to seek the "prompt repeal" of Obamacare. During his Fox News interview with Bill O'Reilly airing before the Super Bowl, Trump announced that the timeline for replacing Obamacare had to be extended and that a replacement would probably not be ready until 2018. Republicans are limited as to how much of ACA they can undo as they do not have a 60-vote majority in the Senate. They also "must balance the interests of insurers and medical providers". According to the March 13, 2017, report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) on the budgetary impact of the Republican bill to repeal and replace ACA over the coming decade, there would be a $337 billion reduction in the federal deficit and an estimated loss of coverage to 24 million more Americans. The Republican health-care plan was unveiled on March6 and faced opposition from both moderate and conservative Republicans, such as the House Freedom Caucus. The American Health Care Act of 2017 (AHCA), a bill to repeal and replace the ACA, was withdrawn in Congress on March 24, 2017, due to lack of support from within the Republican caucus.

Immigration policy

In his first 100 days, President Trump signed executive orders to set in motion travel bans and restrictions on refugees and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, increased immigration enforcement including deportations, and expanded efforts to prevent illegal entry into the United States by building a wall along the Mexico–United States border. While the numbers of people deported were very similar to those in 2016, the categories of people targeted for deportations was broadened during this period, which meant that many more people are at a heightened risk of deportation. Secretary Kelly clarified that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement." By April 3, according to ICE, there had been 35,604 removals in January and February 2017 compared to 35,255 in the same period in 2016. But the "tough rhetoric" and some "high-profile Ice operations" widely cited in the media resulted in widespread fear and panic within immigrant communities.

In an AP April 20 interview, Trump said that, "The dreamers should rest easy". There are 800,000 young people protected by Obama's "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" (DREAMERS) who came to the U.S. as children and are living there illegally. Some of these "dreamers" in interviews with The Associated Press on April 21, said they "were not comforted by Trump's pledge" particularly since the April 18 deportation of 23-year-old "dreamer", Juan Manuel Montes. Trump supporters who are "immigration hard-liners", such as NumbersUSA

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