Donald Trump’s First Hundred Days… From the Art of the Deal to the Art of the “Shpiel”
on Wednesday, April 26, 2017
A Critical Look at the First One-Hundred Days of Donald Trump
By Scott Michael Rohter, April 2017
Not many people supported Donald Trump more than I did. My article Born Near the USA, but Not Near Enough to be President of the USA received more than 22,000 views on Facebook during the Republican Primary and it helped Donald Trump defeat Ted Cruz and win the Republican nomination. Not many political pundits ever get that many views on one of their articles. My song, Born Near the USA is a parody of the Bruce Springsteen tune BORN IN THE USA . It has been heard by almost ten thousand people on YouTube. I wrote and recorded it at my own expense during the 2016 Republican Primary so I have earned the right to criticize the man I supported for President.
I have the right to criticize Donald Trump when he is wrong. We all do. If we don’t criticize him when he is wrong then how will is he going to know when he is wrong? If conservatives can’t hold him accountable then how can we ever get him to keep any of the promises he made during the campaign? The President listens to Democrats whenever they criticize him, and that is precisely what worries me. The squeaky wheel is usually the one that gets greased. Conservatives aren’t making much noise right now so we are not being noticed.
We not only have the right to criticize the President … It is our solemn responsibility to criticize him when he is wrong. That is how our representative republic works. The country isn’t going to fall apart because we offer some constructive criticism of the man we supported for President.
Donald Trump can take a little healthy criticism from his friends. I am far more worried about the criticism he receives from his enemies than I am about the criticism he receives from his friends. Too many of his supporters feel like if they criticize him, they are betraying him. On the contrary if they don’t criticize him they enabling him to make mistakes..
Attacking Syria without a Congressional Declaration of War as President Trump did doesn’t put America first and it doesn’t make America great again.
The first hundred days of Donald Trump’s Presidency has been a rather mixed bag so far. It is true that he did keep his promise to appoint a constitutional conservative to the Supreme Court and hopefully Neil Gorsuch will not disappoint us like John Roberts did, but the fact that he was confirmed probably had a lot more to do with Mitch McConnell than it did with Donald Trump. Appointing Elaine Chou to be the Secretary of Transportation didn’t hurt. It was one of the smartest moves Donald Trump has made as President, but let’s wait and see how Gorsuch actually rules on some cases first before we rush to lionize the guy.. He could actually turn out to be another John Roberts.
There are a lot of other things that concern me more than Neil Gorsuch right now and they should concern you too. During the campaign candidate Trump promised to put America first, but since his election he has been putting just about everything else first except America. He has put attacking Syria first. He has put dealing with the little dictator in North Korea first. Neither of these two countries poses a real threat to the United States of America.
He has put taking in 1200 unwanted Muslim refugees from Australia first. How does that make America great again? He has put the war in Syria ahead of the war on the Constitution, and ahead of the war on States rights. He has put the war in Syria ahead of the Justice Department’s war on the family of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. The Bundy’s are still languishing behind bars waiting for their trial. Ammon and Ryan were placed in solitary confinement for over a month. Donald Trump fired fifty United States Attorneys but he refused to fire the one United States Attorney from the District of Oregon who is responsible for prosecuting Ammon and Ryan Bundy.
Donald Trump is putting Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese interests all ahead of American interests. That is contrary to what he said he would do… North Korea has been trying to develop its nuclear capabilities for a long time… It poses more of a threat to Japan and South Korea than it does to the United States. Although we have 50,000 troops stationed in South Korea, so far the little dictator in the North hasn’t done anything to actually threaten any of them. The problem he poses doesn’t rise to the level of a war with Russia and China over his nuclear ambitions so I think he can just take a number and wait in line. America comes first. At least that is what I thought when I voted for Donald Trump.
The deal that Barack Obama made with Australia which President Trump just agreed to honor (contrary to what he said during the campaign) was to take in 1200 Muslim refugees which the Australian government does not want. It is a bad deal for America. How does taking in 1200 potential terrorist threats make America great again? If that is the price of Australia’s friendship then President Trump should tell them to find another patsy.
What has happened to Donald Trump? The great deal maker who criticized all of the bad deals made by former Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama seems to have lost his ability to tell a good deal from a bad deal. It looks to me like Donald Trump has become a great shpiel maker instead of a great deal maker.
Here is just a partial record of Donald Trump’s first hundred days in office:
Before Donald Trump became President he said that NATO was obsolete. Now he says that NATO is not obsolete.
Before he became President Donald Trump said that it would be a good thing if the United States and Russia could work together to eradicate ISIS. He said that it was not our job to tell the Syrians who their President should be, but after he became President he attacked a Syrian government Air Force Base and sent his Secretary of State to Moscow to talk tough to the Russians. Now he says that Assad must go. Before the election he said that he would not push for regime change in Syria. Now he is pushing for regime change in Syria. Instead of repairing our frayed relationship with Russia our relations with Russia are at an all-time low. That is the conclusion of both the Russian Prime Minister, Dimitry Medvedev and senior members of the Trump Administration.
Before he became President Donald Trump promised to repeal ObamaCare. It was going to be his top priority, but his unwillingness to listen to conservatives in his own Party, and Paul Ryan’s inability to work together with members of the House Republican Freedom Caucus has resulted in absolutely nothing getting done in the first hundred days. Trump is probably the main reason for that… the main reason that his own effort to repeal ObamaCare did not have the necessary votes to pass Congress.
Before he became President Donald Trump tried to curry favor with conservatives, but since he became President he has attacked members of the House Republican Freedom Caucus and blamed them for the failure to repeal ObamaCare.
Before he became President Donald Trump talked tough to members of the Democratic Party. That included Hillary Clinton to whom he said during one Presidential Debate that, “If I were President you would be in jail.” That was good political theatre, but it is obvious that he didn’t actually mean what he said. She is not in jail… She is not even being investigated. He has dropped any plans to investigate her and prosecute her. How many other campaign promises did he make that he has absolutely no intention of keeping? I am beginning to wonder, but I don’t want to find out. That’s why we should be criticizing him. If he listens to criticism from his enemies and his supporters don’t start criticize him when he is wrong what do you think we are going to wind up with?
His latest executive order to withhold federal funds from so called sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with federal immigration officials has also been blocked by another federal district judge just like his travel ban. When did the United States of America become a judicial tyranny? Instead of telling the judge to pound sand and enforce his own damn order I expect that “Flipper” will just cave again to Democrat pressure and perform exactly as expected.
While he talked tough to Democrats during the campaign, after the election was over he has caved time and time again to pressure from the Left. He fired General Kelly to appease the Democrats. They were just furious that a Democrat was one of Trumps key foreign policy advisors during the campaign and helped him get elected.
Donald Trump caved to pressure from liberal judges and decided not to implement his travel ban while it works its way up through the court system. He removed Steve Bannon from the National Security Council. The Left is out to get just about everyone in the Trump Administration. They went after Kelly Ann Conway for her remark about buying Ivanka’s merchandise when some national department store chains dropped her line of clothing.. They want Ivanka to divest herself of her fashion clothing business in order to remain on as a key advisor to her father… They are now targeting another top advisor to the President, Dr. Sebastian Gorka. Every time Donald Trump yields to pressure from the Left and throws them a bone they want another one. They will not stop until they destroy his Presidency. Everything they are doing is just an attempt to retake the House and the Senate in 2018. This is just the opening salvo in the midterm elections.
During the Primary Donald Trump referred to Marco Rubio as a “choke artist”, but it looks to me like Donald Trump is the real choke artist. I think he should stop acting like a lamb and start acting more like a lion here at home instead of abroad.. America’s real problems are not overseas. They are right here at home.