100-day record of Donald Trump’s imagination is a far cry from the reality

Douglas Paal says making so much of what he would achieve in his first 100 days in office has turned out to be an embarrassing mistake for the US president

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Douglas Paal says making so much of what he would achieve in his first 100 days in office has turned out to be an embarrassing mistake for the US president

Douglas H. Paal

Published: 5:20pm, 27 Apr 2017Updated: 7:17pm, 27 Apr 2017

The promised efficiency of an experienced businessman has morphed into awkward amateurism. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Dates legally set for elections are real and must be observed. “Hundred-day reviews” are artificial and offer only limited insight into the new Trump administration, which will reach the milestone, however arbitrary, on Saturday.

This would normally blow over as but a blip in the media cycle, but for two things that should be somewhat embarrassing now. When campaigning for the US presidency, Donald Trump made a lot of what he would accomplish in his first 100 days, some of which he has done, and some conspicuously not done, such as naming China a currency manipulator on day one. The promised efficiency of an experienced businessman has morphed into awkward amateurism.

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Second, despite desperate repetition that he is driving the agenda with the priorities he laid out in his campaign, he is plainly falling way behind schedule in the key function that will give his disruptive agenda a chance: staffing his administration with a range of competent and knowledgeable officials.

Trump boldly invited Chinese President Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) for an early visit to the US to tackle two of his proclaimed priorities: reducing the bilateral trade deficit and “solving” the North Korean nuclear challenge. The two leaders then set another 100-day deadline to make progress on myriad trade, economic and other challenges.

US National Economic Council director Gary Cohn (left) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin end their briefing after unveiling the Trump administration’s tax reform proposal in the White House on Wednesday. Donald Trump is plainly falling way behind schedule in staffing his administration with a range of competent and knowledgeable officials. Photo: Reuters

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But who will do the necessary work in those 100 days? There are literally only a handful of nominees in the confirmation pipeline, which itself usually takes months, to serve in thousands of policy positions subordinate to the concerned cabinet officers. The top cabinet members have worldwide responsibilities and demanding schedules and cannot be expected to do competent detailed negotiations.