Time for a Pants On Fire Reality Check! The white house has released “President Trump’s 100 Days of Historic Accomplishments.” Historic. Right. I suppose “President Trump’s 100 Days of Abysmal Failure” didn’t go over well. As usual, the press release is “alternative fact” based, and has little to do with reality in any way, shape or form.
The release sorts Trump’s accomplishments into three categories. Front and center is a section entitled “TAKING EXECUTIVE ACTION” that touts the 30 executive orders Trump has signed in hist first 100 days — a total the White House says is higher “than any other President since Franklin Roosevelt.”
There are two big problems with that claim, however.
First, it’s false. As historian Peter A. Shulman explained, the White House is overlooking executive orders not included in the American Presidency Project, the non-comprehensive source the Trump administration appears to have used to tally the number of executive orders signed by previous presidents.
When executive orders not included in the American Presidency Project are included, FDR’s total actually dwarfs Trump.
FDR signed 99 of them. That’s considerably more than 30, but this isn’t a bloody contest, in spite of the Tiny Tyrant’s trying to make this all about ratings too. Fucking idiot.
…Besides those inaccuracies, it’s odd that Trump would tout EOs as an accomplishment, since he repeatedly criticized President Obama for signing them. In December 2015, candidate Trump blasted Obama’s EOs and characterized them as the last resort of presidents who can’t work with Congress.
“I don’t think he even tries anymore. I think he just signs executive actions,” Trump said of Obama. “That’s the way the system is supposed to work. And then all of a sudden, I hear he tried, he can’t do it, and then, boom, and then another one, boom.”
Trump also blasted Obama’s executive orders in 2012, tweeting that they represent “major power grabs of authority.”
[…]
There’s also the question of how much credit Trump should take for signing executive orders that in some cases he seems to be barely familiar with. For instance, during a signing ceremony for an executive order on agriculture on Tuesday, Trump, reading off a sheet of paper, said, “So this is promoting agriculture and rural prosperity in America. And now there’s a lot of words, I won’t bother reading everything, but agriculture and rural prosperity in America — that’s what we want.”
And that alone rather neatly sums up the Idiot Unpresident. “I don’t have the slightest idea of what I’m doing, and I’m not going to *gasp* read, but it must be good, because I’m going to sign it, and someone said…”
Oh gods. Just not enough facepalm in the universe. Not enough. Think Progress has the full reality check.
There’s a real conflict here between the first bit (“Look at all regulation we’re getting rid of! Isn’t it great?”) and the second and third bits (“Look at all the new EOs I’ve signed and new legislation we’re bringing in! Isn’t it great?”). I mean, yeah, trying to measure government by the pound is fucking stupid anyway, but if you’re going to do that, you can’t simultaneously claim that getting rid of [x] pounds of government is good, and that creating [y] pounds of new government is also good.
I am surprised Trump isn’t listing “made art with my poop on the refrigerator door” as an accomplishment.
Pretty tired of winning, here. Ready for greatness.