As of this writing, Donald Trump has been the 45th President of the United States for 226 days, 22 hours, 56 minutes and 22 seconds. Not exactly an eternity but certainly long enough assess his first one-hundred-day contract with the electorate to Make America Great Again.
So just how is the president doing? Let’s begin by charting his progress on his first six items specifically listed to dredge The Swamp:
★ FIRST, propose a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.
It turns out that it was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis who introduced this constitutional amendment the first week of January – even before Trump took the oath of office.
Their plan would limit Senators to 12 years total and Congressmen to three terms or six years total. Unsurprisingly this has hit the legislative graveyard. Gaining traction for a constitutional amendment is a notoriously heavy lift. First, you need a two-thirds vote from the Senate and House. Then it goes onto state legislatures where 38 of them must approve before ratification to the U.S. Constitution. And all this just to vote themselves out of a job? Let’s just say this doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon. We’ll have to give Trump a zero on this one.
Moving on…
★ SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health).
Just a few days after taking office – January 23rd to be exact – President Trump signed an executive order freezing all federal jobs with the exemptions as promised. “The order directs that no vacant positions can be filled, or new positions created unless an agency head deems the position necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities," according to a report from The Hill. The president gets a point for this one.
★ THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.
On January 30th Mr. Trump made good on this promise and signed an executive order to this effect. This EO was designed to give small businesses a lane to get cracking in an effort to boost the economy. Score another point for The Donald.
★ FOURTH, a five-year ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.
With yet another executive order, the president set forth this ban – but with a caveat. The new ethics rules do apply to White House staff but do not for Congressional officials. This is essentially because he can’t mandate Congress to abide by his EO – they have to do that themselves. In 2017,
the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act was signed. This means there is a two-year hold for Senators and one year for members of Congress wanting to turn in their legislator’s hat for that of a lobbyist. Trump did all within his power that he could do to get this job done, so we’ll give him a point.
★ FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
This is a promise kept by the president under the very same EO as for item number four listed above.
The fourth pledge in section 1 reads:
I will not, at any time after the termination of my employment in the United States Government, engage in any activity on behalf of any foreign government or foreign political party which, were it undertaken on January 20, 2017, would require me to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended.
Another point for the big man in the Oval Office.
★ SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.
Thus far, the Trump Administration has no recorded action regarding this sixth promise. Considering the president said he would accomplish these items in his first 100 days, we will have to give him a zero here.
All in all, Liberty Nation gives the president four points out of six for the first half-dozen items listed regarding his Make America Great Again contract. Stay tuned as LN continues to assess the President’s performance. After all, once in office, it is incumbent upon the president to walk the walk and not merely talk the talk.
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