The Note: Trump marks a milestone

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April 28, 2017

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Trump marks a milestone

The big story

We might go to war. We could have a government shutdown. (These things President Trump admits.) We won't get votes on a health care bill or tax reform. (These things he can no longer deny.) The first 100 days of the Trump presidency almost couldn't end more predictably, amid brinksmanship at home and abroad, flip-flops and reversals, warnings and threats, a fresh Russia investigation, and a president who still has electoral maps at close hand in the Oval Office. "This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier," the president told Reuters in an interview marking the opening phase of his presidency. It certainly hasn't been quieter, and the 100 days is exploding to a close, rather than winding down. Trump has continued a pattern of dealing with conflagrations by tossing more fuel on various fires – through action and words. Consequently, Day 100 looks less like an opportunity to step back for reflection than a point from which events could spiral in virtually any direction.

The sleeper story

Quick – who's excited about the Republicans' health care bill? Hint: It's not Republicans. House leaders' decision to delay a vote on their modified legislation is an acknowledgement of political realities, since they just don't have the votes. But it also puts off a day that a growing number of Republicans view with dread, as House members are being asked to be put on record on a flatly unpopular bill that almost certainly won't become law even if it passes the House. "It's going to be doo-doo stuck to their shoe for a long time to come," as House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi put it, stinkily. House Speaker Paul Ryan is framing it as most important that members of Congress keep their word to repeal and replace: "If you commit the sin of hypocrisy in politics, that's the greater risk, I think, to a person's seat." But what about the vows to protect those with preexisting conditions? To provide affordable health care for everyone? It just might be that Republicans were better off with a failed health care bill than with a lingering one.

The shiny story

Michael Flynn is many, many things to this White House. He is also now … President Obama's fault? The audacious bit of spin from the Trump team – that Obama administration officials should have caught Flynn's potentially improper activities, and deserve some culpability because they renewed his security clearances – is a novel argument, and one that can't win more than half a news cycle. For a refresher: Flynn was dismissed by the Obama administration back in 2014. He was gone from public life until Donald Trump brought him back – first as a campaign adviser and then as his National Security Adviser in the White House. If Trump wants credit for firing him, it has to come with the caveat that he was the one who hired him. It also deserves at least a footnote reminding people that the president blamed the "fake media" for forcing Flynn out. As for the vetting process, it's hard to determine what's worse between the possibilities - that the Trump team didn't know about Flynn's ties to foreign governments, or knew and didn't care.