As we approach Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, we are seeing competing narratives. The president and his fan base in the right wing media are pretending that he has made historic accomplishments. In the reality-based world, the consensus is that he has done almost nothing.
Both of those narratives involve the kind of metric we normally use to evaluate presidencies. If this one has been anything, it’s unprecedented. Using an alternative metric – the number of face-plants, falsehoods, flip-flops, etc, – there is no question that Donald Trump and his aides have brought us at least 100 horrors in the last 100 days. We thought that was worth documenting.
1. Gave a dystopian inaugural address that has been titled “American Carnage.”
2. Insisted on a special press conference (the first of his presidency) to claim that his inaugural crowd was the largest in history, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
3. Scrubbed the White House web site of pages related to LGBT rights, civil rights, climate change and health care on the first day.
4. Counselor Kellyanne Conway attempted to justify White House lies about the size of the inaugural crowd by calling them “alternative facts.”
5. Chose the former executive chair of Breitbart News and white nationalist Steve Bannon to be his Senior Counselor and Chief Strategist.
6. Signed an executive order reorganizing the National Security Council, giving Bannon a seat on the “principals committee” while downgrading the roles of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence. After appointing H. R. McMaster as National Security Advisor, this executive order was reversed.
7. Issued a travel ban that was incompetently administered, leading to chaos.
8. Repeatedly claimed that 3-4 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election.
9. Authorized a raid in Yemen in which “everything that could go wrong did.” While the al Qaeda leader who was the target was neither captured nor killed, it resulted in the death of a Navy Seal and dozens of civilians, many of whom were children.
10. Said that the media is the opposition party and tweeted that the press is the enemy of the people.
11. Hired Sebastian Gorka to be his top counter-terrorism aide – a man with long-standing ties to a Hungarian group that the State Department labeled as having been “under the direction of the Nazi Government of Germany” during World War II.
12. Nominated Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General – a man that the Senate had previously determined was too racist to serve as a federal judge.
13. Nominated Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education – a billionaire heiress with no experience or training in public education who has focused on advocacy for charter schools and vouchers.
14. Nominated Scott Pruitt to be the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency – an Oklahoma politician who rejects the scientific consensus on climate change and has been described as a leading advocate against the EPA’s agenda.
15. Nominated Rick Perry to be Secretary of Energy – a former Governor of Texas who promised to eliminate the Department of Energy while campaigning for president in 2012. As recently as last fall, Perry had no idea that the Department’s main job involves overseeing the federal government’s nuclear labs and programs.
16. Nominated Ben Carson to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – a neurosurgeon with no training or professional experience in affordable housing. Carson once referred to HUD activities as “failed socialist experiments.
17. Nominated a cabinet that is the richest in American history, with a higher net worth than the combined net worth of one-third of Americans.
18. Gave a speech at CIA headquarters in front of the Memorial Wall that focused on bragging about his electoral victory and the size of the crowd at his inauguration.
19. Refused to release his tax returns.
20. Refused to divest himself of his business interests, setting up what has been referred to as a “half-blind trust” in which his sons will manage his business interests and report to him quarterly.
21. Got angry on a phone call with the Mexican president and threatened to send U.S. troops to stop the “bad hombres” down there.
22. Lost his temper on a phone call with the Australian Prime Minister over a refugee program and hung up on him.
23. Issued a statement recognizing Holocaust Memorial Day that didn’t mention Jews.
24. At the National Prayer Breakfast, asked the audience to pray for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ratings on the Apprentice.
25. Took credit for cost reductions for the F-35 at Lockheed Martin when industry professionals credit them to efficiencies that were developed over time.
26. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the travel ban.
27. Referred to the judge who halted his travel ban as a “so-called judge” on twitter and said that he would be to blame if there was a terrorist attack.
28. Counselor Kellyanne Conway made up a fictional “Bowling Green massacre” to justify the travel ban.
29. Fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates for refusing to defend the travel ban.
30. During a speech at U.S. Centcom, claimed that the “dishonest press” doesn’t want to report on terrorism.
31. Claimed that he is a “smart person” and doesn’t need an intelligence briefing every day.
32. When Ivanka Trump’s merchandise was pulled from some department stores, Kelllyanne Conway encouraged everyone to “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff” on Fox News.
33. Called Michael Flynn in the middle of the night to ask whether a strong dollar was good or bad for the economy.
34. In his Super Bowl interview with O’Reilly, said that he respected Putin. When asked about the fact that he is a killer, said “We have a lot of killers. Our country isn’t so innocent.”
35. Had to put Vladimir Putin on hold while he received a briefing on the New START treaty.
36. During a lunch with Senators, talked about the need for compromise on immigration reform, but had to be informed about the fact that the “Gang of Eight” bipartisan bill had passed the Senate in 2013.
37. National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigned after current and former U.S. officials revealed that he lied about talking to the Russian Ambassador during the transition about lifting sanctions.
38. After being informed that North Korea had tested a ballistic missile, held a security briefing in front of guests at Mar-a-Lago.
39. In his first and only solo press conference, repeatedly lied and berated the press – leading many to label his behavior as “unhinged.”
40. At a campaign-style speech in Florida, referred to a terror attack in Sweden the night before that didn’t happen.
41. After watching a Fox News segment, sent out a tweet threatening to “send the feds” into Chicago to deal with crime – a threat that hasn’t (as of yet) been acted upon.
42. Referred to his deportation efforts as a “military operation.”
43. Reversed the Obama Justice Department’s order which phased out the government’s use of private prisons.
44. A week before Flynn resigned, Michael Cohn (Trump’s personal lawyer) hand-delivered a sealed proposal to him that came from a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and a Russian mob-connected former employee of the Trump Organization named Felix Sater that contained both damaging information on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and a Russian-Ukrainian “peace plan” that they hoped would facilitate the lifting of sanctions on Russia.
45. Released a budget that cut both EPA and State Department funding by 1/3 as well as decimating domestic programs in order to make a downpayment on his border wall and increase military spending.
46. Defense Secretary James Mattis has to talk the president out of using torture and assure Iraqis that we will not seize their oil – both of which would be war crimes.
47. Said, “Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.”
48. Employed a management style that created an atmosphere of tension, rivalries and backstabbing among White House staff that is often referred to as a “Game of Thrones.”
49. Repeatedly took credit when corporations announced U.S. jobs plans that predate his presidency (see: Toyota, Charter Communications, Sprint, SoftBank, Intel, Walmart, General Motors, etc.)
50. Justice Department officials revealed that Sessions met with the Russian ambassador on two occasions during the campaign and therefore lied during his confirmation hearing. In response, the Attorney General recused himself from the Russian probe.
51. In a fury over Sessions’ recusal, tweeted that Obama had “wire tapped” his phones during the campaign and compared it to McCarthyism and Watergate.
52. Accused Obama of wire tapping him without knowing the process for getting a FISA warrant.
53. Mobilized the White House to retroactively search for evidence to back up his lie about being wire tapped by Obama.
54. After February’s BLS report citing 235,000 jobs added, Spicer said the president told him to point out that such reports had been phony in the past, but are very real now.
55. Helped build a hotel in Azerbaijan that appears to be a corrupt operation engineered by oligarchs tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
56. The Trump Organization received approval from China for 38 new trademarks.
57. Put son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has no government experience, in charge of forging peace between Israel and Palestine, steering relations with China and Mexico, reorganizing government, managing changes to the VA, criminal justice reform, and the fight against opioid abuse.
58. Issued a second travel ban, which was also blocked in the courts.
59. The Associated Press reported that Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, had been paid millions of dollars by a Russian oligarch to promote Russian interests.
60. Promised that no one would lose health coverage under Obamacare repeal.
61. After the Republican plan to repeal/replace Obamacare (AHCA) was revealed, negotiated with House Freedom Caucus members to make even more extreme.
62. Lobbied for AHCA after CBO determined it would lead to 24 million people losing their insurance and increased premiums, especially for the 50-65 year-old demographic.
63. Failed to garner enough Republican support in the House to pass AHCA.
64. Without replacements, fired 46 U.S. attorneys with no advance notice.
65. Claimed that Obama had used British intelligence to spy on him during the campaign.
66. Refused to shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand and then suggested that they had both been spied on by the previous administration.
67. At a House Intelligence Committee hearing, FBI Director James Comey announced publicly that Trump associates are under investigation to determine whether or not they colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
68. Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers said there was no evidence that the Obama administration had spied on Trump or that British intelligence had been asked to do so.
69. White House aid Ezra Cohen Warnick summoned Rep. Devin Nunes (Chair if the House Intelligence Committee) to a clandestine meeting at the White House in which he shared intelligence documents suggesting that the communications of Trump associates had been inadvertently collected.
70. Nunes announced what he’d seen to the press without consulting with other members of the Intelligence Committee.
71. Later, during an interview with TIME, the president said that his claims about being wire tapped by Obama had been vindicated.
72. Blamed former National Security Advisor Susan Rice for unmasking the names of Trump associates in surveillance reports and suggested that her actions might have been criminal.
73. After reviewing the intelligence documents Cohen Warnick shared with Nunes, members of the House Intelligence Committee (both Republican and Democrat) said that Rice did nothing illegal or even unethical.
74. Federal court documents reveal that former foreign policy advisor Carter Page had been recruited by Russian intelligence operatives in 2013.
75. A group whose chair founded the company that paid Michael Flynn for lobbying work on behalf of the Turkish government announced that it will host a three-day event at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. this spring.
76. The judge he critiqued for his “Mexican heritage” signed off on the settlement of a law suit against Trump University for $25 million.
77. Both the Secretary of State and the UN Ambassador stated that getting rid of Bashar al-Assad was not a priority for this administration in Syria.
78. A few days later, Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, something he hadn’t done since 2013.
79. After having denounced his predecessor for considering the use of military force in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons in 2013, ordered the bombing of an airfield in Syria.
80. In referring to Assad, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that “even Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons against his own people.” Spicer later apologized for making a comparison to a man who gassed millions of his own people in concentration camps.
81. A bombing raid in Mosul killed up to 200 civilians.
82. On the same day that she dined with President Xi at Mar-a-Lago, Ivanka Trump received approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks.
83. After flipping on his campaign rhetoric about NATO, said that he hadn’t known much about the alliance when he said that it was obsolete.
84. Flipped his campaign position on China being a currency manipulator and claimed they quit doing so because he was president, even though China ceased their currency manipulation two years ago.
85. Flipped his campaign position on the possibility of re-appointing Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve Chair.
86. A U.S. drone attack in Syria killed at least 18 members of an allied force.
87. U.S., European, and Arab officials report that prior to the inauguration, Erik Prince – founder of Blackwater and brother of Betsy DeVoss – held a secret meeting with a Russian close to Vladimir Putin in order to set up a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and the Trump administration.
88. Trump’s OMB Director Mulvaney said, “We are not spending money on climate change anymore. We view it as a waste of your money.”
89. Energy Department climate office bans the use of the words “climate change.”
90. Staffed the White House and federal agencies with former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who in many cases are helping to craft policies for the same industries in which they used to work.
91. Cut off public access to visitor logs revealing who is entering the White House complex and which officials they are meeting.
92. Continued to claim that ICE would focus deportation activities on violent criminals, even as immigration arrests rose 32.6 percent, including thousands of undocumented immigrants who have been otherwise law-abiding.
93. As tensions rose with North Korea, announced that the U.S. was sending “an armada” into the Sea of Japan as a powerful deterrent. But the ships were actually sailing in the opposite direction towards the Indian Ocean.
94. Said that Marie Le Pen (far right anti-semitic presidential candidate) was “the strongest on what’s been going on in France,” a remark that was taken as an endorsement of her candidacy in France.
95. Failed to pass even one of the 10 legislative items listed in his 100-day Contract With the American Voter.
96. When asked whether he should be held accountable for his 100-day Contract With the American Voter, waffled and said, “Somebody put out the concept of a 100-day plan.”
97. Continued to claim that Mexico will pay for the border wall while attempting to get Congress to authorize the funds.
98. At a luncheon with ambassadors to the United Nations Security Council, called the UN an “underperformer.”
99. A federal judge blocked the executive order on pulling federal funding from so-called “sanctuary cities.”
100. Hasn’t announced a nominee for 493 of 530 positions that require Senate confirmation.
