President Trump, What Have You Done for Us Lately?

Just shy of 100 days in office Donald Trump has offered America a bill of goods worth less than a hill of beans. He has not been able to fulfill one campaign promise but he is big on placing blame as he continues to throw a ball and hide his hand.

He ran his campaign on empty promises, over exaggerated slogans and inflammatory mottos about his opponents. And now he is holding on to the fringes of the White House as he makes a desperate attempt to gain leverage within Washington by employing his daughter, Ivanka Trump, as his savior and advocate.

Make America Great Again

“Make America Great Again” might just be the infamous motto that landed Trump in the White House. He touted this verbiage around the country like dirty laundry. However; every time his supporters heard this call to action they cheered him on like a circus clown. The emptiness of his mantras would eventually reveal a man without a vision, without a thought-out plan, and without sound doctrine. Having no political experience was only the beginning of his undoing.

Trump surrounded himself with others of his same nature: Wealthy, uninformed, wavering, and power hungry—very American indeed. Not paying attention to the character flaws of those around him caused him dearly. He had to accept the resignation of Michael Flynn, his National Security Adviser, after Flynn lied to his Vice President; and his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, recused himself from a major investigation for possibly lying to the Senate Committee--all the while Trump publically call these men great and asserted that they had been falsely accused, according to Chris Matthews from MSNBC.

On the campaign trail Trump’s braggadocios style made his arrogance and self-centered demeanor a classic case of demagoguery. The art of his deal was apparently to deal from the bottom of the deck. In his appeal to “Make American Great Again”, he sought to discredit a couple of major institutions; namely the media and the intelligence agency. As time would reveal, he had more confidence in Vladimir Putin than in American Intelligence, and his bid to wage war against the media placed his Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, in league with the village idiot. Spicer appears not to have one original thought, as he unconvincingly regurgitates whatever lie Trump tells him to relate.

Embattled and beaten by his own ineptness Trump leads the American Presidency with the most failed policies during the first few months in office. His travel ban which was instituted to make America great again, was struck down by federal court judges and gave way to one of the largest protests in the history of an early Presidency. Still, Trump vows to fight the courts over the travel ban while fighting the media, the Republican and Democratic Parties, the intelligence community, and possibly North Korea.

Repeal and Replace What?

For two years Trump vowed to repeal and replace Obamacare (actually it is the Affordable Care Act). He chanted this slogan from sea to shiny sea. He guaranteed that this repeal and replacement would come, possibly, on his first day in office. Yet, two weeks before the Affordable Care Act was to be voted on, Trump exclaimed, “Who knew health care could be so complicated?” Spoiler alert: I think everyone knew but Trump. To Trump’s displeasure, during a very brief press conference, the Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, had to dub Obamacare as the law of the land after Trump could not repeal and replace.

On to the Wall and Other Insults

Trump: “Who will build the wall?” Crowd: “Mexico will build the wall”. Unfortunately, this situation was another setback for Trump. Mexico will not build the wall. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. The Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto decided not to come to America to the White House for a visit after Trump and Nieto had an other than friendly telephone conversation. The topic of the conversation centered on the wall that Mexico is not going to build. Shortly after this conversation he had another not so friendly conversation with the prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull. This conversation centered on illegal immigrants and Trump’s dissatisfaction with Turnbull’s position on a Syrian refugee ban. A number of leaks from White House aids supports the latter and Karl Rove, a former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday that, "President Trump’s aides have been leaking on each other for weeks.”

Trump’s conduct towards women will not make it to the top of Miss Manner’s appropriate behavior list. German Chancellor Angela Merkel came across the world to meet with Trump and during a photo-op in the Oval Office, President Trump refused to shake Merkel’s hand after the press core suggested shaking one another’s hands for the camera. This discord was seen on national television as Merkel shifted towards Trump to oblige the press but Trump sat unmoved and non-accommodating. Merkel’s expression was one of disbelief and embarrassment. According to a CNN article by Stephen Collinson, "He did not look at Merkel when asked to shake hands by reporters and photographers. Trump remained stationary".

Trump tweeted that President Obama wiretapped his telephones at Trump Tower during the election process. Most of the country sat bewildered as national television broadcasted this, yet another, political oddity. This tweet set off a fire-storm of “who done it”? Trump’s claims against Obama put Trump’s office in a very precarious position and unfortunately furthered allegations of Russia and Trump being in bed with one another. The trail of “who done it” has not grown cold and each day brings a new spark to the fire of doubt and disarray in the Trump administration. On March 18, 2017 CNN revealed that the Senate Intelligence committees found no evidence to support Trump's allegations, but the Russian investigation is still ongoing.

Trump is not in the business of helping America, he is in the business of helping himself and his cronies. He is guarded and noncommittal regarding his investments, be it with Russia or China. Soon he will sign an Executive Order to defund Planned Parenthood, slash Medicaid, and close public schools in lieu of vouchers and for-profit charters. As he seeks to decrease the tax burden for the wealthy, he will attempt to cut off insurance for emergency room visits while vacillating on whether to insure Americans with pre-existing conditions.

His query to African Americans during his campaign was, if you vote for me, “What do you have to lose”? The space allotted this writer for this specific article would not calibrate the amount of typesetting needed to answer the question.

President Obama glowed every time he spoke of Michelle Obama and her unwavering devotion. When one thinks of Melania Trump, the only glow that comes to view is the millions of tax payer’s dollars spent to safe-guard her in Trump Tower. Obviously, she is not the typical White House spouse. Nonetheless, “President Trump, what have you done for us lately”?