Somehow, after what has felt like years, President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office have passed. In that time, the president has been even more destructive to both the Republican Party and our republic than I anticipated.
While I expected Trump to radically implement his vision for the country, I didn’t think that Congress would be so complicit in his schemes. I trusted Republicans would do their job, at least. They haven’t, and we’re seeing the results of that.
Trump and his administration have been allowed to decimate our economy and foreign stance, among other things. The economy actually shrank during Trump’s first 100 days.
The amount of damage he’s done makes me nervous about what will be done over the next 100 days and beyond if Republicans don’t realize this has to stop, or at least be dialed back.
Republican Congress spent Trump’s first 100 days in hiding
Do you realize that Trump has only signed five bills since taking office, fewer than any other modern president until this point? Meanwhile, the GOP is bragging that Trump has ruled by executive order, signing 142 executive orders over the first 100 days, exceeding the pace of any president since Franklin Roosevelt.
How is that something to be proud of?
There are several reasons for this. A major one is the Senate filibuster, and another is the GOP’s unwillingness to pursue legislation that requires the cooperation of Democrats. They have been willing to work with Democrats to pass necessary governing legislation, such as the government funding bill that allowed us to avoid a shutdown, but the gears of bipartisanship have ground to a halt.
Part of this is the Democrats’ unwillingness to come to the negotiation table, but Republicans have little incentive to take on the challenge of crafting bipartisan legislation when Trump can simply act with the stroke of his pen.
This rule by executive order allows Trump to deviate from building consensus in the Republican Party on issues, such as trade. You don’t have to build consensus when Congress lets you run rampant.
There are a select few legislative Republicans, such as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, willing to criticize administration actions, and they ought to be commended. But the GOP as a whole has become the party of Trump. There is no room for dissent, and no room for him to be wrong.
