99 days in, Trump is starting to admit the presidency is harder than he thought.

 

Donald Trump: “This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”

 

Donald Trump: “I never realized how big it was… the orders are so massive… there’s great responsibility.”

 

 

Who can blame him? He’s failed at just about everything he’s tried:

 

Tampa Bay Times: “The art of no deal: Trump lacking major ones in first 100 days”

 

He failed on healthcare…

 

Trump pushed his aides to have a health care vote before his 100 day marker and the GOP promptly face planted.

 

Politico: Trump “has decidedly reshuffled his schedule, priorities and agenda in the last two weeks to notch political points, knowing the deadline would get inordinate media coverage.”

 

 

CNN: “Trump Fails To Force Health Care Vote In First 100 Days”

 

He failed on trade…

 

Yesterday, his executive order on aluminum took no action on tariffs.

 

Politico: Trump’s executive order on aluminum imports, “like a similar one he signed last week about steel imports—did not impose any retaliatory duties; it just called for expediting an ongoing investigation of the issue.”

 

He failed on the economy…

 

This week we discovered first three months of Trump’s presidency saw the slowest economic growth in three years.

 

The Hill: “The U.S. economy grew at an anemic 0.7 percent rate in the first three months of the year, the weakest performance in three years.

 

“Spending fell to only 0.3 percent after a solid 3.5 percent increase in the October-December period, the lowest level in more than seven years.”

 

He failed on education…

 

On Wednesday he signed an order on education, but didn’t give the Education Secretary the power to do anything new.

 

Los Angeles Times: “What Does Trump's Executive Order On Education Do? Not Much”

 

Washington Post: “President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that requires Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to study whether and how the federal government has overstepped its legal authority in K-12 schools…The order does not invest DeVos with any new authority.”

 

He failed on immigration…

 

On Tuesday, courts blocked him from defunding sanctuary cities, possibly weakening protections for crime victims.

 

CNN: “Judge Blocks Part Of Trump's Sanctuary Cities Executive Order”

 

CNN: “In his ruling, Judge William H. Orrick…[agreed] that a threat to take away federal funds from cities that do not cooperate with some federal immigration enforcement could be unconstitutional.”

 

CNN: “Lawmakers Worry Trump Immigration Orders Weaken Protections For Sex Crime, Domestic Violence Victims.”

 

…but didn’t take the time to figure out which court actually blocked him.

 

Trump: “First The Ninth Circuit Rules Against The Ban & Now It Hits Again On Sanctuary Cities – Both Ridiculous Rulings. See You In The Supreme Court.”

 

CNBC: “Trump Just Blasted The Wrong Court For 'Blocking' His Sanctuary Cities Order”

 

Also on Tuesday, he discovered neither Congress nor Mexico is going to pay for that wall.

 

Dallas Morning News: “Trump Drops Border Wall Funding Demand As Shutdown Threat Looms”

 

TIME: “Staring down a potential government shutdown, the White House is prepared to punt a standoff over cash to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to the fall, Republican officials tell TIME.”

 

He failed at tax reform…

 

On Wednesday, he released a single page of bullet points and there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t raise taxes on the middle class.

 

ABC News: “The Devil For Trump’s Tax Plan Is In The Lack Of Details”

 

Washington Post: “President Trump said he would release new details about his plan to overhaul the tax code on April 26…The statement caught many congressional aides – and even some administration officials – offguard, as they thought they were working on a slower timetable.”

 

Huffington Post: “Treasury Secretary Can’t Guarantee Whether Middle Class Will Benefit From Trump Tax Plan”

 

It might cost as much as $7 billion to implement that single page of bullet points.

 

Committee For A Responsible Federal Budget: Trump’s Tax Plan “Could Cost $3 To $7 Trillion – Our Base-Case Estimate Is $5.5 Trillion.”

 

 

He saw his administration continue to be dogged about Michael Flynn and the Trump team’s ties to Russia…

 

Many questions remain unanswered about Russian interference to help Trump’s candidacy

 

New York Times Editorial: “The Flynn Story Isn’t Going Away”

 

Michael Flynn’s “Ties to Russia keep raising questions this White House won’t answer and dark suspicions it can’t seem to dispel.”

 

CNN: “100 Days Of Russia Drama For The Trump White House, With No End In Sight”

 

 

NPR: “Lawmakers Say It Appears Michael Flynn Acted Illegally In Taking Russian Payments”

 

CNN: “Russia’s influence is currently the subject of four separate congressional probes, and has led to the resignation of the national security adviser and the recusal of the attorney general.”

 

He generally failed at being president…

 

He tried to clean up his mess of a first 100 days with a ‘flurry’ of so-called executive orders that were ‘basically press releases with presidential signatures’

 

Politico: “Trump's Executive Orders Are Mostly Theater”

 

Politico: “The White House is making Trump’s flurry of executive orders the centerpiece of his 100-day legacy…most of them are basically press releases with presidential signatures, plus instructions to his Cabinet secretaries to look into the issues at hand.”