Tomorrow marks President Donald Trump’s 100^th day in office, a metric arbitrarily used to measure the efficacy of a newly inaugurated president. For sheer speed and volume of executive actions, it is a record setting pace. By many measurements Trump has surpassed FDR in manifesting his campaign promises. This is very much an administration built for speed, willing to break things to move the ball forward, leaving Congress and the courts to play catch-up. Typically, when a party gains control of the House, Senate, and presidency, we expect a coordinated push of bills being sent to the President’s desk, which has not yet happened. In fact, in a rare moment of bipartisanship, the Senate this week is expected to pass a bill opposed by the President. The go-it-alone actions of the White House mean much of the policy change Trump is implementing could be as easily reversed in four years.

In the reach for speed, Trump has shown a willingness to upset people to get what he wants. Polls universally show him upside-down in popularity with 55% of voters disapproving of his first 100 days, and only 38% approving of his handling of the economy. According to Gallup, Trump is the only president to have sub-50% average approval ratings during a first quarter in office. I am unsure any of those polls matter or impact the direction that Trump is taking the country. He still feels the winds of a “mandate” that voters want dramatic change. There is much to read below, but we will revisit the politics of this approach to policy-making in the future.