Trump SMASHES another Obama record…for the Better

Whether you approve or disapprove of what President Donald Trump has been doing so far during his first few weeks in office, there can be no argument that he has been doing a lot.

He’s been checking things off his campaign promise to-do list at breakneck speed and in fact has actually set a record for our time.

The Washington Examiner says,

trump iran fingers up Muslim banPresident Trump has broken a modern day presidential record for action, moving faster than any chief executive since Harry Truman to put his agenda in play.

The University of Minnesota’s Eric J. Ostermeier, a presidential scholar with a knack for historical statistics, said Trump has signed executive orders at a record-breaking pace.

“All told, Trump signed six executive orders during his first 10 days in office — the most among the 13 presidents to serve since the end of World War II,” said Ostermeier, with the school’s center for the Study of Politics and Governance.

Next was former President Barack Obama, who signed five in his first 10 days; followed by Truman, who signed four; John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Gerald Ford, three; Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, two; and Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush, one.

President Trump was forced to issue a record number of executive orders in order to undo the number that Obama issued. It was no secret that Trump would issue massive EOs, as he campaigned on the idea of undoing what Obama did.

Then the discussion of speed of Supreme Court nominees came up.

What’s more, in research for Secrets, he said Trump nominated a Supreme Court justice faster than any president since Andrew Jackson in 1829, two days after taking over from President John Quincy Adams.

No surprise there, as the controversy over the appointment after the death of Scalia has lingered since the last days of the Obama era. Trump had prepared a document listing 21 potential choices, so it’s not surprising that Trump had his first pick in his hip pocket.

As for the Jackson appointment, times were different then.

Jackson’s nominee, Postmaster General John McLean, was confirmed by the Senate the next day. Unfortunately, we’re in for a long wait with Trump’s pick of Neil Gorsuch.

Signing executive orders is no big thing – after all, any old president has a “pen and a phone.” Frankly, being compared to Barack Obama’s rule by fiat is not something to which Trump likely aspires.

Will President Trump be able to continue his pace of action, once he faces pushback from Congress and the courts? One might think not.

Based on the Senate confirmation hearings and the current legal challenge to his temporary travel order, the answer might appear to be no and no. However, we are dealing with the man who wrote the art of the deal.

 

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