First Read is your briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter
Trump’s 100 days — by the numbers
Tomorrow brings us the 100th day of President Trump’s time in office, and we’ve already looked at the polls, the level of activity, and what it all means. In addition, we have a new quote that might sum up these first three-plus months: “I thought [this job] would be easier,” the president told Reuters. Yet here’s another way to look at Trump’s 100 days — strictly by the numbers:
Executive orders signed
- Trump 29
- Obama 19
- Bush 11
Pieces of legislation signed into law — 28
- 13 - undo Obama rules
- 6 - legislative substance
- 5 - personnel-related
- 2 - naming facilities
- 2 - commemorations
Solo formal news conferences
- Trump 1
- Obama 6
- Bush 2
- Clinton 4
Joint news conferences
- Trump 8
- Obama 6
- Bush 3
- Clinton 9
States visited
- Trump 10
- Obama 11
- Bush 26
Foreign countries visited
- Trump 0
- Obama 9
- Bush 2
Appointees nominated
- Trump 66
- Obama 190
- Bush 85
- Clinton 176
Appointees confirmed
- Trump 25
- Obama 69
- Bush 35
- Clinton 49
Supreme Court nominees confirmed (during first 100 days)
- Trump 1
- Obama 0
- Bush 0
- Clinton 0
Digging inside Trump’s job-approval rating
Our recent NBC/WSJ poll showed Trump with a 40% overall job-approval rating. Here’s a closer look by subgroup:
- Overall: 40%
- Rural Americans: 57%
- Whites: 48%
- Seniors: 45%
- Men: 44%
- Suburban residents: 39%
- Women: 36%
- Urban Americans: 31%
- Under 35: 29%
- Hispanics: 28%
- African Americans: 7%
Trump: “I thought [this job] would be easier”
Reuters: “President Donald Trump on Thursday reflected on his first 100 days in office with a wistful look at his life before the White House. ‘I loved my previous life. I had so many things going,’ Trump told Reuters in an interview. ‘This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.’” It’s stunning remark that will join “alternative facts” and “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated” as quotes marking the Trump administration’s first 100 days. More from the interview: “Midway through a discussion about Chinese President Xi Jinping, the president paused to hand out copies of what he said were the latest figures from the 2016 electoral map. ‘Here, you can take that, that's the final map of the numbers,’ the Republican president said from his desk in the Oval Office, handing out maps of the United States with areas he won marked in red. ‘It’s pretty good, right? The red is obviously us.’” And: "There's a chance that we could end up having a major, major, conflict with North Korea, absolutely."
PHOTOS: Trump's First 100 Days in Pictures
The amazing story behind Trump’s NAFTA reversal
His advisers urged him not to withdraw: “President Trump was set to announce Saturday, on the 100th day of his presidency, that he was withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement,” the Washington Post says. “‘I was all set to terminate,’ Trump said in an Oval Office interview Thursday night. ‘I looked forward to terminating. I was going to do it.’ There was just one problem: Trump’s team — like on so many issues — was deeply divided… Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and others huddled in meetings with Trump, urging him not to sign a document triggering a U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA. Perdue even brought along a prop to the Oval Office: A map of the United States that illustrated the areas that would be hardest hit, particularly from agriculture and manufacturing losses, and highlighting that many of those states and counties were ‘Trump country’ communities that had voted for the president in November. ‘It shows that I do have a very big farmer base, which is good,’ Trump recalled. ‘They like Trump, but I like them, and I’m going to help them.’”
It looks like the new GOP health-care effort doesn’t have the votes for passage
According to NBC’s new count, 17 House Republicans have said they would vote NO on the Republican health-care bill with the new amendment included to attract conservative House Freedom Caucus members. As of now the magic number stands at 216, meaning Republicans can’t afford to lose more than 22 members (assuming all Democrats vote no). But here’s why this 17 against is a bad number for House Republicans: “[T]here are 17 Republicans who appear firmly against the new version of the health care bill and 10 Republicans who seem to be leaning against it. There are also at least 11 other GOP lawmakers who report being undecided and could very well vote no,” the HuffPost’s Matt Fuller writes. Bottom line: If 17 are hard NOs, then you can assume that’s the floor and not the ceiling.
Trump’s day: President Trump addresses the NRA convention in Atlanta at 1:30 pm ET…
And to mark his 100th day in office tomorrow, President Trump holds a rally Saturday in Harrisburg, PA.
What were other presidents doing on April 28?
