Trump On Being President: “I Thought It Would Be Easier”

As easy as it would be to take the snarky approach, I’m stone cold serious that this actually terrifies me.

From The Washington Post:

Donald Trump spent a great portion of 2016 insisting that being president would be easy — at least for him. HuffPost compiled a number of examples of him dismissing the problems that accompany the job as being easily dispatched. Building a wall on the border with Mexico is easy. Beating Hillary Clinton would be easy. Renegotiating the Iran deal would be easy. Paying down the national debt would be easy. Acting presidential? Easy.

To a reporter from Reuters this week, though, Trump had a slightly different assessment of the presidency.

“I love my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life,” Trump said. “I thought it would be easier. I thought it was more of a … I’m a details-oriented person. I think you’d say that, but I do miss my old life. I like to work so that’s not a problem but this is actually more work.”

The Simpsons Version Of Trump’s First 100 Days As Prez

While President Trump is trying mightily to frame his first 100 days in the White House as a success, The Simpsons present their own version of the nascent Trump administration where Sean Spicer has hanged himself, Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner are at each other’s throats, and an aide is asking the prez to read a bill that would lower taxes for Republicans only.

“Can’t Fox News read it and I’ll watch what they say?” Trump asks.

Watch below.

Poll: Trump’s Approval Rating Is Lowest Of Newly-Elected Presidents

As Donald Trump nears the end of his first 100 days as president – the “honeymoon” you might say – his approval ratings continue to make history.

And not in a good way.

A new CNN/ORC poll shows Trump has the lowest approval rating of any president since such tracking began.

Overall, 44% approve of the job Trump is doing while 54% disapprove.

That’s 11 points behind Bill Clinton’s previous low of 55%.

More at CNN.

Caitlyn Jenner: “I Never Actually Came Out And Outwardly Supported Trump”

Caitlyn Jenner, making the rounds promoting her new book, sat down with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson to parse her past support (or non-support) for Donald Trump.

At the top of the interview, Carlson suggests coming out in support of Trump while living in Malibu, California, might have been one of Caitlyn’s “braver” moments.

Caitlyn replied:

“They were fine in Malibu with it [Jenner’s support for Trump], but let’s put it this way, I never actually came out and outwardly supported Trump. The media did that for me. I am on the Republican, conservative side, and he wound up being our candidate. And so, certainly, I was going to vote for him. He looked like he would pretty good on all LGBT issues. Which is important, because my loyalties do not lie with Donald Trump.

“My loyalties do not lie with the Republican Party. My loyalties, and what I’m fighting for is my community, the LGBT community, and particularly the trans issues that are out there, because there are many of them. And so, that’s where my fight is. And I thought Trump would be pretty good. But he’s kind of disappointed me in the first 100 days on those issues.”

Jenner went on to explain she didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton because she’s not a “one issue voter.”

Trump Announces Pennsylvania Rally To Compete With White House Correspondents Dinner

Donald Trump shared via Twitter (where else?) that he will hold a rally in Pennsylvania next Saturday, April 29.

That just happens to be the same night as the White House Correspondents Dinner that Trump has previously announced he will not be attending.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

“I am not a hypocrite. And I haven’t been treated properly, and that’s OK, that’s fine,” Trump previously said of his historic decision. White House staff announced last month they will also be skipping the dinner “out of solidarity.”

But the president isn’t the only one who will be offering counter programming on April 29. TBS’ Samantha Bee, whose Full Frontal has been skewering Trump since the 2016 election, will also be holding her own event, “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” at the Willard Hotel in the Washington. The event will raise funds to support the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Trump will be the first president to miss the annual dinner, which raises money for journalism scholarships, since President Ronald Reagan.

Of course, Reagan had an excellent reason for skipping the event in that he was recuperating from having been shot by a mad man.

Trump Whines About “Ridiculous Standard” Of First 100 Days Threshold

As we get closer to the 100 day mark in the Trump presidency, President Babyhands looks like he’s already setting up to deflect on his failure to deliver on many of his campaign promises.

Check out this tweet he dispatched this morning: “No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill!”

The fact of the matter is, even as Trump attempts to spin his lack of legislative achievements into “something,” Trump hasn’t done much but nominate and get a Supreme Court justice seated.

And, I should mention most presidents get their SCOTUS nominees approved. In fact, you have to go back 30 years to the last time a nominee didn’t win approval in the U.S. Senate.

In that we’re at Day 91,  let’s look at some of the things Trump “promised” to do:

• On cyber-hacking: “I will appoint a team to give me a plan within 90 days of taking office.”

Remember, today is Day 91.

• On defeating ISIS: “They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS.”

Umm, that was 61 days ago.

• Obamacare: Trump told American voters you would have Congress “immediately deliver a full repeal” of the Affordable Care Act on Day 1.

Way tardy – that was 91 days ago.

• Undocumented immigrants: “Day one, my first hour in office, those people are gone.”

That was… well, you get the point.

The fact is Trump really didn’t understand the reality of governing. That you can’t just bark and yell and things happen as you’d like.

I’d say, “Well, at least Trump is popular,” but I’d be lying.

In fact, according to Gallop polls, Trump has the lowest average approval rating for any president in the history of Gallup polling.

Trump averaged just 41% approval for his first quarter as president.

For perspective, the previous “lowest average” president was Bill Clinton, and his “lowest” was 14 points higher at 55%.

President Obama had an average of 63% approval.

In spite of all this, though, Trump continues to sell his presidency like a used car salesman, extolling features that don’t really exist.

Perhaps it’s time that Trump stop bitching and whining (and golfing) and get something done.

Trump Bestie Tom Brady Bails On Patriots’ White House Visit

Today, New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady issued a statement announcing that “In light of recent developments,” he will not be able to attend the White House visit with teammates today.

“I am so happy and excited that our team is being honored at the White House today. Our team has accomplished something very special that we are all proud of and will be for years to come. Thank you to the President for hosting this honorary celebration and for supporting our team for as long as I can remember. In light of some recent developments, I am unable to attend today’s celebration, as I am attending to some personal family matters. Hopefully, if we accomplish the goal of winning a championship in the future years, we will back on the South Lawn soon. Have a great day!”

Brady’s wife, Gisele Bündchen, has denied the Donald’s repeated statements that she and hubby are Trump supporters.

Six other Patriots players have announced they will be skipping the White House visit.

Melania Trump Nudges Husband When He Forgets Where To Put His Hand During National Anthem

President Trump forgot to put his hand over his heart during the singing of the national anthem at today’s White House Easter celebration.

Fortunately, there was an immigrant nearby to nudge his hand…

Poll: 17 Point Drop – Only 45% Of Americans Think Trump Keeps His Promises

More bad news for President Trump as Gallup Polling shows the opinion of American voters continues to slide downward on key characteristics of the Trumpster:

President Donald Trump’s image among Americans as someone who keeps his promises has faded in the first two months of his presidency, falling from 62% in February to 45%. The public is also less likely to see him as a “strong and decisive leader,” as someone who “can bring about the changes this country needs” or as “honest and trustworthy.”

With close to two-thirds of Americans saying in February that Trump “keeps his promises,” it was clearly a strength for the president. Given the sharp decline on that dimension this month, that is no longer the case. In February, a majority also said Trump can bring about the changes the country needs, but less than half hold that view now.

It’s notable that only 36% of those polled think Trump is “honest and trustworthy.”

New York Times Op-Ed Spotlights LGBT Trump Fallacy

The editorial board of the New York Times addresses the “L.G.B.T. Trump fallacy:”

It was a jarringly unorthodox moment even for Donald Trump. At a rally in Colorado last October, an audience member handed him a gay pride flag that bore a handwritten endorsement: “LGBTs for TRUMP.” The candidate smiled as he unfurled the flag, displaying it for a few seconds. A spokesman later said Mr. Trump was “proud to carry the ‘L.G.B.T. for Trump’ rainbow flag on stage,” since he was campaigning to be “president for all Americans.”

It didn’t take long for prominent gay Republicans to proclaim that the Republican Party had, at long last, turned a corner on gay rights under Mr. Trump. After he was elected, some gay rights activists held out hope that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president’s daughter and son-in-law, would be staunch allies in the West Wing, considering that they had traveled in liberal circles in New York.

Yet, the nomination of several key officials, who have disparaged the L.G.B.T. community and sought to curtail the rights of its members, has exposed the narrative that Mr. Trump would be a champion of gay and transgender people as a fallacy. “It has been a catastrophe,” said Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality and a leading strategist behind a string of legal and policy victories the community achieved during the Obama administration. “Every twitch we’ve seen from the administration has been anti-L.G.B.T.”

From there, the op-ed lists just some of the ways Trump has actually u-turned on LGBT issues by the personnel decisions he’s made like Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversing course on transgender protections; the shift from openly gay Army Secretary Eric Fanning to Trump’s choice, Mark Green, who has called being transgender “a disease;” and new Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who has been a vocal opponent of LGBT rights for years.

Definitely worth the read.