@hightor,
Of course he could have and you and Trump Haters would have reviled him for doing so.
Part of the reason why the job has been tough is because he has faced a degree of animus from those who don't approve of him being president that is unlike anything we've seen in my 63 year lifetime.
And please don't try to tell me Obama went through the same thing, because he did not. The degree of obstruction by the opposition party may have been roughly the same, but how many marches and demonstrations were staged in Obama's first 100 days? And while there were plenty of Obama Haters making wild and scurrilous claims about him, he could always count on the MSM and the entertainment industry to constantly defend him and even sing his praises, while with Trump, these two sectors are often responsible for the wild and scurrilous claims.
Trump Haters like Obama Haters are irrational. They base their condemnation and warnings on what they imagine will be the result of a Trump presidency, not on what he has actually done, and if what he does is contrary to their assumptions and predictions, it make no difference, they ignore the facts or flip their concern.
From the start, Trump Haters have taken it as a matter of fact that he owes his election to the Russians and that whether it is due to this or some salacious photos of him they have hanging over his head he is their marionette and they will pull his strings. The evidence of this has yet to be produced, but that has hardly dissuaded his critics who remain certain that it exists and that only another, deeper conspiracy is keeping it from seeing the light of day. Moreover, the actions he has taken that have or might have an impact on Russia have thus far belied the notion that he is their creature: The attack on Syria, and his retreat from consideration of withdrawal from NATO. The response from Trump Haters? Somehow these actions are consistent with their theory of Trump being Putin's puppet. The difficulty of debating conspiracy theorists is that they always have a way of explaining any development, no matter how contrary to their premise, as part of the conspiracy they are dedicated to revealing. In this case Putin has agreed to, or even ordered, these events in an attempt to distract the public from the truth.
The same critics went on and on about the dangers of someone as unstable as Trump having control of the most powerful military in the world and nuclear weapons. He was sure to involve us in wars and perhaps even a truly disastrous conflagration involving Russia (despite his puppet status) or China. When the Syrian attack was launched there was talk in this forum of WWIII. Next when North Korea issued it's usual threats and continued its testing of missiles designed to carry a nuke to the West Coast of America, and the response from the Trump Administration was tough talk, again there was talk in this forum about WWIII. Once it became clear that neither of these hot spots were going to result in escalation and war, the Trump Haters turned to their usual fallback position of ridiculing Trump and making much of what the actual course of a pair of US aircraft carriers seemingly sent to NK to flex our muscles, might have been.
Trump, as promised, nominated an eminently qualified judge for the SC vacancy and because the Democrats were compelled by their base and big donors to oppose him, the Reid Option was invoked and now SC justice nominations can't be filibustered. The reaction from the Trump Haters? He and the Republicans destroyed a long standing tradition of the Senate! How dare they!
Go through the entire list of what he has accomplished in the first 100 days. What exactly constitutes a radical and atrocious change that is going to lead to the suffering of millions of Americans? The much bemoaned death of Obamacare couldn't even be pulled off by the Republicans. The Wall which was never much more than symbolic and never presented a threat to the well being of Americans is going nowhere. The travel ban discomforted about 100 travelers for a couple of days at most and, again, never presented a threat to the well being of Americans is stuck in the courts. The Keystone Pipeline is back on but this was a project that Hillary Clinton's own State Dept rules didn't pose a threat to the environment so it's hard to make the case that it's a disaster.
His critics are in the all too familiar position of contradicting themselves with their charges: His first 100 days have been an exercise in ineptitude and confusion, but in his first 100 days he has set the country on a course to ruin. It's a pretty neat trick. Just like George Bush simultaneously being an ignorant moron, and a diabolically evil villain.
He may turn out to be a terrible president, but only 100 days into his presidency, no serious person can claim this to be the proven, current case. If it is the goal of his opponents to bombard the American people with criticism of every single thing he does and create an impression that he has already proven to be a failure, they may be succeeding , but primarily with those who were inclined to consider him a failure from Day One. From what I can tell, anecdotally, his supporters have given up on the MSM. They don't trust it, they don't believe it and it's not going to change their minds about the guy. I saw a poll the other day that indicated that 98% of Trump voters still support him, and don't regret their vote. Now if he truly wants to be successful, he needs to make inroads with people who didn't vote for him, but that may be tough given the all out effort of his opponents to render his presidency a failure and short of that convey to the country and the world that it is.
I've never been a huge Trump fan. For me, a vote for Trump was a vote against Clinton, and some of the characteristics that were on display prior to his election have remained evident after it. I am counting, perhaps foolishly, on the influence and decision making of his cabinet, and in his growing into the job. In that regard, I see his admission that the job is tougher than he imagined to be a positive sign, because contrary to your assertion, which itself was a Trump dig, he could very well have said the opposite. It certainly would have been more like the Trump character we've seen, than an admission that he finds anything difficult. Obama famously asserted he was better than any of his underlings in any of their areas of specialization. Realistically this was either absurd or he was a horrible judge of talent. He
couldn't make that statement but he did.
The only thing to be gained by a disastrous Trump presidency is the likelihood that the next president will be a Democrat. In the meantime, the nation and it's people will suffer. Hoping for him to fail miserably, which is exactly what Trump Haters are doing, despite what they may claim, is a pretty shitty position to take.
