Originally Posted: April 7, 2017
Trump gets needed first win with Gorsuch
WASHINGTON — After 77 days in office, President Trump finally got his first legislative win on Friday. All it took was upending a Senate tradition that’s been around for two centuries.
The Senate confirmed Judge Neil Gorsuch to become the newest associate justice on the Supreme Court by a vote of 54 to 45, after the elimination of the Supreme Court filibuster on Thursday — a rule that has roots in the very first Congress.
The vote, installing a conservative justice to fill the vacancy left by the 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia, offers a rare ray of light for Trump’s nascent administration, which has gotten off to a tumultuous start that even some supporters call a “rolling disaster.’’
Trump’s first 100 days — often a benchmark to assess new presidents —wrap up April 30, and so far his presidency has struggled. He has been burdened by investigations into his campaign’s possible ties to Russian interference in the 2016 election, the devastating failure to pass a long-promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and more palace intrigue than a Vatican court — including a highly unstable National Security Council that has seen multiple shake-ups as world leaders began testing Trump.
With his launch of cruise missile strikes against the Syrian military in retaliation for its use of chemical weapons on civilians, Trump this week began an aggressive new foray into foreign affairs that departs from his campaign rhetoric.
But more challenges remain on the domestic front.
Trump’s promises to reform the tax code and pass a $1 trillion infrastructure plan are far more complex than the health care fix that he was unable to deliver. Republicans have not developed any consensus on how to proceed on either of those big undertakings. They are on the agenda for later this year, but when, how, and if remain big questions.
“It is almost without precedent to see a president who has a majority in both houses of Congress be able to get so little done and be forced to rely on executive action,” said Jeffrey A. Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Texas.
In terms of policy accomplishments, Trump is on track to rival the record of President James Buchanan, who is generally considered to be the worst US president, Engel said.
“Trump’s greatest accomplishment so far has been to preside over an institution that just lost the last bit of partisan civility and partisan respect,” Engel said, referring to the Senate rule change required to confirm Gorsuch.
Trump, of course, disagrees with negative assessments of his early days. And, perhaps just as importantly, Trump supporters around the country have tended to blame Congress or Washington in general instead of the man they helped elect in a historic upset last fall. That support could grow with this week’s missile launch.
“I think we’ve had one of the most successful 13 weeks in the history of the presidency,” the president said Thursday, miscalculating the tenure of his presidency. He’s been in office for 11 weeks. READ MORE