At 100 days in, Trump seems both outsider and insider

US President Donald Trump leads a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, US April 29, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

Trump visited the AMES Companies in Pennsylvania's Cumberland County, a shovel manufacturer since 1774. With that backdrop he signed an executive order directing the Commerce Department and the US trade representative to conduct a study of US trade agreements. The goal is to determine whether America is being treated fairly by its trading partners and the 164-nation World Trade Organization.

Trump's rally Saturday night in Harrisburg offered a familiar recapitulation of what he and aides have argued for days are administration successes, including the successful confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, his Cabinet choices and the approval of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

At the 100-day mark, polls suggest that Trump's supporters during the campaign remain largely in his corner. Though the White House created a website touting its accomplishments of the first 100 days, Trump has tried to downplay the importance of the marker, perhaps out of recognition that many of his campaign promises have gone unfulfilled.

"It's a false standard, 100 days," Trump said while signing an executive order on Friday, "but I have to tell you, I don't think anybody has done what we've been able to do in 100 days, so we're very happy."Trump is turning to what he's billed as the nation's biggest tax cut. It apparently falls short of Reagan's in 1981, and tax experts are skeptical that the plan would pay for itself, as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has claimed.

The economy, so far, has been Trump's ally. Polls show that Americans feel slightly better about his job performance on that subject than his job performance overall.

Associated Press