Democrats bash Trump's first 100 days but 'pretty exciting' for GOP

Democratic leaders criticized President Trump's first 100 days in office.

ByABC News
April 28, 2017, 9:25 PM

— -- President Trump has few Capitol Hill victories to show for his first 100 days in office, but it’s not for lack of trying.

Trump’s major legislative pushes on health care, border wall funding and, now, tax reform have left Congress buzzing with activity.

For Republicans, the frenetic pace is welcome. Many think Trump is shaking up the GOP and Washington for the better.

“I’d give him an 'A,'” Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., told ABC News of Trump’s performance. “In 100 days, he's reignited our place in the world: leadership. I think that's unquestioned. Everyone's paying attention now.”

It’s been “pretty exciting,” Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said. “He’s the first president since 1881 to get a Supreme Court justice in the first 100 days so we seem pretty excited. We’re moving in the right direction.”

On the way to vote on the House floor today, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., declared that Trump has had a “great” 100 days in office.

“Haven't you enjoyed it?” he asked ABC News.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., an early Trump supporter, praised the White House’s sense of urgency, calling it a “wild and woolly 100 days.”

But he said he has grown frustrated with some of the intraparty bomb-throwing between Republicans in the White House and on Capitol Hill.

“I heard it that there was somebody in the White House who accused the Congress of malpractice,” he said. “It’s always nice to get a shotgun blast in the face from your own side.”

Democrats who are struggling with whiplash have accused Trump of backing down on his campaign promises.

“It's pretty much a dumpster fire,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., told ABC News. (He later tweeted a dumpster fire GIF from his official Twitter account.)

"One hundred days of broken promises," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said. "One hundred days of handouts to the richest in our countries."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, "The swamp is murkier than ever after his 100 days.”

The New York Democrat took aim at the last, frenzied week of the Trump administration, calling it a "metaphor for how poorly the president has done."

"It's chaotic, it's ineffective, it's impulsive," he said. "It's as if the president suddenly realized he's approaching his first 100 days with next to nothing to show for it."Schumer said he doesn't believe Trump is improving on the job.

"There are occasional small things but, overwhelmingly, when you look at how he's performed ... it's an ‘F,’" he said. "He has not accomplished much, and then he compares it to, like, Franklin D Roosevelt. It's astounding."

Pelosi said Trump's one success has been mobilizing people against his agenda.

"He has proven to be one of the best organizers the Democratic Party has ever had," she said.

Trump’s allies expressed confidence that Republicans will eventually be able to pass their health care bill, even if not by Trump’s 100th day in office.

“It's unfinished work obviously,” Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said. “Sometimes the legislative process takes more time. It's more deliberate than I think I would prefer. But progress is being made.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., downplayed the importance of the first marker in Trump’s presidency, focusing instead on the long game.

“I talked about 200 days because I thought the kind of agenda that we're attempting to put together here -- overhauling health care, overhauling the tax system, rebuilding our military, securing the border -- those take more than just a few months," he said. "They take a long time, at least a year."

    ABC News’ John Parkinson and Mary Bruce contributed to this report.

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