The Note: Trump marks a milestone

Trump is one day away from marking his 100th day in office.

By
VERONICA STRACQUALURSI
April 28, 2017, 8:30 AM ET
12 min read

— -- TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS with ABC’s RICK KLEIN and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE

Day No. 99

THE BIG STORY: We might go to war. We could have a government shutdown. (These things President Trump admits.) We won't get votes on a health care bill or tax reform. (These things he can no longer deny.) The first 100 days of the Trump presidency almost couldn’t end more predictably, amid brinksmanship at home and abroad, flip-flops and reversals, warnings and threats, a fresh Russia investigation, and a president who still has electoral maps at close hand in the Oval Office. “This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier,” the president told Reuters in an interview marking the opening phase of his presidency. It certainly hasn’t been quieter, and the 100 days is exploding to a close, rather than winding down. Trump has continued a pattern of dealing with conflagrations by tossing more fuel on various fires – through action and words. Consequently, Day 100 looks less like an opportunity to step back for reflection than a point from which events could spiral in virtually any direction.

THE SLEEPER STORY: Quick – who’s excited about the Republicans’ health care bill? Hint: It’s not Republicans. House leaders’ decision to delay a vote on their modified legislation is an acknowledgement of political realities, since they just don’t have the votes. But it also puts off a day that a growing number of Republicans view with dread, as House members are being asked to be put on record on a flatly unpopular bill that almost certainly won’t become law even if it passes the House. “It's going to be doo-doo stuck to their shoe for a long time to come,” as House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi put it, stinkily. House Speaker Paul Ryan is framing it as most important that members of Congress keep their word to repeal and replace: “If you commit the sin of hypocrisy in politics, that's the greater risk, I think, to a person’s seat.” But what about the vows to protect those with preexisting conditions? To provide affordable health care for everyone? It just might be that Republicans were better off with a failed health care bill than with a lingering one.

THE SHINY STORY: Michael Flynn is many, many things to this White House. He is also now … President Obama’s fault? The audacious bit of spin from the Trump team – that Obama administration officials should have caught Flynn’s potentially improper activities, and deserve some culpability because they renewed his security clearances – is a novel argument, and one that can’t win more than half a news cycle. For a refresher: Flynn was dismissed by the Obama administration back in 2014. He was gone from public life until Donald Trump brought him back – first as a campaign adviser and then as his National Security Adviser in the White House. If Trump wants credit for firing him, it has to come with the caveat that he was the one who hired him. It also deserves at least a footnote reminding people that the president blamed the “fake media” for forcing Flynn out. As for the vetting process, it’s hard to determine what’s worse between the possibilities - that the Trump team didn’t know about Flynn’s ties to foreign governments, or knew and didn’t care.

TLDR: Trump approaches Day 100 with talk of war and shutdowns and even a revelation that the job is harder than he thought it would be.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Donald Trump signs autographs for children of White House staffers and reporters during "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" yesterday. In this image we see Trump and the kids, but also ABC's own John Parkinson and Justin Fishel. When Fishel asked Trump about tax reform at the event yesterday, the president said "growth" would pay for that massive tax cut and that it would happen "quickly." (Yin Bogu/Xinhua/Newscom)

NOTABLES

--ANALYSIS: FACTS AND FIGURES BEHIND 99 DAYS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TWEET: Four hundred and seventy: the number of times a user of the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account has clicked "Tweet" since Jan. 20 -- Inauguration Day. The Twitter account, which Trump personally utilized for over six years before launching his bid for the highest office in the United States, has become a microcosm of the operation within the White House -- reflexive, combative, ambitious, provocative, inimitable and relentlessly focused on success. ABC News has compiled and organized every tweet from the account since the morning just before Trump took the oath of office through day 99. What follows is an analysis of the tome, composed from 9,066 words comprised of 54,734 characters. ABC’s ADAM KELSEY has more: http://abcn.ws/2poPGUq

--ANALYSIS: TRUMP'S TWITTER USE BRINGS RISKS AND REWARDS: It’s no secret that President Donald Trump does things his own way. During the campaign through 99 days of his presidency, the 45th president likes to keep everyone on their toes and that’s in no small part to his tweeting habits. Through his tweets to his over 28 million followers on his @realDonaldTrump account, the country gets a real-time window into his thinking. The president is publicizing, urging action, throwing out red meat to supporters, letting everyone in on his TV habits and often just venting, but the country gets to follow along. ABC’s SHUSHANNAH WALSHE has more: http://abcn.ws/2qe1Nnn

--TRUMP: ECONOMIC GROWTH IS GOING TO PAY FOR NEW TAX CUTS: President Donald Trump said on Thursday that economic growth would make up for lost revenue from a sweeping tax cut plan proposed earlier this week, report ABC's JUSTIN FISHEL and RYAN STRUYK. "The growth is going to pay for it," Trump told ABC News in the White House's Rose Garden during Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, as he signed autographs for children of members of the media and administration officials. "Wait until you see the growth." http://abcn.ws/2oCvxxf

--ON GMA - ON MICHAEL FLYNN, ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS SAYS VETTING CAN'T 'CATCH EVERYTHING': "We need to do a good job of vetting, but that’s a complex issue and I'm not sure anyone could be expected to find that," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on “Good Morning America” in reference to the Trump team's vetting of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, ABC’s MORGAN WINSOR notes. "I’m comfortable that they’re working hard to do vetting. But it's obvious that oftentimes you don’t catch everything that might be a problem," Sessions continued. "I don’t know the facts of this case; maybe there's an explanation for it." http://abcn.ws/2pteLQ6

SPEED READ with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY

TRUMP: THERE IS 'ABSOLUTELY' A CHANCE OF 'MAJOR, MAJOR CONFLICT' WITH NORTH KOREA. President Donald Trump says there is "absolutely" a chance that the United States and North Korea could end up in a "major, major conflict." His comments follow multiple North Korean missile tests, which have escalated tensions between the rogue Asian nation and its neighbors, as well as the U.S. "There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely," Trump said in a Reuters interview released Thursday night. ABC's RYAN STRUYK has more: http://abcn.ws/2oRP48I

MIKE FLYNN UNDER DOD INVESTIGATION, HAD BEEN WARNED NOT TO TAKE FOREIGN PAYMENTS. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was warned by the Pentagon against receiving payments from foreign governments in 2014 after leaving the Defense Intelligence Agency, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., revealed Thursday. Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, released three documents on Flynn, including a letter from the DIA counsel's office in response to an inquiry from Flynn in October 2014, explains ABC's BENJAMIN SIEGEL. http://abcn.ws/2ppNG0g

OBAMA ADMIN REVIEWED MIKE FLYNN'S SECURITY CLEARANCE, TRUMP WH SAYS. The White House today attempted to shift blame to the previous administration for the Trump transition team's approval of Mike Flynn's security clearance when he was brought on as national security adviser, notes ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI. "His [security] clearance was last reissued by the Obama administration in 2016 with full knowledge of his activities that occurred in 2015," press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters this afternoon. http://abcn.ws/2ps6D2l

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE'S SPRINT TO THE 100-DAY MARKER. President Trump may have called the 100-day point of his presidency a “ridiculous marker,” but on the ground, the White House has been engaged in an all-out sprint hoping to put last-minute wins on the board. On Wednesday, the White House dispatched the Treasury secretary, the president's chief economic adviser, the commerce secretary, a top national security official and the VA secretary for in-person briefings, including a conference call with a top official in the Department of Education, write ABC's KATHERINE FAULDERS and ALEXANDER MALLIN. http://abcn.ws/2qdVjaV

ANALYSIS: MELANIA TRUMP'S MOLD-BREAKING FIRST 100 DAYS AS FIRST LADY. Hardly anything that’s happened in these first 100 days of the Trump presidency has ever happened before. From the early morning tweets, to the frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago to the hundreds of government positions waiting to be filled, to the signature campaign promise of healthcare reform scuttled by the president’s own party -- it’s all different from past presidents, writes ABC's COKIE ROBERTS. http://abcn.ws/2pFeJpj

MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM TRUMP'S FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE. President Donald Trump is well-versed in how to make a splash. The former reality star-turned-commander-in-chief marked his first 100 days in office with progress on some of his promises, a surprise exit of a key member of his team and a show of force that has started to shape his foreign policy doctrine. ABC's MEGHAN KENEALLY has a review of some of the biggest moments of the Trump presidency so far. http://abcn.ws/2pF6vO9

GOP PUSHES FOR A 1-WEEK FUNDING BILL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. To avert a government shutdown at the end of the week, lawmakers are hoping that a stopgap measure will provide congressional leadership more time to negotiate a larger funding bill. The deadline for Congress to pass a spending bill is midnight Friday, but a short-term continuing resolution, or CR, introduced late Wednesday by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., would extend funding to May 5, until Congress can pass a bill that would fund the government through September, explains ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI. http://abcn.ws/2pqSwua

DAUGHTERS OF FALLEN MARINE SHADOW MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ON TAKE YOUR KID TO WORK DAY. Capitol Hill was crawling with kids Thursday. Beyond the usual school groups and tours, there were dozens of youngsters joining their parents for national Take Your Kid to Work Day. Among those shadowing the grown-ups were two girls from Texas who lost their father, a former Marine, a few years ago. ABC’s MARYALICE PARKS has more: http://abcn.ws/2paX5Iy

CAITLYN JENNER VISITS WHITE HOUSE FOR MEETINGS WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS. Caitlyn Jenner visited the White House Thursday for meetings with Trump administration officials, ABC News has confirmed. "She was there for meetings and on her promo tour for her new book ["The Secrets of My Life"], released this week," a rep for Jenner said. ABC News spotted Jenner entering the White House complex Thursday afternoon. It was unclear with whom she met, note ABC's ALISA WIERSEMA and LESLEY MESSER. http://abcn.ws/2qdOiHhELIZABETH WARREN: I'M 'TROUBLED' BY OBAMA'S $400,000 SPEAKING FEE. Elizabeth Warren isn't too keen about former President Barack Obama's $400,000 fee to address a Wall Street conference on healthcare this fall, ABC’s DAVID CAPLAN and DEVIN DWYER note. "I was troubled by that," the Massachusetts senator said Thursday during an interview with the SiriusXM show "Alter Family Politics" on Radio Andy. She then proceeded to discuss her disdain for "the influence of money" in the nation's capital. http://abcn.ws/2pb2zmF

WHO’S TWEETING?

@jeffmason1: Exclusive: 'If there's a shutdown, there's a shutdown,' Trump says http://reut.rs/2ql8IKU

@steveholland1: From our interview, Trump says he misses driving and feels like he is in a cocoon http://reut.rs/2qcGcMh

@KnightAthletics: New Knight Commission co-chair @ArneDuncan tells @USATODAY winning can't be the only thing in college sports usat.ly/2pr85lH

@washingtonpost: Charles Koch: Trump’s policies must not benefit only big businesses like mine http://wapo.st/2pDxXMa via @PostOpinions

@InsideSourcesDC: .@JohnKasich says it's too early to talk about 2020. That doesn't stop everyone from asking him though. http://bit.ly/2poJqfn

@alex_mallin: Asked whether he believes members of Trump's team were vetted thoroughly enough, Sessions says Flynn was "not a part of my team."