The Napoleon Complex and Trump ' s First 100 Days

The “first 100 days” was a dictatorial metaphor from the start. It entered the presidential lexicon in 1933, when journalists likened FDR’s legislative onslaught to Napoleon Bonaparte’s 1815breakout from Elba and subsequent three-month rampage, ending at Waterloo.  Thankfully, President Trump ’s first 100 days haven’t been nearly so dramatic. It’s as if Napoleon, instead of marching to Paris and then to war, just sat aroundhis Tuscan villa, hand in his waistcoat, ranting about his enemies.Of theumpteen items in Trump ’s “100-day action plan,” unveiled last fallin Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he ’sbarely moved on most, reversed himselfon others, and been stymied by Congress and the courts on the few where he ’s made a serious push. The candidate who proclaimed“I alone can fix it” is learning that, on the home front at least, our political system remains resistant to one-man rule.  It ’s reassuring to learn that our system of separated powers still has some life left in it, at least when it comes to domestic affairs. The danger is that, with his agenda stalled on the home front, Trump may overcompensate abroad. Perversely, it’s in the exercise of military force—the area whe re presidents can do the most damage—that checks and balances are weakest.“No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days ” the president insisted recently—a claim that ranks with prior Trumpian whoppers like“largest audience ever to witness an inaugur...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs