Wonkbook: The 32-word history of Trump's first 100 days

By Matt O'Brien President Trump surprised everyone by annou... | Sponsored by Morgan Stanley   The latest economic and domestic policy from Wonkblog   President Trump with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press) By Matt O'Brien President Trump surprised everyone by announcing that he'd take a break from pretending he had a [fill in the blank] plan to pretend he had a [fill in the blank] plan, instead. That has been the 32-word history of Trump's first 100 days. This week, those blanks are "health-care reform" and "tax reform." Last week, they were "tax reform" and "health-care reform." And the one before that, they were, you guessed it, "health-care reform" and "tax reform." The problem, you see, is that Trump doesn't know enough about what he's trying to negotiate to, well, negotiate. The result is an ouroboros of incompetence that even the most naive people inclined to take Trump's words at face value — Wall Street traders — have begun to tune out. Read the rest on Wonkblog. Number of the day 0.7 percent. That was the annualized pace of economic growth in the first quarter, according to a report published Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Analysts had expected a figure in the range of 1.2 percent. Ana Swanson and Max Ehrenfreund have more. Top policy tweets Trump now has a major legislative achievement in his first 100 days: He cut a deal with the Republican Congress to fund the govt for 7 days. — Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) April 28, 2017 On health care, Republicans are exclusively negotiating amongst themselves: https://t.co/nltW14hpGO — Cheerwine Button (@petersuderman) April 28, 2017 Interestingly, Trump's tax plan is almost a carbon copy of what Brownback did in Kansas, with disastrous results. https://t.co/dPQfiDsHgo — Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) April 27, 2017 ADVERTISEMENT   Most Recent Posts from Wonkblog U.S. economy grew at sluggish 0.7 percent in first quarter of 2017 By coincidence, the new estimates were released on President Trump's 99th day in office and offer some of the first data on how the economy is performing in his new administration. By Ana Swanson and Max Ehrenfreund  •  Read more »   The 32-word history of Trump’s first 100 days A Mad-libs guide to make doing nothing look like doing everything. By Matt O'Brien  •  Read more »   If Trump has a tax plan, his advisers can’t agree on what it is Several of Trump's top economic deputies have been talking past each other since the administration outlined a plan this week. By Max Ehrenfreund  •  Read more »   Devious teens are stashing drugs in graphing calculators, DEA warns If a kid can hide heroin in a graphing calculator, who knows what depths of depravity he may be able to conceal in a Wii U? By Christopher Ingraham  •  Read more »   Congress soon could make it harder for rich people to move to the U.S. Reforms likely for foreign investors visa. By Tracy Jan  •  Read more »   Trump’s new, one-page tax plan is the same as his old, one-page tax plan This time, however, it has bullet points. By Matt O'Brien  •  Read more »   The Trump administration says it’s not pushing a tax cut for the rich. They almost certainly are. It could be hard for Trump to square that promise with the major tax cuts he has proposed for the rich so far. By Max Ehrenfreund  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   Federal Insider Federal news and policy update, in your inbox daily. Sign Up »         Share Wonkbook:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for a Wonkblog newsletter. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2017 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071