Judging from his first six months in office, it seems he can’t.
During a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Tuesday, President Trump dismissed critiques about his behavior by declaring himself the most “presidential president” of all presidents except for Abraham Lincoln.
Trump also played down the need for maintaining a presidential demeanor, suggesting it doesn’t help in achieving his agenda.
“Sometimes they say, ‘He doesn’t act presidential, ‘ and I say: ‘Hey, look, great-school, smart guy. It’s so easy to act presidential, but that’s not gonna get it done, ‘ » he said as his supporters cheered. “I think that with few exceptions, no president has done anywhere near what we’ve done in his first six months. Not even close.”
To dismiss his claim as hyperbolic would ignore an important distinction Trump made between being presidential and accomplishing his campaign promises, as well as his implication that the former is not always conducive to the latter. Trump positioned himself as a leader who can “get it done” regardless of how he is perceived.
But in Trump’s case, his low approval ratings show that many Americans question his job performance, too. Just six months into his presidency, his average approval rating is at 38.8 percent. According to Gallup, Trump’s rating makes him the lowest-rated president at the six-month mark in the history of its polling. Just how much lower is Trump’s approval rating? The historical average at this stage of the presidency is 62 percent.
Around the world, polls show people have even less confidence in Trump’s leadership abilities and international policies.
During his campaign, Trump vowed to be a get-things-done president. In his first 100 days, Trump issued more executive orders, memos and proclamations than recent presidents, according to an analysis by the American Presidency Project. But the study’s authors point out that many campaign commitments such as tax reform, reining in government spending, and boosting the military cannot be accomplished by executive action. Instead, these kinds of commitments require an “aggressive legislative program.”
To that end, Trump has failed to make good on one of his major campaign promises: to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. On Wednesday, the Senate rejected a proposal to repeal key parts of the ACA while giving lawmakers two years to come up with a substitute. With the vote, Republicans curtailed their ability to make sweeping changes to the health-care law, more commonly known as Obamacare. Their efforts on more modest changes to the law continue Thursday.
Earlier this month, Trump also bragged that he thinks he has signed more legislation into law than any other president in the first several months of his presidency. Trump has signed 42 bills into law, but several other presidents signed more bills in the same time frame. Jimmy Carter signed 70, George H. W. Bush signed 55, and Bill Clinton signed 50.
Trump has even lower favorability internationally. A Pew Research Center survey of 37 nations showed that a median of 22 percent feel confident that Trump will do the right thing with respect to international issues. It’s a sharp decline from the prior administration. In the last years of Barack Obama’s presidency, a median of 64 percent felt confident in his ability to direct foreign policy.
When it comes to Trump’s key policy proposals, such as building a wall along the border of Mexico and withdrawing U. S. support for the international climate change agreement, most overwhelmingly disapprove.
Like his domestic accomplishments, Trump is still working on bringing these key foreign policies to life. Funding for the border wall is stalled, and an initial travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries was swiftly overturned in the courts. A portion of the current ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries remains in place, but the Supreme Court limited much of its scope to examine the breadth of presidential power over the border.
In June, Trump announced that the United States would no longer support the Paris climate agreement. The move was widely criticized in the United States and abroad. Several European leaders — French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni — issued a statement in response to Trump’s decision, noting that their efforts to combat climate change would move forward regardless of the U. S. position.
“We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated, since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies, ” they wrote.
Trump’s claims that he has accomplished more despite his lack of presidential polish don’t hold up. Even if it were true that he could easily act “presidential, ” his policies have lowered U. S. standing in the world. It will probably take more than just a change in his behavior to restore confidence at home and abroad.
