Trump's Next Hundred Days

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Political Scene | The New Yorker

Episode: Trump's Next Hundred Days
Date: April 27, 2017
Host: Dorothy Wickenden (Executive Editor, The New Yorker)
Guest: Ryan Lizza (Staff Writer, The New Yorker, CNN Contributor)

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Overview

This episode provides a timely analysis of President Donald Trump as his administration approaches its next hundred days. Host Dorothy Wickenden and staff writer Ryan Lizza discuss whether Trump can maintain control over his political agenda, evaluate his legislative and negotiation strategies, examine fractious political relationships within the Republican Party, and analyze shifts in media perception—all set against the backdrop of attempts to repeal Obamacare, alter NAFTA, pass tax reform, and build the border wall.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Shift from Campaigner to President

[02:28 – 04:29]

• Media Manipulation: In the campaign, Trump was treated as a novelty; cable news networks covered his speeches live and unedited, and his surprising tweets dominated the news.
  • “He benefited, of course, from having a single enemy in Hillary Clinton. And that’s really always been important to Trump…Now, he’s constantly trying to invent them.” – Ryan Lizza [03:33]
• New Challenges: As President, Trump faces the realities of governing—requiring negotiation with Congress and the courts—and no longer enjoys driving the story unopposed.

2. Managing Internal Administration Conflict

[04:29 – 06:28]

• NAFTA Debate: Trump’s advisors are bitterly divided between ‘economic nationalists’ (Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller) and ‘New York’ (Gary Cohn, Jared Kushner). This internal rift shapes major policy decisions like possible withdrawal from NAFTA.
  • “Cohn has started to have a little bit of the upper hand, partly because when you’re head of the National Economic Council, it’s a big policy council…” – Ryan Lizza [05:32]
• Negotiation Style: Leaked threats to withdraw from NAFTA may be tactics to intimidate Canada and Mexico rather than genuine policy moves.

3. Obamacare Repeal Efforts and Congressional Dynamics

[06:29 – 09:37]

• Freedom Caucus Power: The conservative Freedom Caucus (about 40 Republicans) wields significant power through strict voting rules, making passing any bill a challenge for GOP leadership.
  • “There’s really no precedent for a House caucus working that way…If they reach an 80% threshold internally, then all 40 members are required to withhold support on the floor.” – Ryan Lizza [07:01]
• Contentious Compromises: Health care bill negotiations center on insurance regulations; popular protections, like coverage for pre-existing conditions, complicate matters.
• Public Perception: Negative publicity about the repeal effort has boosted the Affordable Care Act’s popularity, sometimes even above that of the major political parties.

4. The Border Wall and Trump’s Negotiating Record

[10:23 – 11:52]

• Legislative Reality: Trump threatened to demand wall funding in a must-pass spending bill but quickly backed down when Democrats refused—a sign of poor negotiation skill.
  • “He made a big show of demanding it in this bill and then immediately backtracked…He’s not proven to be a skilled legislative negotiator so far.” – Ryan Lizza [11:32]

5. Trump’s Relationship with the Media and His Support Base

[11:52 – 13:35]

• ‘Fake Media’ Rhetoric: Trump relishes the media’s negative attention, using it to rally and bond with his supporters—despite regularly engaging with journalists himself.
  • “He likes the idea of the war on the media. He likes having us as an enemy. But he probably talks to reporters more than Obama did.” – Ryan Lizza [12:09]
• Unwavering Base: His approval among Republican voters remains high, unaffected by legislative setbacks or negative coverage.

6. Tax Reform: Favoring the Wealthy?

[13:35 – 15:12]

• Proposed Tax Plan: Trump’s plan is seen as beneficial for the rich and large corporations, with little focus on the average worker.
  • “You don’t really see anything in it that is particularly responsive to the plight of the white working class in this country.” – Ryan Lizza [14:10]
• Potential Backlash: If enacted, and the media clarifies its limited benefits to Trump’s core supporters, it could undermine his political base.

7. Conservative Media’s View of Trump’s Performance

[15:12 – 17:22]

• Favorable Coverage: Most of right-wing media, especially Fox News and talk radio, are supportive, highlighting conservative judicial nominations and tough stances on immigration.
  • “Being extremely restrictionist on immigration, appointing judges who...are sort of hand picked by the conservative legal establishments…That set of issues gives him a lot of goodwill with conservatives…” – Ryan Lizza [16:12]
• Potential Fractures: Key figures like Rush Limbaugh express disappointment if Trump wavers on core issues like border wall funding, but most right-wing media still back him over Democrats.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [03:33] Ryan Lizza:
  “He benefited...from having a single enemy in Hillary Clinton...Now, he’s constantly trying to invent them. So sometimes it’s the press, occasionally it’s a foreign country like China, sometimes it’s the Freedom Caucus...”

• [07:01] Ryan Lizza:
  “There’s really no precedent for a House caucus working that way...If they reach an 80% threshold internally, then all 40 members are required to withhold support on the floor.”

• [11:32] Ryan Lizza:
  “He made a big show of demanding it in this bill and then immediately backtracked…He’s not proven to be a skilled legislative negotiator so far.”

• [12:09] Ryan Lizza:
  “He likes the idea of the war on the media. He likes having us as an enemy. But he probably talks to reporters more than Obama did.”

• [14:10] Ryan Lizza:
  “You don’t really see anything in it that is particularly responsive to the plight of the white working class in this country.”

• [16:12] Ryan Lizza:
  “Being extremely restrictionist on immigration, appointing judges who...are sort of hand picked by the conservative legal establishments…That set of issues gives him a lot of goodwill with conservatives…”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [02:28] – Shift from campaign to presidency
• [04:29] – Internal White House conflicts, NAFTA debates
• [06:29] – Obamacare repeal efforts, Freedom Caucus dynamics
• [10:23] – The border wall: failed negotiation
• [11:52] – Trump’s ongoing war with the media and supporter loyalty
• [13:35] – Tax plan analysis and its risks
• [15:12] – Conservative media’s response and intraparty cracks

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Tone & Style

The conversation is brisk, analytical, and lightly sardonic, echoing The New Yorker’s editorial sensibility. Ryan Lizza provides detailed, insider perspectives; Dorothy Wickenden guides the discussion, ensuring clarity and relatability—both for its political wonks and curious general listeners.

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This summary captures the substance, dynamic quotes, and the sequence of discussion, making it easy for those who haven’t listened to grasp the core themes and arguments of this episode.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

This is the Political Scene, a weekly conversation with New Yorker writers and editors about Politics. It's Thursday, April 27th. Dr. I'm Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor of the New Yorker. Last week, a reporter asked Donald Trump at a White House press conference which was more important to him this week on Capitol Hill, a vote on his current health care plan or a vote to keep the government funded?

[C]

Okay, I want to get both. Are you shocked to hear that? And we're doing very well on health care. We'll see what happens. But this is a great bill. There's a great plan. And this will be great health care. It's evolving. You know, there was never a give up. The press sort of reported there was like a give up. There's no give up. We started the plan gets better and better and better, and it's gotten really, really good. And a lot of people are liking it a lot. We have a good chance of getting it soon.

[B]

As the administration heads into the next hundred days, Ryan Lissa joins me to discuss how much control Trump retains over his agenda and, and how the Media is responding to his presidency. Hi, Ryan.

[D]

Hey, Dorothy. Action packed week here.

[B]

Exactly. You took the words out of my mouth. I want to start, though, by pulling back just a little bit to talk about the success Trump had during the campaign in driving his own story and how that is beginning to change as he tries to manage his presidency. He's now got Congress and the courts to contend with and the enormous task of dismantling not only Obama's legacy, but the diplomatic and economic fundamentals of the last 50 years.

[D]

Yeah, the campaign, he was still such a novelty. And, you know, and famously, the cable news networks would take his speeches raw and unedited, live in a way that they didn't do for Hillary Clinton. His tweets were constantly surprising us. Capacity to be shocked, at least for me, never ended last year. And he really drove the storyline. And I think he benefited, of course, from having a single enemy in Hillary Clinton. And that's really always been important to Trump as he has something to rail against. And I think a couple of things have changed since he's been in the White House. One is the Republicans control everything, and he no longer has a handy enemy, which is one reason he's constantly trying to invent them. So sometimes it's the press, occasionally it's a foreign country like China, sometimes it's.

[B]

The Freedom Caucus on Capitol Hill in his own party.

[D]

That's the first problem. The second problem is one of the things that's surprising about this White House is Trump wakes up in the morning, turns on Fox and Friends, and starts reacting to what's being said about him. And it sort of disrupts what's going on in the White House. It can change his agenda. He might start tweeting, start talking to reporters. And so he has not proved to be as effective in understanding the modern media and sort of manipulating it, and seems more reactive, at least compared to the campaign.

[B]

Let's talk just about this week, starting with Trump's contradictory statements about his intention to withdraw from nafta.

[D]

All right, so he obviously, during the campaign made ironclad guarantees that NAFTA was over, he was going to rip it up and withdraw. And it was something he was going to do early on. Then, of course, during the transition and during the last hundred days, he gathered around him a group of advisers who fiercely disagreed internally about this. So you've got the so called economic nationalist wing led by Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. And then, you know, he got this, what's often referred to internally just as New York, basically New York Wall Street Democrats. So Jared Kushner, and not that he's a Wall street person, he grew up in the real estate world. Gary Cohn, the head of the National Economic Council, someone who was president of Goldman Sachs. And they've been sort of corporate America's way into the White House. And, you know, obviously most of the Republican Party is still pretty free trade, at least at the elite level. Maybe not. The voters are much more mixed. And obviously, most of the funding base of the Republican Party is extremely pro free trade and pro nafta. So they've been at war since day one. Cohn has started to have a little bit of the upper hand, partly because when you're head of the National Economic Council, it's a big policy council inside the White House. And so that has sort of helped Cohn, the head of the team New York, in some of these battles against Bannon and Miller, who don't quite have the kind of policy staffing resources. So here's the question. So there. It leaked that Trump was preparing the order. That is the first step, according to nafta, if one of the parties wants to withdraw from nafta, you know, so it could be one of two things. It could be genuinely he's on his way to pulling out, or it might just be classic Trump negotiating tactic, taking an extreme position, getting the Canadians and the Mexicans a little nervous, and then, you know, negotiating back from there.

[B]

And what about his promise to repeal and replace Obamacare? Last month, he was taken by surprise by Republican defections on the bill. Then he came back with a new bill this week. How's that looking?

[D]

I guess I was surprised at how strong the Freedom Caucus was in withholding support. So the Freedom Caucus is this very conservative group of about 40 Republicans. And if Paul Ryan loses 20 Republicans and all the Democrats withhold support, then you can kill anything. And so the Freedom Caucus is this very novel institution that has organized itself to be able to deny the speaker whenever they get together. There's really no precedent for a House caucus working that way. So they vote internally. If they reach an 80% threshold internally, then all 40 members are required to withhold support on the floor.

[B]

And was there objection that the bill didn't go far enough in repealing Obamacare, and if so, what's different now in the current bill?

[D]

Exactly. They believed that it didn't go far enough, that it didn't actually repeal Obamacare. And the big thing that they were concerned about is that it left in place a lot of the regulations on the insurance industry. Well, Those regulations are some of the most popular parts of the bill, including the big one that Trump and all Republicans have promised since the start of this process to keep. And that is that insurance companies could not deny you coverage if you have a pre existing condition. If you have cancer, you can still get insurance. That's the most important regulation, the most popular, the one that's most. But there were other regulations that made insurance more expensive, but made it more of a consumer friendly product. The Freedom Caucus wanted to kill as many of those regulations on the insurance industry as possible and that's why they withheld their support for the first version. This week they've negotiated a compromise that rolls back some of those regulations and that's where we stand today.

[B]

It can't be a good sign though, that according to Ezra Klein at least, that the Affordable Care act is now more popular than either of the political parties, the, the Vice president, Congress, the media.

[D]

So two things have happened through this process. One is Obamacare has become more popular and we always sort of knew, for instance, these are all state based exchanges. So each state sets up its own exchange and states can call different things. So there's polling I once saw in Kentucky where voters were asked, do you like? I think it's called ConnectCare. And they said overwhelmingly they love it. And then you asked, do they like Obamacare? And they said overwhelmingly they didn't like it. But yeah. So Obamacare has become more popular, I think probably through the process of the last hundred days where people learned a little bit more what was in it, a little bit more about some of these regulations and maybe some people who were actually on Obamacare and didn't know it, started to realize what they would be losing. And so now they've got this compromise. The Freedom Caucus, this group of 40 Republicans has agreed to support it. And the question is, does it lose other Republicans? Are there 20 Republicans who think this bill is even worse than the last one and make it so that it still can't be PATH.

[E]

I'm Katie Drummond. I'm Wired's Global Editorial Director.

[D]

I'm Michael Colory, Wired's Director of Consumer Tech and Culture.

[B]

And I'm Lauren Good. I'm a senior correspondent at Wired. And our show Uncanny Valley is all about the people, power and influence of Silicon Valley.

[E]

At Wired, we're constantly reporting on how technology is changing every aspect of our lives. So each week on the show, we get together to talk about one of the biggest stories in tech, right?

[D]

So whether we're talking about privacy, AI, social media, or A major tech figure. We will always explain the Silicon Valley forces behind these stories and how they affect you.

[E]

Make sure you're following Uncanny Valley in your podcast app of choice so you don't miss an episode.

[B]

Trump tweeted on Tuesday, don't let the fake media tell you that I have changed my position on the wall. It will get built and help stop drugs, human trafficking, et cetera. What's happening with the wall?

[D]

I guess I would definitely be in that category of fake media, because I think the headline on one of my pieces this week was how he abandoned his promise. You know, to me, this was just an example of what a bad negotiator he is. Last week, he and his budget director and a few others came out with what looked like a coordinated strategy of saying, we want funding for the wall in this must pass spending measurements. And a couple of days later, with Democrats saying, sorry, you're not going to get that. You're going to shut the government down over this, Trump immediately backtracked. Republicans never included the money in the legislation. They were negotiating with the Democrats. And Trump came out and said, okay, that's fine. Now this spending bill is sort of leftover business from last year. The new fiscal year starts in the fall, and Trump has said he'll ask for the money then. So he hasn't abandoned it for good, but he made a big show of demanding it in this bill and then immediately backtracked. And to members up on the Hill, they're watching him and trying to figure out and understand how firm he is in these negotiations. And to me, the lesson most of these guys have learned now is he's not reliable. If he demands something, he might change his mind. You can ignore him. He's not proven to be a skilled legislative negotiator so far.

[B]

And how do you think he's doing in his battle with the fake media, as he calls it, meaning the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker and others. He kind of got the upper hand of everybody throughout the campaign. As it turned out, he won the presidency when no one in the mainstream media predicted he would.

[D]

He lives for the press's attention and affirmation and flattery. I mean, anyone who watches cable news all day long and just looks for people who are saying nice things about him. I think he likes the idea of the war on the media. He likes having us as an enemy. But he probably talks to reporters more than Obama did.

[B]

And do you feel that the negative coverage of his administration is making a difference among his supporters?

[D]

I think he still has a pretty solid bond with his supporters. This is confirmed by every poll that's been taken this hundred days. He still gets nine out of ten Republicans backing him. His unpopularity with the rest of the country and his lack of progress on his agenda has not affected him yet with, you know, you can't even say just his hardcore support. It's just with Republicans in general, he's getting 90%, and they play that up. So on Saturday night, instead of going to the White House Correspondents Dinner, he's going to go have a rally in Pennsylvania, the state that we all in the media thought he could never win. And you'll have split screens on the cable news channels of Trump bashing the media, talking to his supporters in Pennsylvania, while the Washington press, you know, has a black tie affair at the Hilton down here. That's the sort of the perfect setup that he, you know, he wants the American people to see he's there with the people in Pennsylvania rather than, you know, in the ballroom.

[B]

The White House also this week released a tax plan of sorts. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnookin, of course, was constantly skewered by the mainstream media for this plan, which they portrayed as giveaways to the very rich with special tax breaks for business executives like Trump himself. Talk a little bit about that and whether this plan will ultimately hurt him with his hardcore supporters.

[D]

It could hurt him in two ways. It could hurt him if it actually passes and the press does a good job reporting about how it's not actually a plan that's geared to benefit his most important supporters. You don't really see anything in it that is particularly responsive to the plight of the white working class in this country. It's a big tax cut for corporate America, a smaller tax cut for wealthy individuals, and then getting rid of a lot of tax deductions, but not getting rid of the big ones like the mortgage interest deduction, which, of course, is extremely important to one industry in particular, the real estate industry. I don't know if that's the reason Trump's not getting rid of it. The real reason is probably because it's the most popular one in the tax code. He has proposed getting rid of the deduction for state and local taxes, and that is going to meet a wall of resistance. You already see a lot of Republicans saying, no way. If that's in the bill, they won't support it. And then he doesn't have a way to pay for these tax cuts. So passing tax reform is going to make repealing Obamacare look simple.

[B]

Inevitably there's been a lot of press about Trump's first hundred days. We're continuing that ourselves. How does the right wing press rate Trump's successes legislatively and in terms of use of the executive?

[D]

It's been very favorable. And obviously the conservative media is a little more complicated and divided than it used to be because Trump polarized a lot of conservatives media organizations, the more intellectual journals that were sort of the home to a lot of anti Trump views during the primaries, they've sort of continued to host those views, but sort of strained to find reasons to say nice things about him. But the powerful conservative media like Fox News and conservative talk radio has been.

[B]

Extremely pro Trump and they like particularly, it seems, the Gorsuch nomination to the Supreme Court and tightening border controls. And that does seem to have made a difference, notwithstanding the whole debate over the wall.

[D]

Absolutely being extremely restrictionist on immigration, appointing judges who, as our colleague Jeffrey Toobin pointed out, are sort of hand picked by the conservative legal establishments. And this issue hasn't been raised too much, but it's one that helps him with the right enormously, is, you know, not changing his position on abortion or gun rights. That set of issues gives him a lot of goodwill with conservatives, especially conservative media. I will note one little wrinkle. I did notice this week that Rush Limbaugh was disappointed with Trump backing off his demand on the border wall. So immigration is a big one for the sort of Ann Coulters and the real, you know, frankly, what used to be the fringe. Right. But that helped Trump win the primary. The Ann Coulters, the Rush Limbaughs of the world, Sean Hannity and I think that you'd see some cracks on the far right if he backed off on some of those issues. But for that crowd, they will always hate liberals and Democrats more than Trump. So as long as Trump has the press and Democrats to kick around, he'll always be able to count on the support of the far right.

[B]

Thanks so much, Ryan.

[D]

Thanks, Dorothy.

[B]

Ryan Lizza is a staff writer for the New Yorker and an on air contributor for cnn. This has been the political scene from the New Yorker. You can subscribe to this and other New Yorker podcasts by searching for the New Yorker in your podcast app. And find more political analysis and commentary on new yorker.com Feel free to rate and review the political scene on itunes. This podcast is produced by Alex barron for new yorker.com with help from Daniel Wenger. I'm Dorothy Wickenden.

[D]

Foreign.

[E]

I'm Katie Drummond. I'm Wired's global editorial director.

[D]

I'm Michael Kollory, Wired's Director of Consumer Tech and Culture.

[B]

And I'm Lauren Good. I'm a senior correspondent at Wired. And our show, Uncanny Valley, is about the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley.

[E]

And right now, Silicon Valley and Washington have never been more intertwined. So each week, we get together to talk about a big story, often at the intersection of tech and politics.

[D]

Right. So whether we're talking about Trump, Coin Doge, or Elon Musk, we will always explain how these Silicon Valley forces are.

[B]

Affecting Washington and how they affect you.

[E]

Make sure you're following Uncanny Valley in your podcast app of choice so you don't miss an episode.

[D]

From prx.