Trump, in New TV Ad, Declares First 100 Days a Success

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/us/politics/trump-ad-100-days.html

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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday released a triumphant campaign advertisement declaring his first 100 days in office a success, and branding news media that have reported otherwise as “FAKE NEWS.”

The 30-second television advertisement and a series of more targeted versions that are to run online are the latest examples of Mr. Trump’s extraordinarily early return to politicking at a time when most presidents would be spending their time pushing through their highest legislative priorities.

It follows a frenetic week in which Mr. Trump, after having rejected the 100-day mark as an indicator of the success or failure of his presidency, sat for several interviews and dispatched his top advisers for virtually nonstop briefings. They all made the case that he had accomplished significant things since taking office, despite Mr. Trump’s lack of major legislative achievements.

“America has rarely seen such success,” the narrator says, listing the confirmation of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, companies investing in jobs in the United States, the elimination of “regulations that kill American jobs” and the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

“The biggest tax cut plan in history,” the voice intones, without mentioning that Mr. Trump has yet to offer any legislation — or even a set of policy prescriptions — for reordering the tax code to achieve the enormous cuts for businesses and individuals that he has endorsed.

“You wouldn’t know it from watching the news,” the narrator adds, showing the faces of anchors for mainstream news broadcasters as the words “FAKE NEWS” flash across the screen in large red letters.

The spot does not mention Mr. Trump’s failed attempt to push through a health care overhaul, after having vowed that the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act would be his earliest priority.

Nor is there any reference to his attempts to crack down on illegal immigration, which have largely stalled.

Congress has refused to provide any money for the border wall that was a powerful symbol during the Trump campaign, and courts have blocked two of his efforts to bar travelers from on six predominantly Muslim countries and to defund sanctuary cities that refuse to help the federal authorities track and deport illegal immigrants.

The advertisement is paid for by Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign, for which he filed papers in January, on the day he was sworn in.

Mr. Trump’s campaign said it would spend $1.5 million to air the advertisement throughout the country, a relatively small sum that does not indicate a major national public relations campaign. But it underscores Mr. Trump’s strategy of returning remarkably early to partisan politics, including a series of re-election campaign rallies that began only weeks into his presidency.

The latest such gathering was in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday night, timed to coincide with the White House Correspondents Dinner, which Mr. Trump declined to attend. He took a red-meat political tone as he reprised the populist themes of his campaign and angrily denounced the news media.