The US President has had a tense exchange with a reporter. Source: CBS
To mark President Donald Trump's first 100 days in power, Will Ferrell broke out his famous Dubya impression at an event in Washington.
"History's been kinder to me than many of you thought," said Ferrell as President George W. Bush. "For the longest time, I was considered the worst president of all time. That has changed - and it only took 100 days.
"I needed eight years, a catastrophic flood, a war built on a lie, an economic disaster. The new guy needed 100 days."
For anyone who lived through the Bush presidency, there's a jolt of deja vu with Trump.
Merge the Texan rancher and former governor from an elite Republican family with the self-promoting New York-by-way-of-Palm Beach hype machine with a liking for golden opulence. Trump is Bush reimagined by Versace.
Others might see the presidency as a pinnacle but for Trump it seems more like a temporary contract.
His wife and son remain, expensively to taxpayers, at Trump Towers in New York. He's spent several weekends at his Mar-a-Lago resort. His celebrity businessman persona is his version of acting presidential.
The only natural pictures of Trump are the ones of the President playing golf. The others - leaving Air Force One, holding election rallies nearly six months after the election, sitting uncomfortably at his desk like he's just stopped by - are part of the reality TV show, Trump in the Oval Office, that we are watching now.
Possibly the most striking images to emerge from the first months of the Administration so far were the pictures of Sarah Palin, Kid Rock and Ted Nugent standing in casual gear next to Trump at his desk and mocking a White House portrait of Hillary Clinton.
Whereas President Barack Obama got photographed having fun with kids, this was the nearest thing to cousin Billy and some mates sneaking in the back door and gleefully checking out the finery.
That's where the Trump Administration is now: In the new place, not settled in, and not comfortable with the surroundings or really organised yet.
In the first three months, despite a lot of dramatic noise, the Administration has struggled to find coherent strategies and achievements. Different officials have offered different policy positions - sometimes from themselves a day or two earlier. It is hard to know what statements can be relied upon.
Daniel Dale, a political writer for the Toronto Star, wrote: "The man who promised that transformative change would be 'so easy' has either failed in his attempts at big moves or declined to try them at all."
Trump has managed to get a justice on the Supreme Court but his only legislative punt - the Obamacare repeal - dipped out. He has used Executive Orders to roll back some Obama regulations.
But EOs can be undone by a future Democrat president. Trump initially had 10 bills which he planned to introduce in the first 100 days, according to Politifact.
Trump's tax reform plan has been outlined, but major question marks remain over funding for the wall, military and infrastructure.
The President has been thwarted by resistance from Democrats and some Republicans in Congress, the judiciary over his immigration bans and the public's willingness to protest and pressure their representatives.
Commentators have seen signs of competence and moderation in Trump's elevation of military men such as James Mattis, H.R. McMaster and John Kelly, the reported decline in influence of Steve Bannon and the removal of Michael Flynn.
Never mind that the adviser with the most responsibility is Trump's son-in-law and the President's daughter has a White House office.
Like Trump, George W. Bush was positioned as an outsider taking on Washington. Like Trump, his election victory was built on support from a motivated base.
Both Bush and Trump started on the back foot after losing the popular vote. Some commentators explain Trump's unpopularity on the long, divisive 2016 campaign.
Is it any wonder his approval rating hovers around 40 per cent? But Bush's win via hanging chads in Florida and a Supreme Court ruling was hugely divisive, after an election that showed the country split down the middle.
For anyone who lived through the Bush presidency, there's a jolt of deja vu with Trump. Photo / Supplied
Much is made of Trump's support among his base, yet, as Politico reported, Trump's 86 per cent is below Bush's 93 per cent among Republicans at the same stage. Bush also did better with independents (61 per cent to Trump's 39 per cent) and Democrats (31 per cent to 10 per cent).
Bush showed early on, and Trump is showing, inexperience yet a strong belief in their own abilities. Trump told Reuters last week that he thought the job would be easier than it was. Bush said in his first term that he didn't second-guess his own decisions and relied on his instincts.
Bush came to office with a collection of gaffes on foreign affairs but had experienced advisers such as Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld. Bush's team and popularity at least helped him navigate Congress.
Two bills - the US$1.35 trillion ($1.96t) tax cut and No Child Left Behind - got under way in Bush's first 100 days.
Trump's foreign dealings have been marked by unpredictability, spats with allies, flip-flops, and military acts. NBC noted that "Trump has taken 26 new stances, including 19 during his first 100 days as President, on 12 different issues". Trump admitted to being tutored for 10 minutes on North Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He said he found North Korea "not so easy" and added "It's not what you would think". Similarly, healthcare was "so complicated" - a fact "nobody knew", he said, like a teenager discovering for the first time that drinking beer can give you hangovers.
Trump clearly wants to be considered a success but it is hard to know what he believes. He has shown he can talk tough and then back down - over the immigration bans, China, Nafta, and Nato.
A confidence that foreign affairs can be controlled and reshaped in this multipower world is a Bush-like trait of Trump's. There was for both a quick reach for big talk and bigger weapons.
Trump sent cruise missiles into Syria and the mother of all bombs into Afghanistan. In his first 100 days, Bush ordered airstrikes on Iraq to enforce a no-fly zone.
The September 11 attacks completely changed the course of Bush's presidency. Trump is yet to face a major terrorist attack or natural disaster or "crisis" not of his own making.
Beneath the new elevated focus on North Korea, which has been testing missiles for a long time, is essentially the old gambit of trying to get China to put pressure on Pyongyang.
A Brookings opinion article in 2003, before the Iraq invasion deepened into a years-long disaster, said: "Bush's foreign policy beliefs were simple, straightforward, and deeply held.
The world is a dangerous place. Power, especially military might, is crucial to defeating threats to the United States. Pay less attention to what others say and more attention to what they do. Multilateral agreements and institutions were neither essential nor necessarily conducive to American interests.
And perhaps most important: The United States is a uniquely just great power and seen as such by the rest of the world. As a result, when America leads, others will follow." It also refers to Bush's "unshakeable confidence in his own judgment".
In a 2004 article in the New York Times magazine, Ron Suskind also wrote about Bush's faith and certainty. Trump famously said at the Republican convention: "I alone can fix it".
Non-fans of Bush and Trump have the same contempt for certain flaws. Arrogance, Bushisms and folksy quips are now replaced by bluster, shallow generalisms and exaggeration.
During an interview this week on CBS, Trump appeared to misunderstand the meaning of a comment by Bush, mentioned by interviewer John Dickerson, that "the reason the Oval Office is round is there are no corners you can hide in". Dickerson had to explain that Bush meant "it all comes back to you".
Possibly there's the same chance of Trump being underestimated as Bush was, should the Democrats make the mistake of putting up a limited candidate against the President in 2020 and fail to bring the right messages and policies.
A lesson of the Bush presidency is that the personality, approach and policies of the leader really matter in how an Administration operates and can have drastic consequences.
Bush made "bold" moves as Trump has shown he is capable of. The US is still in Afghanistan. Isis grew from the battlefields of Iraq and a war built on a Bush Administration lie over weapons of mass destruction.
But now Trump has brought about the slight rehab of Bush.
Trump has made Bush seem better through his stream of falsehoods including over non-existent mass voter fraud and his inauguration crowd size; thin-skinned complaints; bigotry as shown by the Muslim bans; attempt at healthcare removal for millions; use of white nationalists as advisers; trampling of political conventions and remarkable family profiteering.
Bush hasn't had it this good in a long time. For the simple reason that Trump makes him look good.
