“Much ado about nothing.” That’s how S&P Global Ratings characterized Donald Trump’s first 100 days as president. Trump, of course, promised tectonic changes during his first 100 days, including legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, middle-class tax cuts, and a wholesale revamping of trade policy. Instead of political shock-and-awe, however, Trump has delivered bark-and-fade: ACA repeal failed. His bare-bones tax plan fits on a napkin. And Trump has backed away from his most muscular promises on trade.

Since he made such grandiose campaign promises, it’s easy to characterize Trump’s first 100 days as a flop. But he has accomplished a few things as well, even if they weren’t spelled out in his campaign manifesto. Among his early successes:

Focusing intently on jobs

Trump repeatedly calls on business leaders to boost domestic hiring and bring him ideas for how to improve on modest levels of economic growth. A lot of it is mere talk, but CEOs also say, both publicly and privately, that they take Trump at his word and they could, in fact, do more business in the United States if the economic climate were more welcoming. If Trump can prune cumbersome regulations and manage even modest tax reform, it’s quite possible companies will respond as he wants them to—by conducting more business in the United States and creating more jobs.

Bombing Syria

Perhaps the only bipartisan agreement in Washington during the last 100 days came when Trump ordered the US Navy to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield from which chemical weapons attacks were launched against civilians. One of President Barack Obama’s most disappointing moments was his refusal to act militarily when Syria crossed the “red line” Obama had established in 2013, with the repeated use of chemical weapons. Many Mideast experts feel Obama should have responded then as Trump did less than two months into his own presidency. Sure, there was a symbolic aspect to the strike, but it showed more American resolve than Obama’s tepid response.

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