The 100 Day Milestone (Where Democrats Go From Here):
A Look Back on Trump's First 100 Days, and Thoughts on the Gerontocracy
Feel free to check the past Biden Era archives and follow the editions to come in the Trump Era on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn, including those on the 2024 Autopsy, Bench-Building, DOGE News, Project 2025 Authoritarianism, Progressive Populism, and more (First Come, First Serve!).
Here’s something from Punchbowl News on all the federal funding Trump is blocking: “The blocked funding covers everything from medical research, COPS grants, disaster relief, aid to farmers, Head Start, school lunches and major infrastructure projects, according to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) and Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations panels.”
Not to mention climate researchers and the Peace Corps.
April has been quite a busy month, from a guest post about party organization, to the talk about a Democratic Party vision, the need for rural engagement, and covering the rigged system known as “oligarchy”—or government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.
I also want to reflect on the gerontocracy crisis facing Washington DC. The median age of the Senate is around 65 years give or take, while the House is just a little younger at 58 years (compare that with 39 years amongst the general population). And sure, while Republicans are dealing with this issue too, Democrats are wrestling with it even more.
Age is not everything, as even I will concede. Joe Biden did a lot policy wise as President, especially in the first 2-3 years. Bernie Sanders is out on a “Fight Oligarchy” Tour traveling vast swaths of the country over a mere couple of months. Elizabeth Warren and Jack Reed are leading the way on congressional oversight.
Nonetheless, it makes sense why the Democratic Party base is so frustrated with many old leaders who are not attuned to digital media, addressing the issues at the urgency they demand, or withdrawing and passing the torch when they hit their limit.
Many of these concerns are very valid and justified. We went through tragic deaths of female lions in politics over the years like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Senator Dianne Feinstein. The demands of the Presidency, along with campaigning across the country, wore down Biden, at least physically.
But there’s more. In Congress, there are concerns about Georgia Democratic Congressman David Scott, a 79-year old former ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee before being replaced this year. People cite his age, House absenteeism, and recent illnesses as indicative of the need to have more lively leadership and representation in the Atlanta metro area.
Scott is only one of more than 70 members of Congress over the age of 70.
Last year, it took months to find out GOP House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger, 82, had been placed in a nursing home for dementia patients.
Understandably, people are wondering about whether Congressman Gerry Connolly, 74, can counter Trump’s fast-moving antics as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. Considering he has esophagus cancer, it is hard to just assume things will run smoothly under such circumstances. As it turned out, Connolly decided to voluntarily step down this week after a cancer return announcement (send your thoughts and prayers to the Connolly Family).
While Honorable Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, 85, retired from House Democratic leadership, she has reportedly been whipping Democratic votes on areas of importance to her, such as the House Oversight Committee assignment that selected Connolly over a much younger AOC.
And just to unpack the stats a little more, there are only one or two Gen Z members of Congress today, which is wholly unrepresentative of the country.
Senate Democratic leadership is old too. The questions over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, 74, stem from age in a way. People do wonder whether Schumer is out of step with the times to what is a more combative, more partisan form of politics. Senator Dick Durbin, his no. 2, is 80 (to his credit, Senator Durbin announced his retirement just this past week).
I’m not saying it’s easy. I think of a family story about Claiborne Pell, a man with such a storied career but who clearly dealt with cognitive decline…likely Alzheimer’s and aging in office (for a real blast from the past, see Joe Biden’s comments on the whole situation). Even though my father and grandfather (the latter a local union leader in Providence, RI) knew Senator Pell, he did not remember them at all at a 1990 reelection campaign event. It must be hard to tell people, including those you admire, that their time has past and a new generation has to take their place.
But that may be one of the big lessons from 2024. The Democratic Party needs more young leaders to take the place of the older lions. It’s clear. The party needs more aggressive and savvy politicians like Chris Murphy and Maxwell Frost to combat Trump in a way many of those in the older generation might not quite understand.
To be merciful, the veterans came from a time when politics was not all combat and where bipartisanship and working together was possible in some respects. But those days are gone, and the last thing that needs to happen is for us to be trailing Trump’s moves at every turn.
We need leaders who understand the issues of the time like the lack of healthcare, the sky-high costs of education, climate change, and the affordable housing crisis. We need leaders who know how to use social media and digital forms of media across the board. We need leaders willing to tour the country and make considerable hay at the destruction to our economy, our society, and our institutions and norms. We need louder voices in the party willing to do more unconventional things, such as 24-hr long filibusters, sit-ins, protests, rallies, and rounds of media appearances. Only electing more younger people can allow that to happen.
The stakes are that high in the need for a new generation of leadership in a party that has struggled to deal with the age question for years. With emerging vacancies in the Senate & House alike, the 2026 midterms may provide the clearest opportunity yet for such needed change in the Democratic Party.
So now, let’s check back on Trump’s First 100 Days, otherwise known as a colossal disaster:
On the economy, prices are up, not down as Trump repeatedly lies about. Unemployment is slightly up, consumer confidence is down to its lowest level in decades, and stocks are significantly still down, wiping out trillions of dollars for 401Ks and retirement funds, and the dollar is down. Existing home sales fell 5.9%. No President has done more damage to an economy in such a short period of time than Donald Trump has, including in the first three months of his term a 0.3% drop in GDP. This comes after 33 consecutive months of economic growth.
On crime, Trump has done more for criminals than any other President in history, pardoning January 6, 2021 seditionists, as well as drug dealers and sex traffickers. Plus, the US is no longer tracking Russian war crimes in Ukraine. The new slogan should be “Back the Blue, Unless They Stand Against You.”
On immigration, it appears we are now deporting American citizens more than we are deporting gang members—except those gang members with friendly ties to El Salvador’s dictator Bukele. You wonder what the Joe Rogans and Dave Portnoys of the world now think of incidents like that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Buyer’s remorse maybe?
On Ukraine, Trump famously said he would bring an end to the war. He was wrong. Putin is running the show, and Trump has all but forfeited negotiations. So much for peace on Day One.
On Israel-Gaza, Trump has prioritized Gazan real estate more than he has the lives of the Palestinian people, or those of the Israeli hostages. The “Art of the Deal” has no deal to show on Day 1, or Day 100 for that matter.
Trump talked about Making America Healthy Again, except now cuts are being made to food safety labs and research on chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s and cancer. Trump lied to his voters again. And as a bonus, measles cases are triple what they were for all of last year. Is it an accident we are in a blackout from the CDC and Bobby Kennedy on the outbreak status of measles? How about the bird flu blackout?
Trump and Elon Musk talked about cutting the federal government. But they aren’t cutting spending. They’re gutting the civil service and government programs working people rely on, all while not saving taxpayers a single penny. In fact, with their cuts to the IRS, they are preventing the government from getting more revenue from billionaires like—you guessed it—Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Lastly, Trump lied to the country about Project 2025. Not only did he enact Project 2025 already, but he is going further than it. Can’t believe I am saying this, but Project 2025 actually looks somewhat generous in hindsight compared to what is being put in place now, whether it is the DOGE Cuts e.g., USAID, the Trump Trade War, the GOP budget resolution, the oligarchy building, or the political retribution campaign.
If anything, the Trump Regime so far has been defined by “Lies, Lies, & More Lies.” But that’s not surprising from a man who epitomizes “The Art of the Steal.”
Great post, Mike!