On Wednesday, President Trump played golf in Florida at one of his golf courses.
Then he told a whopper to West Palm Beach firefighters and paramedics.
“We have signed more legislation than anybody. We have more legislation passed, including — the record was Harry Truman a long time ago, and we broke that record, so we got a lot done.”
Trump is the fifth Republican president since Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed office in 1953.
President Eisenhower is the only other modern Republican president to have both houses of Congress under his party’s control during his first year in office. Working with Congress, Ike signed more than five times as many bills as Trump did during his first year in office.
Data for this chart are from GovTrack and WiredPen.
The other four Republican presidents since Eisenhower faced either a divided Congress or one in direct opposition, yet they each signed more bills into law than Trump.
But even with Congress and the White House under the control of the same party, Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan could not surpass the record of Presidents Richard M. Nixon and George H.W. Bush (41) who had to work with a Democratic Congress. Each moved more than twice as many bills into law as Trump.
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush (43) each worked with a divided Congress to be achieve greater legislative success than Trump.
The four Democratic presidents since 1953 each had a unified Congress during his first year in office. All four succeeded in signing more bills into law than Trump.
Congressional action has changed since the 1950s and 1960s: bills are broader, longer and more complex. Bipartisanship has vanished, as each Congress has become more polarized.
Once again, Trump lied to America.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com