Trump hits high mark, but challenges remain
WASHINGTON — After a shaky two-and-a-half month start, President Trump now enjoys his first major legislative success — confirmation of new Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch — and support for his first foreign policy challenge, an airstrike targeting Syria's chemical weapons delivery system.
Moving forward, Trump also continues to face major challenges.
While aides touted the confirmation of Gorsuch and the confronting of Syria, analysts point out that the still-new president must move forward while dealing with investigations over Russia, emerging developments in Syria, friction with Republican conservatives, and in-fighting among White House senior staff.
"He's on a path where there are plunging ravines on one side and deadly swamps on the other," said Rick Wilson, a Republican consultant and Trump critic based in Florida.
Trump aides said that these have been big days, but cast them as a continuation of a program to redeem his campaign pledges.
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"We think these are more indicators of the president doing what he said he would do," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. That includes "making national security a top priority, and focusing on trade and jobs."
Gorsuch, the newest member of the Supreme Court, "will be part of the president's legacy," Sanders said. "It will have generational impact."
She also cited Trump's summit Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Speaking with reporters after meeting with Xi, Trump said he is making progress in dealings with China, "and lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away."
Upcoming agenda items
In the coming weeks, Trump's agenda includes tax reform and infrastructure proposals in Congress, as well as a temporary spending bill that can fend off a possible government shutdown at the end of the month.
His team will also be keeping a wary eye on the economy. A labor report Friday said that the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.5%, but employers added only a disappointing 98,000 jobs last month, well below projections.
The Gorsuch confirmation and China meeting came a day after Trump authorized a U.S. missile strike on an airfield in Syria he said had been used to launch a chemical weapons attack on civilians.
Lawmakers generally backed the action, but pointed out the the Syria problem overall remains. They called on Trump to develop a comprehensive plan in dealing with the Syrian civil war, a conflict that touches on policies regarding Russia, Iran, the Islamic State, terrorism, and countries that are dealing with a floods of Syrian refugees.
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"It's a jigsaw puzzle and you've got to do this right," said Rick Tyler, a Republican consultant and MSNBC political analyst. He added that "the good news is (Trump) was able to act quickly and decisively" in authorizing Thursday's military strike.
Moving forward, the White House is also trying to revive efforts to repeal and repeal President Obama's health care law, the Affordable Care Act. That effort ran aground last month after opposition from conservatives with the House Freedom Caucus, which objected to a Trump-backed health care bill as inadequate.
"If the House Republicans prove as unruly on tax reform as they did in ACA repeal, I think we'll see Trump once again chafing at the limits of his office," said political scientist Nicole Renee Hemmer, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia's Miller Center.
While confirming Gorsuch and confronting Syria generate good headlines, Hemmer said they come after disputes over the Russia investigations, the congressional health care failure, staff turmoil, and lawsuits over the president's proposed travel ban from certain Muslim countries. "I think it's too early to say it's a turning point,"' she said.
Ongoing Russia investigations
Congress and the FBI are also investigating possible links between Trump's presidential campaign and Russians who tried to influence last year's election by hacking Democrats close to Trump opponent Hillary Clinton. Trump has denounced the investigations as a "hoax" and said he has no ties to Russia.
While grappling with investigations and legislation, Trump also faces stories of staff in-fighting, and competing news leaks that promote or denigrate various factions in the West Wing.
Depending on the leaker, Trump is prepared to jettison White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus or senior adviser Steve Bannon, or both. Senior adviser Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, is reported to be conspiring against Bannon, and vice-versa.
Administration officials called the reports overblown, saying disputes within the team are a normal part of business.
Disputing reports of an imminent staff shakeup, Sanders said, "Once again, this is a completely false story driven by people who want to distract from the success taking place in this administration."
Trump and his team faced a similar optimistic moment after his well-received speech to Congress on Feb. 28. Four days later, he unleashed a tweetstorm accusing Obama, without evidence, of having him wiretapped during last yer's election, igniting an ongoing phase of the Russia probe that has distracted the administration.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a frequent critic of Trump, told MSNBC that the current moment gives Trump "an opportunity to reboot with the American people," if he can take it.
"I would love to see the tweeting stop," McCain said, "but I would also like to see pigs fly."
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