President Trump's first 100 days
- Congress OKs short-term spending bill, averting government shutdown over weekend
- Trump tells NRA: 'You have a true friend' in White House [video]
- Trump: National monuments a 'massive federal land grab'
- Local anti-Trump activists target state GOP elected officials
- Trump administration says Iran complying with nuclear deal
- Trump declares U.S.-Russia relations may be at 'all-time low'
- Gorsuch sworn into Supreme Court, restores conservative tilt
- U.S. strike on Syria is widely hailed, but angers Russia
- U.S. launches missile attack against Syria
- House intelligence committee chair steps aside
- White House says 'reality' changing with regard to Syria
- U.S. vows to uphold Russia sanctions until it respects pledges
- As GOP schism grows, Trump attacks fellow Republicans
- Trump revives threat to change libel laws
- Senate GOP needs Pence to break tie on family planning funds
- Trump administration seeks delay in ruling on climate plan
- Trump vows efforts to fight nation's opioid addiction crisis
- House sends bill to Trump blocking online privacy regulation
- House sends bill to Trump blocking online privacy regulation
- White House eyeing $18 billion list of social program cuts
- Watchdog to examine cost, security of Trump's Florida trips
- White House looks to bounce back after health care loss
- Trump signs legislation rolling back Obama-era regulations
- Trump's border wall with Mexico faces all kinds of obstacles
- Trump attacks conservative lawmakers over health bill
- Trump, GOP leaders pull troubled health care bill off House floor [video]
- Trump OKs Keystone pipeline, calling it 'great day' for jobs
- House GOP leaders delay vote on health care repeal bill
- Big GOP donors spending millions to stop Trump health care bill
- Trump feels 'somewhat' vindicated after Nunes intelligence briefing
- Comey: FBI probing Trump-Russia links, wiretap claims bogus
- GOP leaders propose health bill changes to help older people
- Trump to meet Iraqi premier as anti-IS policy takes shape
- Trump says Dems 'made up' allegations of Russia interference
- While Trump talks tough, U.S. quietly cutting nuclear force
- Trump says Germany owes 'vast sums' to NATO
- House panel gets Justice Department information about Trump's wiretap claim
- Trump would end subsidies for rural airline service
- Trump OKs changes in GOP health care bill, winning support
- President Trump, German Chancellor Merkel talk job training
- Trump's proposed budget features steep cuts to fund military, homeland security and aid veterans
- President Trump defends wiretapping claims at joint news conference with German Chancellor Merkel
- Trump budget cuts could cut $2 million of block grants for Chattanooga
- Trump pledges to fight 'terrible' court ruling blocking latest travel ban order [video]
- President Donald Trump speaks at rally in Nashville [video]
- Trump's first budget boosts military, cuts domestic programs
- Trump arrives at The Hermitage for historic visit to Andrew Jackson's home
- Trump announces challenge to Obama-era fuel standards
- White House meeting on Saudi underscores kingdom's influence
- President Trump to lay wreath at Andrew Jackson's 's tomb at Hermitage in Nashville
- Trump White House sees influence of shadowy 'deep state'
- Busload of local Trump supporters heading for president's Nashville rally
- Trump earned $153 million and paid $36.5 million in taxes in 2005
- 14 million would lose coverage under GOP plan, according to Congressional Budget Office
- Justice Department asks for more time on wiretapping evidence
- House committee wants evidence for Trump's wiretap claim
- Tax credits work differently in 'Obamacare' and GOP plan
- Trump administration dismissing congressional budget experts
- Trump on charm offensive with former rivals
- No more love for WikiLeaks from Trump after CIA hacked
- Trump's promises vs. the Republican plan on health care
- As president, Trump seeks answers on his own wiretap mystery
- New travel ban eases some legal questions but not all
- House GOP releases bill replacing Obama health care overhaul
- Trump tours private school in Florida, promoting choice
- Environmental programs face deep cuts under budget proposal
- Officials: New Trump order drops Iraq from travel ban list
- Trump looks to refocus his presidency in address to Congress
- Trump budget to increase defense spending by $54 billion
- Trump toasts nation's governors ahead of health care talks
- Trump condemns anonymous sources as staff demands anonymity
- White House bars major news outlets from gaggle
- A look at the legal path ahead for the Trump travel ban
- White House expects Justice crackdown on legalized marijuana
- Trump vows to fight 'epidemic' of human trafficking
- Conservatives learn dealing with Trump can be complicated
- Trump administration lifts transgender student bathroom guidance
- Millions targeted for possible deportation under Trump rules
- Trump Month Two: Talks on health care and on tax overhaul
- Trump praises new African American museum during first visit
- Trump denounces anti-Semitism in newly forceful condemnation
- Trump tries to move past controversies, toward legislating
- Revived by rally, Trump turns back to governing
- Outside of Washington, Trump slips back into campaign mode
- Trump gets out of Washington for campaign-style events
- Trump praises his 'fine-tuned machine,' says media dishonest
- Trump ushers in changes in Obamacare, could lead to higher annual deductibles
- A month into presidency, Trump prepares for a campaign rally
- Trump White House wrestles with a crush of crises
- Trump says U.S. will deal with North Korea 'very strongly'
- North Korean missile launch is Trump's latest test
- AP FACT CHECK: Are immigration raids result of Trump policy?
- Trump cites voter fraud in NH without providing evidence
- Trump says he might give travel ban a tweak or a makeover
- Trump responds to ruling on travel ban: 'SEE YOU IN COURT'
- U.S. appeals court refuses to reinstate Trump's ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations
- Trump says media 'doesn't want to report' extremist attacks
- White House expresses confidence travel ban will be restored
- U.S. judge temporarily blocks Trump's travel ban nationwide
- Trump moves to scale back financial regulations
- State Department says fewer than 60,000 visas canceled under Trump's order
- U.S. sanctions target two dozen people and companies in Iran following ballistic missile test
- Trump pledges to end political limits on churches
- Congress scraps Obama rules on coal mining, guns
- Trump tweets that Iran is 'on notice' for firing missiles
- Trump to Mexico: Take care of 'bad hombres' or U.S. might
- Trump praises Douglass, other famous African Americans
- Trump honors fallen Navy SEAL during unannounced trip
- Speaker defends Trump's order, warns of protests
- Local attorneys see widespread confusion over Trump's immigration order
- Trump supporters say they are happy with immigration order
- Veterans protest travel ban, saying it hurts interpreters
- Trump fires acting attorney general over executive order defiance
- White House: Immigration order 'small price' for safety
- Corker, Alexander call Trump's immigration ban 'poorly implemented' and 'confusing'
- Judge grants temporary stay after Trump immigration ban
- Trump's crackdown on refugees, citizens from 7 majority-Muslim countries takes effect
- Trump signs 'new vetting measures' to guard against terror
- Trump wants to slash EPA workforce and budget, official says
- Trump will pay for border wall with 20 percent tax on Mexican imports, spokesman says
- Trump poised to seek new military options for defeating IS
- Trump signals changes to U.S. interrogation, detention policy
- Trump calls for probe into unsubstantiated voter fraud claim
- Draft order would halt refugee processing for Syrians
- Trump intends to announce his Supreme Court pick on Feb. 2
- Trump warns he's ready to 'send in the Feds' to Chicago
- Trump moves to build border wall, cut sanctuary city funds
- EPA contract freeze, media blackout leave states confused
- Trump dogged by insecurity over popular vote, media coverage
- Trump moving forward with border wall, weighs refugee cuts
- Trump expands anti-abortion ban to all U.S. global health aid
- President Trump moves to advance Keystone XL, Dakota Access oil pipelines
- Trump administration places horse 'soring' ban on hold
- Trump tries to streamline manufacturing permits
- Trump moves to pull U.S. out of big Asia trade deal
- White House kicks off first full work day with daily briefing [video]
- Trump freezes new regulations until his administration can review them
- Trump signs first executive order
We don't pretend to know what the presidential administration of Donald Trump will look like after four years, but we like the fact he is - yet again - fulfilling a campaign promise by attempting to create a more palatable environment for businesses.
Companies, beginning before the president ever took the oath of office, began to announce the hiring of more workers, discuss expansions and make plans for innovation.
The list reads like a who's who of top U.S. employers: Amazon, Boeing, Carrier, Delta, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Spotify, Under Armour, Wal-Mart, as well as the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank and the Chinese tech giant Alibaba.
Many of those companies, no doubt, are feeling a relief after eight years of a president who kept his foot on the brakes, whose record number of regulations were a business stifler and whose Affordable Care Act singly kept recovery from the Great Recession from starting earlier and being stronger.
Trump, on the other hand, has promised to roll back regulations, spend money on infrastructure, and cut taxes on businesses and individuals.
"This is about a confidence because we are seeing less information about regulations and more about growth and opportunity," financial expert and Townhall.com contributor Dan Celia said.
It won't be easy. Both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama presided over economies going into or coming out of recessions, and the recoveries under both presidents never included the wage growth that the end of previous recessions had seen.
Over time, manufacturing jobs have left the country, automation has eliminated many openings, and numbers of those who were trained for one kind of employment could not or would not seek retraining for new work. Some businesses, understanding they could do as much with less, realized they would never need to rehire those workers they let go at the depth of the economic decline.
It will be difficult, for instance, for Trump to make good on his promise to put back to work the many blue-collar workers who were laid off because of Obama's war on coal. The previous president said on the campaign trail in 2008 he planned to put coal mines out of business, and he did his level best. So, there are fewer coal jobs to be had.
Trump has said he wants the country to have an energy policy that utilizes both clean fossil fuels and renewables such as solar and wind power. So some coal jobs could come back on line, but as renewable energies become cheaper without being subsidized, it will become more difficult to sustain the coal jobs.
Automation offers a similar situation. If jobs can be done cheaper and equally well by a machine, they'll be done by a machine. Workers who once did those jobs aren't likely to get them back.
So Trump and his team will have to be creative and innovative in getting people back to work and others back to the kind of work they were used to before the Great Recession.
Meanwhile, Celia said the Wall Street markets, which grew during the later Obama years despite the former president's lukewarm attitude toward business, can sense a new approach.
"The markets are going up - and it's a real increase - because it is based on the perception of what's coming as a result of a pro-growth environment in Washington," he said on his nationwide "Financial Issues" program. "That's why the markets have been going up since the election, and more so after the inauguration, and then even more so in the past week and a half. Why? Because now the perception is beginning to look more and more like reality. The protesting and media attacks on this president are not due to him not fulfilling his campaign promises, but the whining and moaning [are] because of the exact opposite - he is fulfilling his promises. That perception that has been driving the markets is beginning to turn into reality."
The 2017 JP Morgan Chase & Co. Business Leaders Outlook bears out that enthusiasm.
The survey found that 76 percent of executives believe the new administration will have a positive impact on their business. Only 12 percent believe it will have a negative impact. Compared to a year ago, about double the percent of executives (80 percent) from middle market businesses feel confident about the economy. The percent of small business executives who feel confident jumped from 43 percent in 2016 to 62 percent this year.
Further, 57 percent planned to hire more full-time employees, and 71 percent said they plan to raise wages, numbers that are up 8 and 10 points, respectively, from last year.
Trump, to be sure, is unlike any president most of us have seen. He's never likely to win over the protesters - those who voted for and were sure Hillary Clinton would be president - but he may become the best friend business has seen in many years. And if he does, the effects of that friendship could redound positively to Trump supporters, Trump haters and everyone in between.