The First 100 Days - Day 1 - The President and His Cabinet

4/29/17, “The President and His Cabinet”

Washington, District of Columbia

When George W. Bush became President, I knew his whole cabinet by heart.  I could easily rattle off each member of his cabinet, in order of precedence.  It was an exciting time in American politics, and we learned far more than we wished to learn about the Electoral College and our federal judiciary.  I followed each turn with bated breath.  Saturday Night Love had a field day, and every episode was gold.

Recently, Donald J. Trump became the second president in over a century to be elected President without winning the popular vote.  I voted for him, a year ago in the primary and six months ago in the general.  He won.  I followed every twist and turn and watched as he nominated his cabinet.  Without even trying, I soon had all the names memorized.  One sleepless night, I tried to list his cabinet nominees as a way of falling asleep.  Only two names escaped me, and I had to look them up.  Well, it turned out that he hadn’t nominated people to those two posts yet.  The order of precedence I did not quite have perfectly memorized, but, when we had breakfast this morning, again without trying, I was easily able to list each member of his cabinet, all of whom are now confirmed.

That was the plan for today, to visit the building for each cabinet post, in order of precedence.  We would start with the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for Vice President Mike Pence and end at the Nebraska Avenue Complex for Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly.  It would all be done in the backdrop of protesters coming into town for the People’s Climate March.

See, while other people were vilifying President Trump, I was celebrating his first 100 days.  I give him a solid B.  When I ask people what he’s done so bad as President, they are usually stumped.  They cannot name one thing he has done that has made our country worse off than it was before he was sworn-in as President, but I can name plenty of good things he has done.  On foreign issues, I give him an A-, and I fully support the way he has handled Syria and ISIS and North Korea.  On domestic issues, I give him a B-, not because I disapprove what he trying to do, but because I do not think he is doing it well.  He did not get Obamacare repealed, and he has not quite understood our federal judiciary and the ins and outs of politics when it comes to his Executive Orders.  I like his EOs, but he should have been more careful in what he did.  I very much look forward to his next 2800 days as President.  So, what happened today?  It was a hectic and chaotic day, but it was a success.

We began the day with the Power Breakfast in the hotel, and I learned that President Trump’s favorite breakfast is burnt bacon and eggs over hard.  Overcooking food seems to be a thing for him.  I ordered just that, along with coffee, toast, and potatoes.  They gave me exactly what I wanted, and it was perfect.  We then went back to the room to get ready.  We knew it would be a rough day, but we didn’t realize just how rough it would be.  We had a mission, and success would not be cheaply bought.  We went downstairs, I lit up an Oliva and we were on our way.

Our first stop was the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, for Vice President Mike Pence, the head of the cabinet.  However, as we walked, we passed by the White House, and I realized that actually should have been the starting point anyway.  We took our ceremonial picture there and then continued to the EEOB.  From there it was a bit of a walk to the Harry S Truman Federal Building for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and, after that, we had to walk right back to where we started to the Treasury Building for Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin.  The Pentagon would be next, but the metro station we needed to use was down, so we used Lyft to go to Arlington.  That was a bit hairy, and we had trouble finding the front side, but, we found it, took our ceremonial picture, and I announced, “Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.”  We also went to see the 9/11 Memorial there.

We took the metro back into town and went to the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building for Attorney General Jeff Sessions as I lit up a Graycliff.  It was past noon at this point, and we had only visited 5 of the 16 buildings.  We were already exhausted, and we knew we had a lot of walking ahead of us.  We didn’t want to stop for lunch until we were halfway done.  At this point, I will stop naming the buildings only name the cabinet secretaries themselves.  Next was Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, and we took a cab to the next one, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue.  We walked to the next one, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.  We were now halfway done, and we were spent.

We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch, just like President Trump has been known to enjoy, and I got a fancy burger and fries, along with a chocolate shake.  After lunch, I lit up an Aroma de Cuba, and it was a bit of a walk to Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta, and we then saw the Capitol as we continued on to, in short order, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson.  I was completely in my element here, relishing the execution of our mission, even as we paid this heavy price.  We then had to take to metro for Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who is actually not in the line of succession, due to not being a native-born citizen, and I made an appropriate pun about having to take public transportation to go to the Department of Transportation.

We took the metro right back and then went to, again in rapid order after lighting up a Prensado, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.  Veterans Affairs was far, but we had the same issue as we had earlier with the shut-down metro stop.  We took the metro halfway and walked the other half, and I soon was able to announce, “Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin.”  That just left Homeland Security, which was at the distance Nebraska Avenue Complex.  We decided that we would take a Lyft and have it wait for us, though we feared how much that would cost.  Our fears were not unfounded.  We took the Lyft to the Nebraska Avenue Complex, which, while lock and guard, had a nice sign out front.  We took our ceremonial picture, and I announced, “Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly.”  That was all 16 of them.  We were done.  We had completed our mission.  I finished my cigar as I posted the collage of all 16 photos, and we were well behind schedule, so we had to push back our 7 PM dinner reservation, as we would not be arriving at the hotel until 7 PM.

We quickly got ready and headed out to Occidental Grill & Seafood, which was considered DC’s “most iconic restaurant.”  There was some confusion when we sat down about getting my soda and a copy of the wine list.  We seemed to have a rookie waiter, and we were quickly assigned a more experienced and competent one.  We opted for a bottle of New York red, in keeping with the Donald Trump theme of the day.  The Thrillist article said they were known for their scallops and ribeye steaks, but they actually didn’t have ribeye, so I got a NY Strip instead, cooked well done, just the way President Trump likes his steaks.  The food was very good, and the atmosphere was what I expected in line with the power scene reputation of the restaurant.  We got a cherry walnut cake for dessert, and I had some coffee.

From there, we headed towards the hotel and stopped in a plaza with a good view of the Capitol and the hotel, where I sat down and lit up my Por Larranga (followed by my trusty Ardor), and after my mother went back to the hotel, proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish and play some Zelda before I go to sleep.  We have another early day tomorrow.