Trump’s First 100 Days: A Pop Quiz

Take this simple test to see how well you’re doing at keeping up with the madness.

( Composite / Photos: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Shuttertstock)

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS FEARED THE WORST about the second coming of Donald J. Trump, yet no one—absolutely no one—expected this. The level of chaos, confusion, incompetence, and sheer unvarnished cruelty, it’s safe to say, has exceeded all expectations. As Trump’s approval ratings plunge and his lunacy levels fly off the charts, it’s getting gosh-darn hard to keep up. Perhaps this quiz can help sort things out. Consult the footnotes for answers.

1. Identify which of Trump’s promises he’s kept and which he hasn’t:

A. Pardon the hooligans who ransacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th
B. “End inflation and make America affordable again”
C. Let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild on health”
D. End the Russia–Ukraine war in “twenty-four hours”
E. Quickly end the war in Gaza
F. Be a dictator¹

2. Match Trump’s putdown with his target:

Insult:

A. “He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.”
B. “She’s a bad, sick woman. She’s crazy as a bedbug.”
C. “I don’t want to [deport him]. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”
D. “She’s a fake. . . . She’s a nasty woman. She’s a really nasty woman.”
E. “A major loser” whose “termination cannot come fast enough.”
F: “You have no credibility.”

Recipient:

1. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts
2. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York
3. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
4. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
5. CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins
6. Prince Harry²

3. Which of the following statements did Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem not make for the cameras during her jaunt to El Salvador as she stood in front of human beings packed into cages in one of the world’s most deliberately inhumane prisons?

A. “If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face.”
B. “First of all, do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted. But know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.”
C. “This unprecedented relationship we have with El Salvador is going to be a model for other countries on how they can work with America.”
D. “We have made every effort to ensure that the people we are sending off to foreign prisons for probably the rest of their lives have been afforded due process.”³

4. Who said, in reference to the Nazi salutes made during public appearances by Elon Musk and Steve Bannon, “It’s getting a little uncomfortable, even for me”?

A. Presidential adviser Stephen Miller
B. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green
C. White nationalist Nick Fuentes
D. The QAnon shaman⁴

5. What is the nickname of the “pioneering cryptocurrency investor” charged with federal fraud and tax crimes for whom longtime Trump ally Roger Stone has lately been lobbying?

A. “Bitcoin Jesus”
B. “Dr. Ambrosia”
C. “Cyber Assassin II”
D. “Wildly Corrupt Steve”⁵

6. Which of the following individuals has Trump not accused of being “grossly incompetent” or exhibiting “gross incompetence”?

A. Former President Barack Obama
B. Former President Joe Biden
C. Former Senator and presidential contender Kamala Harris
D. Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci
E. Elon Musk⁶

7. Which proposed homage to President Trump by a sitting member of Congress was meant in jest?

A. Making Trump’s birthday (June 14) a federal holiday
B. Renaming Dulles International Airport after Trump
C. Requiring that Trump’s image be on all $100 bills
D. Nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize
E. Adding Trump’s visage to Mount Rushmore
F. Allowing Trump to run for a third term
G: Renaming the Earth “Planet Trump”⁷

8. What does Brendan Carr, head of the Federal Communications Commission, wear on his lapel?

A. An American flag
B. A gold pin in the shape of Trump’s head
C. A pink ribbon symbolizing breast cancer awareness
D. An eagle snatching up a screaming Elizabeth Warren⁸

9. Which of the following cowardly capitulations did not occur?

A. ABC News agreed to donate $15 million for the future Trump presidential library to settle a clearly specious defamation lawsuit.
B. Meta agreed to pay $25 million, most of it for the Trump library, to settle a lawsuit over kicking Trump off social media platforms for breaking the rules.
C. Columbia University agreed to ban face masks on campus, expand the authority of campus security, and put an entire department into academic receivership (presumably to ensure it teaches only what Trump wants).
D. Harvard agreed to Trump’s demands that it change how the university makes admissions, hiring, and governance decisions, including the eradication of diversity, equality, and inclusion, or else face the loss of nearly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts.
E. The law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison agreed to provide Trump with $40 million in free legal service in response to his threat to revoke its security clearances.⁹

10. Match the quote about tariff negotiations between the United States and China with the speaker:

Statement:

A. “Trump’s team continues to correspond with their Chinese counterparts. The president remains optimistic about securing a fair trade deal with China.”
B. “Any claims about progress in China–U.S. economic and trade negotiations are baseless rumors without factual evidence.”
C. “You have to understand, I’m dealing with all the companies, very friendly countries. We’re meeting with China. We’re doing fine with everybody. But ultimately, I’ve made all the deals. . . . I’ve made 200 deals.”
D. “China and the US are NOT having any consultation or negotiation on #tariffs. The US should stop creating confusion.”

Speaker:

1. China commerce ministry spokesman He Yadong
2. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
3. Chinese embassy in Washington
4. President Donald Trump¹⁰

11. What’s a “panican”?

A. A pancake in a can!
B. An advocate for unification of Panama and Canada
C. A Republican practitioner of the doctrine of pantheism
D. Donald Trump’s term for the “Weak” and “Stupid” people who doubt his genius on tariffs¹¹

12. What did MSNBC host Rachel Maddow note has the same low level of public support as the notion that Trump has the right to defy U.S. Supreme Court rulings?

A. Tax breaks for billionaires
B. Having federal agents come into your home to kill your puppy
C. The Black Plague, a medieval pandemic that killed millions of people
D. Eric Trump¹²

ANSWERS:

1. Promises kept: A, C, and F. Promises broken: B, D, and E

2. A2, B4, C6, D1, E3, F5

3. D. In fact, one reason El Salvador is the dumping ground for Venezuelans rounded up in indiscriminate dragnets is that the nation has for three years been operating under a state of emergency that has allowed some 84,000 people to be deprived of liberty based on mere accusation, often without due process.

4. C. Fuentes made this statement in a podcast, adding that he’s the guy who once wrote policy papers “based on Hitler’s policies” for “Supreme Leader Kanye West.”

5. A. According to the New York Times, Roger Stone has reported being paid $600,000 since early February to lobby for tax-law changes on behalf of “Bitcoin Jesus,” a.k.a. Roger Ver, a former California resident who was charged last year with evading $48 million in taxes on his cryptocurrency holdings. The “Jesus” moniker comes from how avidly he promoted Bitcoin.

6. E. Trump has defended and praised Musk, recently claiming he “has done a fantastic job” but that things have progressed to where he may no longer need him.

7. G. The “Planet Trump” suggestion was made by Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), according to the New Yorker. The progenitors of the other proposals are (A) Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., (B) Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., (C) Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, (D) Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, (E) Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and (F) Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn.

8. B. According to BuzzFeed, the pin is “eerily similar to historical pins from world dictators.”

9. D. Harvard declared that it “is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration,” and then sued when the administration responded by freezing $2.2 billion in research funds.

10. A2, B1, C4, D3

11. D. The term, coined in a social media post, evidently refers to Americans who are panicking over Trump’s stupid tariffs. It has not exactly become a household insult.

12. C. A recent YouGov poll of modern American attitudes toward the Middle Ages and a Pew Research Center poll taken in advance of Trump’s 100-day mark found that support for the plague and ignoring the land’s highest court, respectively, both registered at 9 percent.