Why we are re-launching 100 Days

Summer. What summer? Clearly team Trump does not respect the sacred hot weather holiday season. Which is exactly why we’ve come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to re-launch our daily news program 100 Days, with the new title Beyond 100 Days.

It’s your BBC hour of all things Trump, Brexit, US global leadership, with lots of intelligent interviews with people who can help us make sense of this extraordinary moment, and a dose of irreverent fun. It’s co hosted by me in Washington and Christian Fraser in London.

The thing is there is just too much happening – on both sides of the Atlantic – not to dedicate a whole programme to our rapidly changing world.

Of course there’s the spectacle factor of this chaos-prone White House – it’s The Apprentice meets Game of Thrones was how one Brit described it to me recently. Mooch is out, Bannon is out, Gorka is out. Jared and Ivanka are still in – for now. And all the while, Bob Mueller is quietly working away on the Russia investigation.

It is the reality TV presidency.

That’s the voyeuristic appeal. Don’t pretend you’re immune. I’m not. We’ve never seen anything like this.

But there is so much more that is serious, real and lasting about the impact the Trump administration is having on America and the rest of the world.

Domestically this White House is already affecting this country in ways that go almost unnoticed because there is so much other headline grabbing news. Despite accusations that the administration can’t get anything done, much is changing.

Immigrants feel unsettled, illegal immigrants feel scared. The number of people trying to enter this melting pot of a nation is declining under President Trump. Immigration enforcement officials have been given new powers and they are using them. The masses are nervously huddled, waiting for a knock on the door that will send them back over the border, potentially even away from their US born children.

Women’s groups say gender concerns are also under pressure. One of Mr Trump’s first executive orders cut funding for international groups that provide or advise on abortions. The White House has tried to slash maternity leave, limit funding for reproductive health providers and has rolled back Obama era requirements to help transparency on equal pay for women.

Environmental protections have been stripped and the energy industry deregulated. Economists overwhelmingly agree (a rarity in itself) that the Trump tax plan would increase inequality – in a country born to rid itself of the aristocracy but where social mobility already lags behind many European countries.

These things may be reversed by the next President (and there will be one) who could change political direction. Mr Trump’s more lasting impact may be on the world stage.

Already other countries are adjusting to a world order without US leadership. As Washington withdraws, Beijing, Berlin, Paris and Moscow are stepping in to the vacuum. That will be harder to roll back and will have implications for all of us for years to come. Mr Trump really could change the world as we know it. Arguably, by withdrawing from the Paris climate accord and the Trans Pacific Partnership, he already has. 

And I haven’t even got to Brexit, the German elections or President Macron.

That’s why we’re going Beyond 100 Days with an hour every day of frank reporting and analysis about these big, important issues. The show airs weekdays at 2pm EST on BBC World News – here’s the channel guide for your area (your kids can DVR it if you can’t) https://bbcnewschannelfinder.com/.

Join us. It’s fun.