The Point: Trump is on pace to sign more executive orders than any president in the past 50 years

View this email in your browser October 13, 2017  | by Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy Trump is on pace to sign more executive orders than any president in the past 50 years Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at allowing people to band together to seek more affordable health insurance, a move some consider an attempt to cripple the Affordable Care Act. It was the 49th executive order that Trump has signed since coming into office January 20. The last president to sign that many executive orders through October 13 of his first year in office? Lyndon Johnson. The above chart -- by CNN's Sam Petulla -- tells that story. Why does it matter? Because Trump was a vociferous critic of then-President Barack Obama's use of executive orders -- casting them as a purposeful end run of the legislative branch. "Obama goes around signing executive orders," Trump said in February 2016. "He can't even get along with the Democrats. He goes around signing all these executive orders. It's a basic disaster. You can't do it."   Trump said that same sort of thing regularly on the 2016 campaign trail. It was a perfect way to make the case that Obama was an out-of-control executive, trying to push his liberal agenda on the country via fiat. Which makes the fact that Obama had signed roughly half of the executive orders at this point in 2009 as Trump has signed so far in 2017 rich with irony. Trump allies will note that the bulk of Obama's executive orders came late in his second term, making these sorts of early-on comparisons inaccurate. It's true that we don't -- and can't -- know how many total executive orders Trump will sign by the end of his first four-year term. But, Obama actually signed more EOs in his first term (147) than he did in his second (129), according to statistics maintained by the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. That total of 276 executive orders for Obama was less than the 291 signed by George W. Bush in his two terms and far fewer than the 364 EOs signed by Bill Clinton over eight years in office. While we can't know whether Trump will keep up his current pace on executive orders for the rest of his three-plus years in office, what we can say is that he is signing EOs at the second-fastest pace of any modern Republican president -- trailing only Dwight Eisenhower, who had signed 60 executive orders at this time on his first term. Be like Ike, I guess? -Chris PUERTO RICO: POLL RESULTS CNN's Sam Petulla and Ryan Struyk wrote about a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation in which 62% of respondents say Puerto Ricans aren't getting the help they need. This Kaiser Family Foundation poll was conducted October 4-8 among 1,008 adults. The margin of sampling error is +/-4% points. The poll followed a criticized event October 4 in which Trump seemed to use Puerto Rico's death toll as a talking point for the island's recovery success. Read more in their story here. CHRIS' GOOD READS I made a GIF of me reading. Slate's Seth Stevenson asks what Seth Moulton wants WSJ's Kelly Crow on the people painting the official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama Here's how you can be happier at work How many Friday the 13ths have you been alive for? WaPo's Philip Bump knows. Barry Svrluga writes the perfect obit for the 2017 Washington Nationals QUOTE OF THE DAY "We're saying 'Merry Christmas' again." — President Trump, on October 13, at the Value Voters Summit (Read Chris' take here). Related: There's apparently a countdown clock so you can know exactly how long it is until Christmas.  MUSICAL INTERLUDE Margo Price is one of the most important voices in country music.  Her new one -- "All American Made" -- is streaming now on NPR Music. SUSAN STAYS As CNN's Eric Bradner reported Friday: Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced she has officially decided to stay in the Senate, where she is a moderate Republican swing vote, rather than running for governor in 2018. "As I thought about the senator's words, I realized how much needs to be done in a divided, troubled Washington if we are to serve the people that we represent effectively. I have demonstrated the ability to work across the aisle to build coalitions and to listen to the concerns of the people of my state, my country and my colleagues," Collins said at a local chamber of commerce breakfast in Rockport. Check out Chris' take on how Collins just put a big bet on the Senate. Is it a loser? RUSSIA RECAP CNN's Marshall Cohen has the lowdown on all things Russia all the time. Here's his recap about what you need to know on the topic this week: The breadth of Russian meddling on social media became a bit clearer this week. First, we learned that the Russians used Google platforms and bought ads on YouTube and Gmail as part of their campaign to interfere in the 2016 election. Then CNN exclusively reported on a specific Russian-linked campaign called "Don't Shoot Us," which tried to spread incendiary messages about racial tensions via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and even Pokémon Go. What began last month as a Facebook problem has ballooned into an industry-wide vulnerability that has raised new questions for some of America's most prominent companies. #2020 WATCH CNN's Eric Bradner writes: Here's the first number to consider when weighing Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's future: $13 million. It's how much she has in the bank after a $3 million third-quarter fund-raising haul, headed into a re-election campaign where, as of now, she doesn't have a serious challenger. Warren heads to Ohio next Friday for a joint fund-raiser with Sen. Sherrod Brown in Cleveland. Also attending the Butcher & the Brewer lunch will be Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Joe Kennedy. Read more in his #2020 Vision Memo. YOUR DAILY GIF In honor of the Obamas choosing which artists will paint their portraits for the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, a throwback GIF to the unveiling of the official President George W. Bush portrait. Happy Friday! Remember to tell everyone to subscribe to the Point.  We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. Share Tweet Forward Subscribe to The Point Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. Copyright © 2017 Cable News Network, LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. 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