Michael Goodwin: Trumps first 100 days illustrate his strengths and mindset decisive, bold, and in a hurry

Any discussion of the opening days of Donald Trump’s presidency must start at the key date — last Nov.5, when he rose from the political dead to seize his second term in the White House.His comeback victory was decisive as he swept all seven battleground states on the way to piling up 312 electoral votes, winning the popular vote and leading the GOP to control of Congress.But first he had to survive two assassination attempts, with one in Pennsylvania a miraculous near miss, and overcome an onslaught of Democratic prosecutions and civil suits designed to defeat and imprison him.All those cases, the first ever brought against a former president, were necessary, Americans were assured by Dems and their media mouthpieces, to protect democracy.The Big Lie — that the weaponization of the courts was anything other than a partisan power play — seems like ages ago.But recognizing the dogged determination Trump needed to survive the persecution and come out on top is key to understanding his conduct since he took the oath on Jan.

20.He believes God spared him to save America, and so his sense of mission is infused with urgency.He savors revenge — who wouldn’t? — but ultimately came to get big things done.He’s in a hurry and sometimes, as with tariffs, to a fault.Still, the avalanche of orders, actions and proposals reveals his biggest and most important accomplishment — Trump is continually expanding the outer limits of what a president can hope to achieve.His comfort with the power and prestige of the office allows him to unmask conventional wisdom as a paper tiger.Tell him that something can’t be done, and he takes that as a challenge.

That is his defining difference.His book “The Art of the Deal” was a memoir about his days as a brash real estate developer, but his political autobiography should be called “The Art of the Impossible.”Exhibit A is that he managed to do the very thing both political parties and the supposed media experts insiste...