Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

President Donald Trump filled all 11,000 seats in Harrisburg, Pa., Saturday night for a celebration rally of his first 100-days in office while at the same time the annual White House Correspondents Dinner with its liberal comedians and Hollywood actors ripped into this new president who ditched the dinner in favor of returning to a state that helped elect him to the presidency.

Despite protesters out front of the Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, President Trump’s 100-day rally went off without a hitch and was carried live by both CNN and FOX News. However, one group of protesters that made their way inside the arena were escorted out by security after they started their anti-Trump rants. Neither CNN nor FOX News carried live coverage of the Correspondent’s Dinner, however this event received a lot of coverage on Sunday morning main stream media news shows as did President Trump’s rally. But neither event really had much actual news value.

Perhaps this year is the end of the annual reporter’s dinner that serves as nothing more than a cover to celebrate free speech in America while at the same time taking not so funny potshots at the leader of the free world. Some attendees reported Sunday that there were numerous awkward moments inside the Washington Hilton when speakers referred to President Trump and his cabinet in negative terms such as “Nazis,” according to news reports. Not since 1981 has a president not attended the dinner.

Its doubtful President Trump will attend any future reporter’s dinners as the feud between the president and main stream media continues. During the rally President Trump said all he wants from the media is for them to be “honest” and “just tell the truth.” Again, the president singled out CNN and MSNBC as “fake news.”

Now that President Trump’s first 100-days in office are in the past, there’s another 1,360 days to go in his first four-year term in office. A Trump supporter at the rally said on national TV, “The guy is just getting started you have to give him a chance.”

On Friday, a deadline came and went for the U.S. Congress to pass a long-term spending bill to avert a full government shutdown similar to what has happened in the past. But instead of grasping the occasion to pass something substantial all lawmakers in Washington could agree on was a stop-gap measure to keep the government operating for only seven more days — another kick of the can down the sidewalk to nowhere.

These Washington bureaucrats on both sides of the political spectrum are accomplishing little or nothing for the American people. Behind the scenes special interests such as the American Medical Association are lobbying hard against President Trump’s American Health Care Act to repeal and replace former President Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act passed in 2010 which is failing by anyone’s assessment. Large insurers have dropped out of ObamaCare leaving many without medical coverage, unaffordable health coverage or health care without choices. And yet, the U.S. Congress is standing in the way of President Trump’s plan to change health care coverage for the better with much lower premiums and more choices for individual Americans.

Leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives say there will be no vote on President Trump’s plan until the votes are there for passage. Changes are being made, negotiations are underway on this complex plan to change America’s health plan for the future. When and if passed by the U.S. House, the American Health Care Act of 2017 will move to the U.S. Senate for still more debate and changes. It then goes up for a final vote in the Senate for passage and then to the president’s desk for his signature which would keep a promise President Trump made during his campaign.

In the meantime, North Korea is on fire as they attempt to continue with their development of nuclear weapons and deployment of inter-continental ballistic missiles capable of reaching throughout the Pacific Ocean Basin. President Trump has told the American people that a “major, major conflict” is possible with North Korea in the near future. It remains to be seen if China has any influence upon its neighbor to stop ICBM development and curtail their nuclear weapons program. According to news reports, it is believed that North Korea has had nuclear weapons since 2006 which means that Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama did nothing to derail the mounting nuclear threat coming from this unstable, unpredictable country. Likewise the United Nations sanctions against North Korea were meaningless.

President Trump, like all other presidents before him, has a lot on his plate but he found time last week to consult with the U.S. Congress by holding two bipartisan meetings behind closed doors – one for the Senate and one for the House – to brief them on the North Korean situation. President Trump is not going it alone in stopping North Korea and so far these meetings have been kept secret and without leaks, which just goes to show the seriousness of the situation with this rogue nation with a 1.2 million man military armed to the hilt and led by the likes of mysterious Kim Jong-Un.

Despite all of President Trump’s critics, he is showing a level of leadership at home and overseas far beyond that of Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama especially in stopping the North Korean threat which they directly failed to do.

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.