Picture posted on Twitter by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach show a wall-sized checklist of goals – but how much has been checked off?

Before being hung out to dry in the halls of Congress or blocked by inconvenient federal judges, Donald Trump’s policy initiatives start as items written on a dry-erase board in chief strategist Stephen Bannon’s office, photos posted to social media this week suggested.



Then Bannon checks them off and ... maybe gets lunch?

During a visit to Bannon to mark the 1948 declaration of Israeli independence, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a former Republican congressional candidate and reality star, posed for pictures prominently featuring Bannon’s to-do list.

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The pictures were posted to Twitter as Trump made the case that his first 100 days in office have been among the most productive in US presidential history.

Yet many items on Bannon’s wall-sized list, which has been described previously by reporters but not publicly seen, have not yet been dispatched. Controversially, no doubt, for to-do list purists – some items with check marks next to them remain stubbornly incomplete.

Such items include “suspend immigration from terror-prone regions” and “suspend the Syrian refugee program”. Orders issued by Trump to suspend travel from certain Muslim-majority countries and to suspend the refugee program have been blocked in federal court.

Bannon’s top priority in the health care quadrant has similarly gone nowhere. “Repeal and replace Obamacare,” the white board reads. Republicans have failed to move legislation to that effect through the House of Representatives, despite their healthy voting majority and the president’s personal involvement.

Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) With @SteveBannon in the White House on #israelindependenceday. Steve is a great, stalwart friend of the Jewish State pic.twitter.com/PFxSCK7blc

Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) With Steve Bannon and Debbie at the White House on #IsraelIndependenceDay2017. Thank u Steve for your love of Israel pic.twitter.com/xrU4nLUyYU

Under “pledges on tax reform” we see “lower the corporate tax” and “eliminate the estate tax”. A tax plan unveiled by Trump last week advanced those proposals, but Congress must act for them to become law. Maybe leave that marker pen capped for the moment.



While it may be a bad guide to what Trump has done, Bannon’s board is a good guide to what Trump has tried to do. Items on the list to have appeared as executive orders or legislative proposals include “cancel federal funding to sanctuary cities” (blocked in court), and “hire 5,000 more border patrol agents” (ordered, but likely years off). Partially obscured from view is a reference to the true Trump signature promise – that wall along the southern border. It reads “build the border wall and eventually make Mexico”. For the record, the wall remains proposed but without funding and without any Mexican consent.

There are apparently more columns to this list than appear in the rabbi’s photos, according to reporters who have seen it in person. Unless someone snuck in meanwhile with a sense of mischief and a damp towel.