Lovefest or Cabinet meeting? For Donald Trump, it’s both

WASHINGTON (AP) - Near the end of President Donald Trump's marathon Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that the U.S. has brought home 47 wrongfully detained Americans so far in Trump's second term.

"Forty-seven for the 47th president in the first 100 days," Rubio said. "And that's all credit to you, Mr. President."

Earlier in the session, Vice President JD Vance mused that "most" of the presidents whose portraits adorn the Oval Office - which include Ronald Reagan, James Madison, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln - were mere "placeholders" who weren't "men of action."

And Energy Secretary Doug Burgum observed that Trump was "not just courageous, you're actually fearless" in taking on issues that other presidents dare not touch.

"All of us can sprint, because you're running ahead," Burgum said.

Trump, never bashful about his achievements, is usually the one doing the bragging. But in a two-hour game of one-upmanship at the White House on Wednesday, top Cabinet officials took turns drenching the president with praise that went beyond even the usual levels of adulation from those who work for Donald Trump.

The president assembled his Cabinet to celebrate the 100-day mark of his second term, and Trump opened by noting that "things are happening that are amazing, but I would not say it if it weren't fact."

From there, the president let others do the talking.

There was Attorney General Pam Bondi, who claimed that Trump in his second term saved "258 million lives" due to the amount of fentanyl that his Justice Department has taken off the streets. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thanked the president for "your vision and leadership, for giving me the 100 busiest days of my life." Rubio said the 47 wrongfully detained Americans were returned home due to Trump's "leadership and the diplomacy that was exercised." However, the list of Americans was not immediately made public, and it was not clear which were being included in the tally.

"I just want to say thank you, as a veteran of our military, for assembling what is the greatest national security team that I have ever seen in my 27 years associated with the United States Army," said Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, who has served in the military for more than two decades.

Not surprisingly, the lovefest in the Cabinet Room glossed over the turmoil that has been roiling the early days of Trump's return to the White House: the nosediving stock market and a contracting economy, revelations that his senior officials were careless, at best, with sensitive military information.

The gushing went too far even for some who otherwise back Trump's policies and agenda.

"Would it be possible to have a cabinet meeting without the Kim Jong il-style tributes?" conservative commentator Ann Coulter wrote on the social media site X, referring to the North Korean dictator.

Indeed, the praise wasn't devoted just to the commander-in-chief. As an effusive Burgum spoke, he noted the "amazing group of people around the table" and added a quick aside to Trump: "You probably assembled the great Cabinet ever."

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