The reality doesn’t always match the production values. Trump has issued more than 50 executive orders and presidential memoranda, but nearly all are symbolic—such as ordering policy reviews or directing actions that agency heads already authorized. Beyond steel, he has used orders to call for regulatory reviews and expedited infrastructure approvals, but those have little practical effect on policy. He has signed 28 pieces of legislation, with 13 rolling-back Obama-era regulations under the Congressional Review Act. Three resolutions appointed members to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

“What this White House does goes beyond political communications,” says longtime GOP operative Kevin Madden. “They don’t communicate as much as they produce. They produce events and images as if every hour is just another episode that is part of a television docudrama. So, the press conferences, the executive order signings and the busloads of United States senators unloading at the White House are all backdrops to this production.”

Some of the showmanship is by design. Aides use the meetings and signings to ensure the President feels occupied and to satisfy his craving for news attention. His worst instincts, they believe, often manifest themselves on Twitter when he is bored or believes he has lost the limelight. But the flurry of stage-managed photo ops also reflect the President’s diminished political capital and the limited legislative achievements of his first 100 days.