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As they gave President Donald Trump high marks for his first 100 days in office, a trio of conservative radio talk show hosts at a Riverside conference Sunday, April 30 urged congressional Republicans to get their act together and pass the presidents agenda, especially repealing Obamacare.

Its OK to disagree. Its fine to be a divided caucus if at the end of the day, you come together and take 75 percent of what you want and call it a win, Dennis Prager told an audience of more than 800 at the Fourth Annual Unite IE Conservative Conference.

Republicans generally do not perceive the threat that the left is to our society, he added. This is the Achilles heel of the Republican Party If you do understand it, then any victory is a victory.

The conference, which took place at the Riverside Convention Center, offered a chance for conservatives to gather, network and be inspiredin a state thats been hostile ground for their beliefs.

This years conference focused on the first 100 days of the Trump administration, which hit that mark Saturday. Radio host Hugh Hewitt, who served as a panelist for four debates of GOP presidential hopefuls, gave Trump a solid B, saying the Republican real estate mogul and reality TV star needs to fill more judgeships.

Another radio personality, Larry Elder, gave Trump an A+, calling the nomination and confirmation of conservative Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch far and away the presidents most important accomplishment.

Prager gave Trump an A- and apologized for resisting Trumps quest for the GOP presidential nomination.

I am starting to love this man and I thought I would never say that in my life, Prager said.

Unlike liberals, Trump doesnt care if America is loved, Prager said, adding: The recipe for peace on Earth is not for America to be loved, but feared.

The audience in the convention center expressed their support for Trump through the applause. The loudest cheers came when event co-emcee and local radio host Jennifer Horn asked how many in the crowd gave Trump an A, with fewer claps for those who give him a B and the lightest applause for those giving him a C.

The conference also featured Joel Pollak, senior editor-at-large of the conservative news site Breitbart and author of the book How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution.

The unifying message that brought a New York former liberal Democrat together with conservative audiences in the Midwest and South and everywhere else we can think of was the pushback against the mainstream media, Pollak said, adding that Trump addressed issues like immigration and trade that were ignored by the Republican and Democratic parties.

Anti-Breitbart sentiment was on display at a morning protest outside the conference. About 50 protesters waved signs with slogans such as Evil Lurks and its Name is Breitbart, Impeach Vladimir Trump, Facts Still Matter and Hire a Clown, Get a Circus.

Lecia Elzig of Riverside held a sign with provocative Breitbart headlines seen as offensive to women, including Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy.

Elzig said she respected the right of conference-goers to assemble. Were just here exercising our constitutional rights, she said.

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Why there were cheers for Donald Trump in Riverside - Press-Enterprise

"I loved my previous life, I loved my previous life. I had so many things going," Trump told Reuters. "I actually, this is more work than my previous life. I thought it would be easier."

Then, later: "I do miss my old life. This -- I like to work. But this is actually more work."

That sentiment is, in a word, strange. For a few reasons.

It's absolutely true that all presidents express -- privately and then, eventually, publicly -- some level of longing for the life they left behind or the life they will return to. But that usually happens after, say, seven or eight years in the White House. Not after 99 days.

The truth is -- and even Donald Trump might admit this in his most candid moments -- that he had almost zero idea of what being president would entail when he started running for the office almost two years ago now.

When he entered the race in June 2015, there was no reasonable expectation that he would even sniff the top tier of the Republican field. He was seen as a curiosity, a celebrity calling everyone's bluff who said he never could, should or would run.

Throughout the campaign -- even as he improbably rose to the top of the GOP field and stayed there -- Trump would always tell his crowds that being president would be easy, and that he would solve the problems of the country so quickly they wouldn't believe it.

"Together we're going to deliver real change that once again puts Americans first," Trump promised a Florida audience last October. "You're going to have such great health care, at a tiny fraction of the costand it's going to be so easy."

(Nota bene: Republican attempts to even hold a vote on legislation that would reform and replace the Affordable Care Act died Thursday night. For the second time in as many months.)

It's, of course, true that no president is ever, really, ready for the job when they come into office. But Trump's understanding of the office -- and of the political process was minuscule. He had never run for or served in any elected office. (Say what you will about the relative inexperience of George W. Bush and Barack Obama before ascending to the presidency but they had been elected and served as governor and senator, respectively.) Trump's experience in politics, by contrast, amounted to giving money when someone asked him to. And that's about it.

Which is how someone who has been president for the last 99 days can repeatedly express amazement that the job is hard -- far harder than he expected -- and wax nostalgic about his old life.

Trump's old life was, without question, easier than his current one. He starred in a reality TV show. He was the brand manager of a company built around his ostentatious personality. He did, basically, what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it.

Now his life is totally and completely proscribed. He has very little agency in all of it. He goes where he is told when he is told. And much of what Trump does on a daily basis is a radical departure from the "being Donald Trump" role that he had been playing for decades prior to winning the White House. He has to confront problems -- the Middle East, North Korea, healthcare -- in which he can't just snap his fingers, make a decision and move on. Nothing -- or almost nothing-- is black and white. It's all shades of gray. It's, um, hard.

Given all of that, it's easy to see why Trump might pine for the simpler life he led prior to being elected president. It's just very, very odd he decided to say that publicly less than 100 days into his administration.

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Donald Trump sounds like he really misses not being president - CNN

What changed? He talked to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pea Nieto.

"I get a call from Mexico yesterday, 'We hear you're going to terminate NAFTA.' I said that's right. They said, 'Is there any way we can do something without you -- without termination?' I said, 'What do you want to do?' He said, 'Well, we'd like to negotiate.' I said we'll think about it. Then I get a call, and they call me, I get a call from Justin Trudeau and he said, 'We'd like to see if we can work something out,' and I said that's fine.'"

What's important here: By Trump's account, two leaders of foreign countries came as supplicants to him. They called him, asked him not to do it. He, as a flexible negotiator, said OK. Because he believed them when they told him, personally, that they would renegotiate the deal in ways more favorable to the United States.

The NAFTA phone calls are far from an isolated incident when it comes to just how much power Trump invests in relationships with people. If he talks to you, if you are nice to him, if he feels as though you connected on some level, he is much, much more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Coming out of it, Trump makes it sound as though he and Xi may be co-starring in a buddy comedy sometime soon.

"Look, my problem is I have established a very good personal relationship with President Xi. I really feel that he is doing everything in his power to help us with a big situation," Trump told Reuters regarding North Korea's ongoing pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Added Trump: "He's a good man. He's a very good man and I got to know him very well." (Related: Trump has cited the duo's relationship as one of the reasons he isn't labeling China a currency manipulator any more.)

Reminder: Trump spent roughly 48 hours with Xi. They had not met each other previously. Could the meetings possibly have gone so well that Trump is now convinced China is going to help the US on North Korean containment and is going to stop manipulating their own currency?

Trump's background is as an old-school businessman -- he likes to look people in the eye or talk to them on the phone, not shoot emails back and forth. And he believes very strongly in his gut reactions to these meetings. In fact, he is using that gut to guide American foreign policy at the moment.

So, if you don't like the way Trump appears to be heading on an issue, call him up. Meet with him. Tell him how reasonable you are and how powerful he and the United States are. You might just get a change of heart.

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Here's the best way to change Donald Trump's mind - CNN

Deadline

Donald Trump Mocks Elizabeth Warren 2020 Challenge In 1st POTUS Address To NRA Convention Since Reagan Era Deadline In the first presidential speech to the National Rifle Association convention since 1983, Donald Trump today hinted that he thinks Elizabeth Warren will be running against him in 2020 and declared that his election victory was the bigger than any ... Trump Again Derides Elizabeth Warren as 'Pocahontas'NBCNews.com Watch Live: President Trump Addresses Annual NRA ConventionTIME Trump at NRA speech touts "responsible" gun ownership, takes shot at Elizabeth WarrenCBS News Atlanta Journal Constitution -CNN -New York Times all 269 news articles »

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Donald Trump Mocks Elizabeth Warren 2020 Challenge In 1st POTUS Address To NRA Convention Since Reagan Era - Deadline

New York Times

Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, NFL Draft: Your Friday Briefing New York Times Two refugees, left, helped pick strawberries in Weimar, Germany. The city of 65,000 has absorbed 900 migrants in a year, and our journalists spent months following their experiences. Credit Mauricio Lima for The New York Times. (Want to get this ... and more »

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Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, NFL Draft: Your Friday Briefing - New York Times