© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersUS President Donald Trump
Not one to dwell on the details of governing, President Trump has shown a considerable degree of deference to groups within the conservative movement like Heritage, leading to a rightward shift in social, environmental, immigration and foreign policy.
The results, Heritage found in its review, exceeded even the first year of Ronald Reagan's presidency, whose tenure has long been the conservative gold standard.
"There is so much noise in this town that I think it obscures the real work that's being done," said Kay Coles James, the new president of the Heritage Foundation, which shook up its leadership last year after disagreements that stemmed in part from the perception that it was not acting effectively enough to shape the debate in Washington.
"This administration is doing quite well in terms of advancing a conservative agenda - clearly, quite well," Ms. James added.
The review was previewed to The New York Times on Monday.
While Heritage found much that it liked about Mr. Trump's first year, it also found much that could be improved on - most notably the snail's pace of nominations by the White House. Of the 635 major postings across the executive branch that require Senate confirmation, the White House has no nominee for 245 of those.
As eight years of a Democratic administration drew to a close, Heritage began developing in 2016 a list of 334 policy prescriptions that a new Republican administration could adopt. It included a variety of actions, like reimposing work requirements for welfare recipients, ending the program that shields young immigrants brought here illegally as children, withdrawing from the Paris climate accord and eliminating certain gender identity protections.
Heritage said that 64 percent of those items were enacted by the administration either through executive order or another means of enforcement, or included in Mr. Trump's budget, which has not been voted on by Congress.
In Reagan's first year, only 49 percent of Heritage's wish list items were embraced by the president or enacted. At the time, Heritage identified a familiar problem for why the administration's policies were wanting. In almost every federal agency, Heritage said in November 1981, "delayed appointments, unqualified or misqualified appointments, or the appointment of individuals who are not committed to the President's goals and policies" had delayed or thwarted policy changes.
In its endorsement of Mr. Trump's first year, Heritage is largely echoing a widely shared sentiment across the conservative movement: While conservatives may often find themselves in disbelief about the president's impulsive and reckless style, his policy decisions are buying him a lot of good will.
Ed Feulner, a Heritage founder and former president, described Mr. Trump's thinking as liberated from the typical cautiousness of a president. "'Hell, why can't we do that? Let's try it. Let's make it happen,'" Mr. Feulner said, speaking of Mr. Trump's attitude.
"In some respects, Trump the non-politician has an incredible advantage, even over Ronald Reagan," Mr. Feulner added. "Because Ronald Reagan knew there were certain things government couldn't do."
Ms. James said that regardless of Mr. Trump's foibles, he has remained focused on keeping his promises to conservatives. And if he keeps doing that, those promises may be what conservative voters care about - above all else, she added. "So say what you will, I think the other side of the aisle would be salivating to find their version of a Donald Trump - someone who came in, kept their promises and did what they said they were going to do," she said.
"Even though," she added, "they are unhappy about tweets or language or unforced errors."
Comment: What do you know! Trump's actually a conservative. And an effective one at that. He might even say he's a stable, genius conservative.