It sometimes makes sense to move the goalposts when they no longer work as a mechanism for measuring the metrics of the sport in question.
In this case, the total number of executive orders doesn't speak to the degree to which executive power is used to do things other than execute.
No, a hypothesis was asserted, and quickly disproven by data. Without stronger data, the rest of these responses are called "backpedaling", no matter how positive your language might sound.
And, FWIW, it's likely that the comment doesn't consider the absurd lengths to which executive power were pushed at various times in the first century of the republic, not only to create policy but also to eviscerate the decisions of the judicial branch (obviously "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it" comes to mind).
This is a rich and complex topics; moving the goalposts away from a discussion of the number of signed executive orders is quite sensible IMO.
I think it's totally fine to classify EOs in one bucket for half mast flag memorials and EOs like Nixon's establishment of the EPA in another bucket.