ICOM 7100 power output on SSB is this normal?

I made a previous thread before going over some of the problems I have been having with my HF setup, using an ICOM 7100 as my rig, a Chameleon EMCOMM II antenna which is an end-fed antenna, Diamond SWR meter, LDG IT-100 tuner, and PowerWerx 30 AMP Desktop switching power supply.

A brief summary on the previous issue, which is related to the problem I am continuing to have:
The problem I was having before was that I was unable to make any contacts on the 40 meter band or any other HF bands such as 20 meters. I tested my radio with a few Hams I know, one of them was 60 miles away from me and the other was 20 miles away. Both could not hear me transmit even though I was in close proximity to them. I ended up taking my radio to Ham Radio Outlet to have them check the radio. They tested it on FM, 7.200 mhz and it was outputting 90-100 watts which they said was perfectly normal. I was told from the guy at HRO that the radio is working perfectly. I don't have any reason to not believe him, as he was very knowledgeable and helpful. I was told that it since the radio tested fine, it was probably either an antenna problem or I need an amplifier to bring my radio over 100 watts output due to the hilly terrain of living in Santa Clarita, California. I was told that out here where I live it is a very typical problem to get a signal out in the local area, and even though I may be able to make contacts 300 miles way on SSB, locally it can be more difficult because of the terrain.
After going home and doing more tests, I called the same guy from HRO and said that the SWR meter was only peaking around 20 watts to 40 watts. He said that this is normal for SSB, and since SSB is Peak Envelope Power, the needle would only rise to around 20 watts or so. This conflicts with what I was told from some other hams, who said that their SWR meters constantly goes up and down to 100 watts when on SSB.

Next, I decided to buy an Alpha Antenna vertical to see if it was an antenna problem. So after I was able to make contact with N7BFO Chuck (he said I had a week signal and could hear me), who is 60 miles from me, I bought a 20 foot flag pole and placed it at the top of my 40 foot slope. Now after the end-fed antenna is up higher I can hear a lot more stations and have less noise. I was able to make another contact with N7BFO Chuck but this time being the first time with the end-fed antenna. To much of our disappointment, Chuck could barely hear me and I could hear him loud and clear. Chuck said that being so close to each others stations he should be able to hear me a lot better.

I decided to make a video and put it on YouTube to show other Hams what is going on and to get some advice. At this point, I don't think I am outputting full 100 watts power on SSB, which does not make sense at all. My RF output on the radio is at 100%, and I even changed the radio to default settings just to be on the safe side. If the power is not at 100 watts, it would make a lot of sense as to why I am having difficulty making contacts. The height of my antenna should be good enough now.

I have tried the following:

A) Raise my mic gain above 50% all the way up to 100%
B) Lower my mic gain
C) Change the ICOM 7100 radio to default settings
D) Turn speech compression on and off
E) Try a vertical antenna versus my end fed antenna
F) Check SWR levels
G) Connect antenna directly into radio and not using tuner
H) Disconnect SWR meter
I) Tried completely different coax cables

My questions are:

1): Is it normal for the SWR meter to only go up to 20 - 40 watts when transmitting on SSB when running on 100% RF power output?

2): Is it normal to have the Power Supply not go up to 17-18 AMPS when transmitting on SSB when running on 100% RF power output?

I took a look at the SWR meter after tuning and it is reading right around 1, so I don't believe that the radio is being scaled down from 100 watts due to a high SWR.

I have been trying to make contacts by calling CQ, CQ, CQ, but no responses yet. I am getting the feeling that my radio is not outputting full power but since I have nothing to compare it to and getting different responses from different HAM operators I don't know what to do at this point. I think it would be a waste of money to get an amplifier until I can confirm that my radio is outputting 100 watts right now.

Here is the link to my video (was taken on iPhone) in my shack using the ICOM 7100 radio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKDf...iT7AjDL7m4Fzlg

In the video, I show how when I change my radio to FM and transmit it goes to around 18 AMPS on the power supply and 100 watts on the SWR meter.

When I am on SSB 40 meters, and transmit, the power supply peaks at 12 amps but usually stays around 7-8 AMPS, and the SWR meter peaks around 20 watts.

Steve who is WB2WIK has been very helpful and I wanted to post this to get some different ideas, and of course including Steve's input! I am no expert, but I don't think this is an SWR problem is there a setting in the radio I don't know about? It seems like the radio is limiting the output to 20-40 watts maximum on SSB.