This week’s White House report card has both of our graders critical of President Trump’s fight with his side over the administration’s stalled agenda.
John Zogby
Recommended Stories
President Trump’s honeymoon is still a disaster. While economic indicators continue to look good, his polling indicators are awful. His approval average is now only 41 percent and he has managed to anger every faction in Congress.
Never a friend of Speaker Paul Ryan’s, Mr. Trump has hung him out to dry over health care while he still needs him for tax cuts and reform. The president rode into office with strong support from the Freedom Caucus but now they are his enemies and he is out to punish them.
He has made overtures to the Democrats but they will not play along. He is receiving bad news from district courts on his immigration ban and his relationship with the chairman of the House committee that was supposed to investigate his team’s contacts with Russia has become toxic. His former short-termed national security director will talk to the Senate but only if he gets immunity. I know Mr. Flynn’s lawyer is only doing his job, but this doesn’t look very good.
The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017
President Obama was excoriated for alleged abuse of executive orders but Mr. Trump is going down the same road. So no legislative accomplishments, low polling numbers, a downward spiral with the public and Congress. Not good at all.
Grade D-
Jed Babbin
After last week’s Obamacare debacle, President Trump needed to send signals of political strength. The one strong action he took went almost unnoticed amidst the administration’s flailing at friends and windmills.
After the Obamacare “repeal and replace” bill was stalled by House conservatives, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said that the president was looking to partner with Democrats on bipartisan measures to accomplish the other parts of his agenda. That’s tantamount to waving a big white flag because the Dems have zero interest in helping Trump accomplish anything. They will — as they are doing in the Neil Gorsuch confirmation vote — obstruct, delay and filibuster whenever they can.
On Thursday, President Trump declared war on the Freedom Caucus, the conservative House group he blames for the Obamacare bill’s failure to pass. His tweets said that he was going to fight them and the Dems in 2018. A couple of them, in turn, accused Trump of becoming part of the Washington swamp instead of draining it. Party unity looks a long way off.
The president signed an executive order that began the process of repealing Obama’s global warming regulations. Intending to put the coal industry back in business, the order pulls the strings on Obama’s “clean power” plan. He also ordered the EPA to review Obama’s “clean water” regulations that have placed almost every puddle in America under EPA’s authority as “navigable waters.”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Turkey apparently without mentioning Turkish President Erdogan’s march into Islamism and autocracy. Not a strong performance in any respect.
Grade D
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is and author of We are Many, We are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in 21st Century America. Follow him at @TheJohnZogby
Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him @jedbabbin
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
