This week’s White House Report Card finds President Trump working overtime to do something about the border crisis, and our graders weren’t wowed.
Democratic pollster John Zogby failed the president for his actions at the Department of Homeland Security and conservative analyst Jed Babbin wasn’t impressed either. But he found big positives in the economy and move against Iran.
John Zogby
Grade F
President Trump’s week was all about Homeland Security and detainees crossing the southern border. He has gutted the leadership of the huge department because they were not acting cruel enough to meet his standards.
He threatened to close the border with Mexico but was persuaded to hold off for one year — only to change his mind again by the end of the week by discussing it with administration officials. He has threatened to put detainees on buses and ‘ship’ them sanctuary cities so the cities and states can pay for them.
This wasn’t just a rumor…it was true. The President is now embracing using children as political pawns: Trump says he is giving ‘strong considerations’ to releasing immigrant detainees in ‘sanctuary cities’ https://t.co/s4R0uAINKU
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) April 13, 2019
This is not a deliberative policy, it is a combination of a cruel joke and government by revenge. Trump may get laugh lines at his rallies, but he is toying with people’s lives.
Jed Babbin
Grade B
This week was a good one for President Trump with more excellent economic news and an overdue economic move against the Iranian kakistocracy. But the turmoil at the Department of Homeland Security — and the continuing emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border — partially overshadowed the good news.
The economy continues to roar. Last week, new jobless claims sank to a low unseen since 1969. That should convince even the Trump-haters that he’s brought about a level of economic growth unseen in decades. It should, but it won’t.
If the Radical Left Democrats all of a sudden don’t want the Illegal Migrants in their Sanctuary Cities (no more open arms), why should others be expected to take them into their communities? Go home and come into our Country legally and through a system of Merit!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2019
The Trump administration formally designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to be a foreign terrorist organization. It’s the first time we’ve ever designated a part of a government an FTO. The designation makes it even harder for our so-called “allies” in NATO and elsewhere to trade with Iran for two reasons. First, the IRGC controls about half of the Iranian economy, so trading with Iran has to be trading with the IRGC. Second, the penalties of cooperating or trading with an FTO are substantial and most Europeans aren’t brave enough to risk them. The IRGC designation should have been made decades ago because the organization has been taking American lives for that long. Trump gets a lot of credit for finally getting it done.
If the Radical Left Democrats all of a sudden don’t want the Illegal Migrants in their Sanctuary Cities (no more open arms), why should others be expected to take them into their communities? Go home and come into our Country legally and through a system of Merit!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2019
All the turmoil at DHS — Secretary Neilsen’s firing, the apparent firing of the Secret Service director and pulling the nomination of the next director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — demonstrated the president’s frustration and near-powerlessness to stop the tsunami of illegal aliens coming from Central America and elsewhere through Mexico.
The problems at the border will be substantially solved by construction of Trump’s border wall, but that will take more than a year and won’t be completed without more funding battles with Congress. The problems are worsened by the courts, one of which ruled this week that Trump can’t require asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their applications are processed. The illegals are coming in at a rate of over 100,000 per month and there’s nothing else Trump can do to stop them.
Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is We are Many, We are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in 21st Century America. Follow him on Twitter @TheJohnZogby
