This week’s White House Report Card finds President Trump where he predicted he would be: talking about record infections and deaths from the coronavirus, whacked by a spiraling economy, a growing unemployment rate, and sinking approval ratings.
But as the week ended, he and his team of experts, as well as those in some key virus states including California and New York, saw hopeful signs that the crisis was leveling in some areas.
Both of our graders were hard on the president in their commentary below. Conservative analyst Jed Babbin, giving Trump a C+, warned against another big spending stimulus. Pollster John Zogby, repeating last week’s grade of F, said, “This just isn’t a bad week. This is a bad presidency.”
Jed Babbin
Grade C+
Trump had a pretty good week despite surging unemployment due to the Wuhan virus pandemic, boring daily briefings, and continuing controversy over the use of an anti-malarial drug to treat the coronavirus.
Unemployment rose by another 6 million this week, meaning that about 17 million people in the United States became unemployed over the past three weeks. That’s about 10% of the workforce. We haven’t reached the peak of the pandemic yet. That may not occur for another two weeks, meaning that the economy will probably be closed through May, though Trump wants the economy to be reopened sooner.
#Trump‘s daily approval numbers for the week: Mon 44% – Tue 47% – Wed 47% – Thurs 46% – Fri 43%… https://t.co/mazBCW77nY pic.twitter.com/kAPhZPSe9r
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) April 10, 2020
The president and a consensus of doctors seem to agree that the drug hydroxychloroquine should be used to treat the COVID-19 disease, but the media and a number of “experts” disagree. There is no reason the drug shouldn’t be available to consenting patients, so the president should demand that it be made available. People who might live through the virus may be dying for lack of it.
Last Friday, Trump fired the intelligence community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, and this week fired Glen Fine, acting Defense Department inspector general who would have been supervising the dispensation of the $2 trillion stimulus package the president just signed into law. Atkinson should have been fired long ago. His action, changing the regulation covering whistleblower complaints to allow hearsay allegations in the “Zelensky call” complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment, was contrary to decades of law and practice on whistleblowers. Fine, an Obama holdover, should also have been gone a while ago.
As the Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial, the daily presidential briefings on the pandemic crisis are boring. Trump is using them as the best campaign tool available, sparring with reporters and taking questions on topics far afield from the pandemic. Meanwhile, ol’ Joe Biden is “campaigning” from the basement of his house in Delaware, and nobody is listening.
Congress is cooking up another round of economic stimulus, and Trump seems eager to help spend. We’re probably at the point where more stimulus spending won’t help. The president, contrary to his fiscal stewardship so far, should be more skeptical of pouring more money on the bonfire.
John Zogby
Grade F
This just isn’t a bad week. This is a bad presidency.
This week alone, Trump fired his spending watchdog on the coronavirus, welcomed the resignation of his acting secretary of the Navy (after supporting his firing of a ship captain pleading for assistance for his suffering sailors), moved out his press secretary after she never held one press briefing, and welcomed his new press secretary who believes that Democrats are enjoying COVID-19 and that President Barack Obama was not really born in the U.S.
The Invisible Enemy will soon be in full retreat!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2020
He urged people to wear a protective mask as he announced that he himself would not — and continues to contradict the words of the leading medical figures on his virus task force.
Trump survived impeachment, but now, at best, he is in the way. His approval numbers are down a point or two, and a solid majority now disapprove of his handling of the crisis.
Democrats took a major step toward possible unity with Sen. Bernie Sanders dropping out of the race. And this wartime president is running behind his Democratic opponent. Federal checks are on the way but not this week.
Jed Babbin is a Washington 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 weekly podcast with son and partner Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @TheJohnZogby
