Trump report card: Explosive week with Kim meeting, jobs, historic 4th display

John Zogby
Grade C-

This is truly an unorthodox presidency. President Trump threw the world, including his national security adviser and White House aides, a curve ball by meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the DMZ.

He has done this Kim dance before, but he used theatrics to move this history-making relationship further along. He has invited Kim to the U.S. At the same time, while the bluster between the U.S. and Iran continues, we begin to see a possible opening for talks that may lead to essentially the same kind of deal that President Obama concluded.

The economy grew by 224,000 new jobs — much more than expected — and that is certainly good news.

But the wretched treatment of refugee detainees at the southern border and at facilities inland is an outrage. It casts a pall over both the president and all of us. To have a Soviet-like military celebration on the streets of Washington, D.C. was the wrong message.

Meanwhile, the president’s poll numbers dropped only a point or two.

Jed Babbin
Grade B+

President Trump had a very uneven week beginning with a surprise visit with North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un and ending with a boffo speech on Independence Day that even the anti-Trump Washington Post had to concede wasn’t political.

Trump went all the way back to the Korean DMZ to shake hands with Kim again. His hope, to reignite the nuclear disarmament talks Kim, were successful in only one regard. The talks will resume but the prospect for denuclearization of North Korea remains nil. Trump’s diplomacy, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out, sinks or swims on his ability to charm the snakes. North Korea wants relief from sanctions but will never give up its nukes or missiles. No deal remains better than a bad deal.

The June jobs report, which said that about 224,000 jobs were created that month, was so good that it also indicated that more people had entered the workforce to look for jobs. Talk of a post-election recession didn’t shake the stock market.

When Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross indicated that Trump’s effort to insert a citizenship question in the 2020 census had ended because of an adverse Supreme Court ruling, Trump began it immediately in a Tweet. The Commerce Department’s schedule for printing the Census forms is apparently being used as an excuse to run up a French surrender flag, but there’s just no excuse for the schedule to not be delayed long enough to resolve the problem and include the question. Democrats are desperate to block inclusion of the question because determining citizenship of residents can lead to adverse consequences to liberals on congressional redistricting and aid funds given to communities.

The president’s July 4th speech at the Lincoln Memorial was a lesson in military history and a proud recitation of America’s heritage. Trump delivered it well, military aircraft flew by for each of the services (including the Coast Guard), and only the nitpickers could find fault with it. It was followed by a long and lavish fireworks display which was a real crowd-pleaser.

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

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