This week’s White House report card graders give President Trump high marks for what was likely his best week of his presidency so far.
John Zogby
This is a week when things started to come together for President Trump.
A demotion for his highly controversial and not particularly popular chief counsel, the accession of the First Son-in-Law to the position of Top Dog, and the professionalization of the National Security Council.
We saw terse comments from the secretary of State about Syria and North Korea, and from the secretary of Defense. But there is no mistaking who is in charge. Mr. Trump authorized the bombing of Syria which is hotly contested and contrary to the foreign policy vision he expressed during his campaign and in his Inaugural Address — but he did it. And he did it right before his meeting with the President of China and right after some tough talk on North Korea.
Congratulations to an exceptionally qualified and respected judge on his confirmation to the Supreme Court! #SCOTUS https://t.co/itTom467MT
— President Trump (@POTUS) April 7, 2017
Was the bombing a strategic move to show China that he can be tough and to show the world that he is independent of Russia? Does this action neutralize serious questions about his relationship with Putin?
At the same time, job growth was anemic but the unemployment rate dropped down to 4.5 percent. And he caps off the week with a huge victory in the Senate — the ratification of his Supreme Court nominee. His poll numbers are low but may have bottomed out. Love Donald Trump or hate him — and there seems to be no in between — he is the president.”
Grade B
Jed Babbin
President Trump scored the biggest win of his presidency so far when Senate Republicans went “nuclear” to override a Democratic filibuster and set up Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. Trump has now fulfilled a major campaign promise. Gorsuch replaces the late Antonin Scalia and takes his seat to hear cases before the current term of the high court ends.
Trump may have earned himself the reputation of a quick-draw artist. Hours after he responded emotionally to a chemical weapons attack on civilians by Syria’s Assad regime, he hit the airbase from which the attack had been made with about fifty Tomahawk cruise missiles, probably destroying a big chunk of the Syrian air force with it. Russian and Syrian outrage at the attack was both predictable and ineffective.
The revelation of the week was that Obama’s national security advisor, Susan Rice, had requested the “unmasking” of names in raw intelligence reports circulating in the Obama administration. If, as it appears, Rice was circulating information gained by spying on Trump’s team during the transition after the November election, the underlying scandal — a clear abuse of power — would be a lot less titillating and a lot worse than Bubba swearing that he hadn’t had sexual relations with “that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
House Republicans, meanwhile, still can’t find a way to repeal Obamacare. They went home for a two-week Easter recess as if they had nothing better to do. Mr. Trump is still trying — unsuccessfully — to make a deal with the conservatives that the moderates won’t derail, and vice-versa.
Grade B
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]
