Grade B

The week started on a positive note when President Trump was accused of conferring with Venezuelan generals on the practicality of a coup against socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro. Why this was the wrong thing to do, given the fact that socialist dictator has turned the wealthy and beautiful Caribbean nation into a starving junk pile, the media never explained.

There was a bunch of news that no one could characterize as bad. Middle class income is up to above $61k a year and fewer people (12.3 percent) are earning income below the poverty level. North Korea held its 70th Anniversary Parade sans ICBMs. This is proof positive that, while the North isn’t making any effort to denuclearize, Trump’s counter-threats to Kim Jong Un’s belligerence are calming the atmosphere. Trump announced that the Pentagon would build his border wall between Mexico and the U.S. It remains seen if that can be done without congressional approval.

Another positive move was the order, announced by National Security Advisor John Bolton, that the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was responsible for dozens of terrorist attacks over the years, would be invited out and its Washington office closed. Trump continues to put pressure on the Palestinians to accept his forthcoming peace deal. It’s high time we pressured the Palestinians and not just the Israelis.

Some in the administration may be taking Trump’s business ideas in the wrong direction. Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that NASA was considering the sale of naming rights to its rockets and spacecraft. The possibilities are endless. “One small step for a man. One giant leap for Pizza Hut.”

The release of Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” was the focus of much of the early week news. Woodward’s efforts to sow dissent among the top ranks of the administration — such as between Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis — may succeed. Hurricane Florence literally blew Woodward off the front pages. The media are chafing at the bit, eager for Florence to become Trump’s Katrina. (The Washington Post, home of Trump Derangement Syndrome, said in an editorial that the president was “complicit” in the hurricane because of his position on global warming.) How well FEMA and other relief agencies, handle the storm’s aftermath remains to be seen.

John Zogby

Grade F

Some weeks are bad, others are worse. This week can only be characterized as an epic failure.

First, President Trump tweeted himself into a disturbing argument with everyone else on Earth over the actual death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. At its best it reminded us about similar gratuitous squabbles over the size of his Inauguration crowd and even his own private parts.

His slam dunk nominee for the Supreme Court may now (as of this writing) be mired in a #MeToo controversy and the president can hardly say a thing at all because of his own alleged track record. Then he ends the week with the news that his former campaign manager has struck a deal with the special prosecutor on possible Russian interference in the 2016 elections — and will talk. A new report now shows that the U.S. is detaining 12,800 refugee children. And now we see Republicans starting to sing a dirge for November elections and distancing themselves from their leader.

To be fair, his polling numbers are heading back into the low to middle 40s. But not enough to save this week.

Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in 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