Our White House Report Card finds President Trump trying to deal with the growing secret impeachment probe by House Democrats, his position on troops in the Middle East, and filling the top job at Homeland Security.
Conservative grader Jed Babbin noted that in comparison to recent weeks, this one was dull. Democratic pollster John Zogby noted that Trump’s approval ratings are falling.
Jed Babbin
Grade: C-
By Trump standards, this week was a pretty dull one for the president. Though most of the political oxygen was consumed by the double-secret probation House impeachment hearings, the president seems to be backtracking on the Syria retreat and is pulling troops out of Afghanistan. There was a lot of PC nonsense about his use of the word “lynching” and continued difficulty in confirming executive branch candidates.
Trump began the week by wisely canceling plans to hold the next G-7 summit at his Trump National Doral Miami resort. He complained about the Constitution’s “phony” emoluments clause, but the decision was the right one.
The Fake Washington Post keeps doing phony stories, with zero sources, that I am concerned with the Impeachment scam. I am not because I did nothing wrong. It is the other side, including Schiff and his made up story, that are concerned. Witch Hunt continues!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2019
Trump is still trying to deal with his very bad decision to cut and run from northeastern Syria, leaving our Kurdish allies to the tender mercies of Turkey and Russia. He’s apparently not pulling all our troops out and is considering sending tanks and other forces to southern Syria which is dominated by Russia, Iran, and the Syrian Assad regime. If there’s a policy behind his thought process, it’s a mystery. Meanwhile, Trump’s decision to pull 2,000 troops out of Afghanistan is probably right IF there’s a policy behind that. Again, it’s puzzling and not connected to any known policy.
Meanwhile, two top picks for the Department of Homeland Security were ruled ineligible for their appointments by the White House personnel director. Not having people eligible for the slots they’re appointed to is a rookie mistake by a three-year-old administration.
The media want nothing to do with any story that doesn’t center around the House impeachment proceedings. That will continue through the process which, at this rate, may extend into spring 2020. Do the Democrats want to have their presidential primaries ignored in favor of Trump’s impeachment? That sounds like a lousy bet. Trump’s use of the term “lynching” in describing the House impeachment proceedings drew a lot of PC fire from a few such as presidential wannabe Sen. Kamala Harris, but ordinary Americans understood. And agreed.
John Zogby
Grade D-
President Trump’s ratings in the polls are declining a little and majorities now support the congressional impeachment inquiry. Not quite half favor his removal from office.
Republican forces went on the offensive against closed-door impeachment testimony, and the Justice Department has now launched an investigation into the origins of the Democrats’ inquiries into the Russians, Trump, and the 2016 election. Whew!
After he’s impeached and removed, and the hotel sold to pay his criminal defense lawyers, I suggest it be renamed the Hotel Constitution. https://t.co/lE2jJAMbAP
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) October 25, 2019
The Kurds remain screwed, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is now sheikh of the Middle East. There is some evidence that GOP senators are getting tired of their president. But perhaps the most vexing question facing our nation’s capital: Is there any way to make the Conways go away? Quietly, please.
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 latest book is We Are Many, We Are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in 21st Century America. Follow him on Twitter @TheJohnZogby
