In this week’s White House Report Card, President Trump continues to be bruised by poor approval ratings for his handling of the coronavirus crisis and his weak reelection campaign fight. But he also continues to soldier on with his agenda and making good on 2016 campaign promises, including his pledge to eliminate crushing regulations.
One constant has been the steady work on the virus and reelection effort by Vice President Mike Pence, who on Friday turned up the heat on presidential challenger Joe Biden. In Ripon, Wisconsin, where the GOP got its start, he said, “You know, it’s not so much whether America will be more conservative or more liberal, more Republican or Democrat, more red or blue. It’s whether America remains America.”
Our graders were split on Trump’s week, with Democratic pollster John Zogby grading an “F” for poor performance and conservative analyst Jed Babbin a “B-” for both a good week on deregulation and winning an election endorsement from police.
John Zogby
Grade: F
I am reminded of two iconic quotes this week. The first is from St. Paul to the Galatians, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” The second is from Ronald Reagan, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
In response to the first, Trump has gone out of his way to be outrageous, break all the rules, sow racial division, and act like a child. For this, he has earned disarray, confusion, racial division, and a disruption of rational debate.
As to the second, are you? As any lawyer will yell in a courtroom objection, “Ask and answered.”
Jed Babbin
Grade: B-
Trump had a pretty good week with action on Hong Kong, reducing the paperwork imposed by environmental impact statements of construction projects, and picking up two good endorsements to his campaign despite the media’s conclusions that it’s all in the bag for Biden.
Trump signed legislation requiring sanctions on Chinese officials who participate in Beijing’s oppression of Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates. The bill also imposes sanctions on banks that deal with those individuals.
In a barn on a Wisconsin dairy farm, VP Pence thanks farmers for getting food to America’s tables during the pandemic. “I believe with all my heart, before the end of this year, we’re gonna have a vaccine and we’re gonna put this Coronavirus in the past,” says Pence. pic.twitter.com/A6U2DpkJHU
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 17, 2020
On the regulatory side, the administration first proposed that foreign college students who couldn’t attend classes in person this fall would have to leave the United States. It then backed down after pressure from a lot of schools that make buckets of dollars from those students’ tuition. More success was reached in the reduction of politicized National Environmental Policy Act regulations on environmental impact statements. That paperwork is amazingly burdensome and frequently takes years to push through the Environmental Protection Agency. Trump’s efforts will make it faster and cheaper to get the EPA red tape accomplished.
Many in the Trump-hating media, such as the Washington Post and New York Times, are already concluding that the race is over and Trump should quit now. That’s not what the National Association of Police Organizations and the National Rifle Association believe. Both organizations endorsed Trump this week. The NRA endorsement was to be expected. The NAPO endorsement is significant because the organization endorsed the Obama-Biden ticket in 2008 and 2012. It represents about 1,000 police unions and 250,000 officers.
There was some turmoil in the Trump campaign with the demotion of campaign manager Brad Parscale and the promotion of Bill Stepien to campaign manager. With fewer than 110 days until the election, and with the relentless anti-Trump media drumbeat, there’s reason for Trump to worry.
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
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
