This week’s White House Report Card gives gold stars to President Trump for his wins on the budget and repeal of Obamacare, but notes his mixed messages on a potential government shutdown and “phantasmagorical” hopes on Middle East peace.
John Zogby
So we have two race cars — one Democrat, one Republican — speeding at 200 mph toward a solid brick wall. Do we cheer for the one to hit the wall first? The GOP won its hard fought victory by repealing Obamacare in the House this week. The Republicans cheer and the White House celebrates. Because it looks like it is going to hit the brick wall first?
But the Democrats do their stupid ‘Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, goodbye’ song. Are they pulling ahead in the race now?
Only 17 percent support the GOP American Health Care Act. Victory? Emboldened? I don’t know but it doesn’t look like a win here in Utica, N.Y.
Unemployment is down to 4.4 percent and that is good. President Trump’s approval rating is above 45 percent in several polls and that is pretty good. Weekly reports are never easy but he passes. His grade is good but he won’t get into an Ivy School with this performance.
Grade C-
Jed Babbin
President Trump had a pretty good week but you’d never know it if you listened to the media or the Democrats. The repeal/replacement of Obamacare passed the House narrowly and isn’t perfect. Trump’s new executive order on religious freedom — enabling religious groups to be more politically active without losing their tax exempt status — will likely upset the Democrats’ carefully-balanced political applecart. The budget deal celebrated by the Dems and condemned by a lot of conservatives wasn’t as awful as they’ve portrayed it.
Yes, the bill doesn’t permit construction of new sections of Trump’s border wall, but there’s more than $340 million for rebuilding old sections. That is enough, the administration said, to replace 40 miles of chain link fencing with 20-foot high walls. Added to that is something no one seems to remember: there’s already was about $6 billion — added by former President George W. Bush and unspent by former President Obama — that is now being used to contract for construction of new sections of the wall. Mr. Trump got less than half of the $54 billion he’d sought for an increase in defense spending. Despite these successes Trump confused positively everyone by praising the deal but adding that we need a government shutdown in September to clear up the mess we’re in.
The heat remains on in the North Korean crisis, with the NK’s proclaiming the imminence of war daily. Mr. Trump oddly said he’d be ‘honored’ to meet with Kim Jong Un, which would be a disastrous diplomatic move. To negotiate with Kim’s regime would be a surrender to NK’s threats.
In another weird move, the president invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to the White House. Duterte, a strongman who brags about extra-judicial killings of narcotics dealers, has been distancing his nation from its longstanding alliance with America and into an alliance with China.
On Wednesday, Trump met with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian ‘president’ whose term of office expired in 2009. Speaking of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement President Trump said ‘We will get this done,’ which is positively phantasmagorical.
Grade C+
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]
