This week’s White House Report Card finds President Trump manning the Hurricane Dorian battle stations at Camp David after a week that included his return from a tense G-7 in France, a pause in the trade war with China and a Justice Department slap at antagonist and former FBI Director James Comey.
Conservative grader Jed Babbin said Trump had a good week, but Democratic pollster John Zogby said this week’s White House theme was “America Last.”
Jed Babbin
Grade B
President Trump had a very good week despite the machinations of French President Emmanuel Macron at the G-7 summit.
Macron surprised Trump by inviting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the conference, hoping to pressure Trump into a head-to-head meeting. Trump didn’t fall into the trap, leaving Macron with a lot of egg on his face. At the summit, Trump announced a trade deal with Japan which will benefit American farmers.
Unfortunately, Trump still doesn’t understand that Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, are our enemies. Russia was thrown out of the G-7 because of its conquest of Crimea, but Trump was nevertheless trying to get the rest of the G-7 to let Russia rejoin as a member in time for the U.S. hosting of the annual meeting next year.
The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One. pic.twitter.com/z0iDj2L0Y3
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2019
Trump’s trade war with China has apparently hurt enough to make them blink. His order for U.S. companies to move out of China — which may or may not be within his power to do — has the Chinese even more worried than before. They said there would be no retaliation for Trump’s latest tariff measures. Talks may recommence shortly.
The most important aspect of the Trump-China trade war is that the Chinese are still refraining from crushing the Hong Kong demonstrators militarily because of Trump’s trade war. The standoff holds, at least for now.
Has anyone noticed that the top shows on @foxnews and cable ratings are those that are Fair (or great) to your favorite President, me! Congratulations to @seanhannity for being the number one shoe on Cable Television!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 31, 2019
Two Republicans are running against Trump in the Republican primaries next year. None will be able to mount anything resembling a substantial challenge.
The Justice Department’s inspector general issued a report that demonstrated how Comey abused his power to harm Trump. It demonstrated (again) that Trump had good reasons to fire Comey.
John Zogby
Grade D
If Trump ran in 2016 under the slogan “America Last,” this would have been a great week.
The G-7 pledged aid to Brazil to combat the out-of-control fires destroying the Amazon rainforest. The U.S. was not included in the package. Macron maneuvered a surprise visit to the forum by the Iranian foreign minister to kickstart the old nuclear agreement while the President Trump sat as a third party. Perhaps there will be a breakthrough but no thanks to Trump.
Despite US efforts to destroy diplomacy, met with French President @EmmanuelMacron and @JY_LeDriane in Paris today.
Interviewed with Euronews, AFP, & France24.
Multilateralism must be preserved.
Next stops Beijing, Tokyo & KL after a day in Tehran. pic.twitter.com/xfBN66SBly— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) August 23, 2019
On the flip side, the president has learned his lesson about preparedness for hurricanes and seems to be out in front for Puerto Rico and Florida — though he is in another war of words with the mayor of San Juan.
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
