This week’s White House Report Card finds President Trump ending the period with two decisive moves: pardoning former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff Scooter Libby and joining with France and England to strike Syria in retaliation for its chemical attack on citizens.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2018
Conservative grader Jed Babbin found the moves bold and gave a B- grade. Pollster John Zogby, meanwhile, focused on the name calling between Trump and former FBI Director James Comey, who is peddling a “tell-all” book, and gave the president an F.
Jed Babbin
This was a week of indecision for President Trump until Friday when he came through with a pardon for a well-deserving former White House aide and a joint strike on Syria.
Just a week ago, the president was pushing his military advisors to withdraw from Syria in the next six months. On Friday night the U.S., France and Britain struck. And Trump challenged Russia’s promise of a retaliation when he told the nation, ‘To Iran and to Russia, I ask: What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?’
The president seemed to backtrack on the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) from which he had withdrawn the United States. Hints that he might rejoin TPP seemed to follow reports of the worsening possibility of a trade war with China.
Would only join TPP if the deal were substantially better than the deal offered to Pres. Obama. We already have BILATERAL deals with six of the eleven nations in TPP, and are working to make a deal with the biggest of those nations, Japan, who has hit us hard on trade for years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
Trump was reportedly hugely angered by special counsel Robert Mueller’s raid on the offices of Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. FBI agents seized records and possibly conversations recorded by Cohen, some of which may have included the president. The president was reportedly considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who apparently approved the search warrant application. Again, no decisions were made.
Former FBI director James Comey’s book is about to be published. The previews of it are highly critical of Trump. Comey will be a media darling at least up to the November midterm elections, and a constant headache for Trump.
On Friday, Trump pardoned I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby who had been convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the highly-politicized case of the CIA’s Valerie Plame, whose name was leaked to the late Robert Novak by former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage. Libby, then-chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, was convicted of lying to a grand jury on the basis of the testimony of New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who later recanted the testimony. President George W. Bush commuted Libby’s sentence, but refused to pardon him. Trump finally remedied a clear miscarriage of justice.
Grade B-
John Zogby
Parents all over this country are trying to inculcate in their children a sense of respect for our leaders, including the venerable institution of the presidency. Meanwhile, President Trump is getting into a name-calling row with former FBI Director James Comey. He is also denying charges by former director James Comey that he was obsessed with a dossier allegedly including a tape of him enjoying a ‘golden shower’ tape with Russian prostitutes. (Hint: it really doesn’t matter if it is true!)
James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
Meanwhile, as the week comes to an end, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is charged with oversight of the Russia meddling investigation, is telling friends he is preparing to be fired soon.
….untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 13, 2018
The president is a again making noise about firing Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller leading that very investigation. His personal attorney’s office has been raided by the FBI and now House Speaker Paul Ryan has announced he is not running for re-election.
Perhaps the only positive coming out of this week is that Trump has announced a commission to look into waste in the U.S. Postal Service. Whew, what a bad week.
Grade F
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
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
