Trump report card: Numbers for jobs, economy looking good

Jed Babbin
Grade B

After capping last week with a big win in the Supreme Court, allowing construction of new border walls with military funds, this week was a pretty good seven days for President Trump despite all the accusations of racism stemming from his criticisms of Baltimore and Rep. Elijah Cummings.

Trump tweeted that Baltimore — and Cummings’ district — is a rat-infested mess that “no human being” would want to live in. As a result, the Democrats and the liberal media spent the week calling Trump a racist. That was one of the big themes in the Tuesday and Wednesday night presidential candidate debates.

A couple of weeks ago, Trump tweeted about the four freshmen — Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Alyssa Pressley — which, while not inherently racist, invited that criticism. This time, Trump is both factually correct and unfairly accused of racism. According to Orkin, Baltimore ranks 9th among the 50 worst rat-infested U.S. cities. A lot of federal aid is funneled into Baltimore every year, but nothing seems to improve. The murder rate in Baltimore is higher than a lot of third-world countries.

Facts aren’t racist. But, as John Adams said, facts are stubborn things.

Trump won another battle on immigration this week by getting a deal with Guatemala that would require many immigrants to apply for asylum there first. The deal, if it works, may stem the flow significantly.

The defenestration of Dan Coats from the director of national intelligence post was supposed to be filled by Rep. John Ratcliffe, but his nomination was pulled after it became clear he’d have difficulty being confirmed. Ratcliffe, who had no intelligence credentials, wasn’t a good pick. Because the job is so important, Trump needs to come up with a good pick quickly. Meanwhile, CIA Director Gina Haspell, who was mentored by John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s CIA director, is running the show.

Reportedly, there is a peace deal with the Taliban in the offing. As he has often said, Trump wants to bring our troops home as soon as possible. But any deal, as this one is apparently going to be, that requires us to trust the Taliban can’t work.

John Zogby
Grade C

President Trump led the week by insulting Baltimore, Maryland, an entire city that is majority African American. He has not backed down in any way even after a firestorm of criticism.

He has calculated that once again such outrageous words strengthens his own base. He may be right as his polling numbers hold steady in the mid-40s. He has abandoned any moral authority and responsibility to be leader of a whole nation.

He continues on his path of a trade war with China, which Wall Street eschews, but the economy grew 164,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate stands at 3.7%.

I am bothered and befuddled, and I want to grab him by his overlong necktie and throw him out of my class. But the numbers are coming in, and they are not bad.

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