This week’s White House report card finds President Joe Biden hiding from the brightening spotlight on his and first son Hunter’s alleged financial scheming, inflation’s refusal to let go of the economy, and the Ukraine money pit.
While the president tried early in the week to keep the media’s focus on the positives of “Bidenomics” and his expansion of the national park around the Grand Canyon, the criticism of his son and problems with the economy were bottomless.
UP FOR DEBATE: TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND 2024 GOP HOPEFULS’ STANCES ON ABORTION
As the week ended and Biden returned to his Delaware vacation resort, his administration poured out sour economic reports, and Attorney General Merrick Garland elevated the longtime investigator of Hunter Biden to special counsel status. The appointment did not help the president since Republicans charged that it was just a scheme to hide the investigation and prolong action until after the election.
“Why did you interact with so many of your son’s business partners, President Biden? Will you hand over your bank records?”
BIDEN: *ignores*pic.twitter.com/gFsJxOz1Of
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 11, 2023
Pollster John Zogby noted the economic ills in grading a “C.” And conservative analyst Jed Babbin cited examples of potential Biden family corruption in grading a “D-minus.”
John Zogby
Grade: C
Not a good week.
First, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate multiple criminal cases involving the president’s son, Hunter. Inflation went a tad up from 3% to 3.2% annualized — not a catastrophe, but President Joe Biden didn’t need it. The price of gasoline at the pump has leaped way up ($4 a gallon today for me!).
The president tried to stay on message touting “Bidenomics” as a positive brand along with his efforts to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. But a new poll shows that many American blame his policies for the economy and higher prices, and his approval rate is stuck at 41%.
On a positive note, he gets high marks for taking only a few hours to declare a federal emergency in Maui as the fires were still raging. But he is still only tied in a horse race against a man who has been indicted three times — former President Donald Trump.
Jed Babbin
Grade: D-
The mountain of evidence of the Biden family’s corruption grew higher this week, the administration continued to pave the way for more illegal aliens to stay in the U.S., and Biden’s request for an emergency supplemental appropriation of $40 billion includes another $24 billion in aid to Ukraine. And then, there was a significant court battle lost by the Food and Drug Administration but won by cigar smokers.
Former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer has testified to House investigators that President Joe Biden was on about 20 phone calls in which the first son’s deals with Ukraine, China, and other countries were discussed. According to Joe Biden, they just talked about the weather. The truth of such allegations is what investigations are supposed to find out, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy isn’t even moving along with an impeachment inquiry.
There’s more evidence of corruption this time benefitting a senior member of the Biden transition team, Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, who handled immigration policy and has now been caught on camera bragging that he’d gotten millions in no-bid federal contracts for companies employing him. “It’s been a boom for my business,” a Project Veritas camera caught him saying.
The Department of Homeland Security is making a rule that would allow illegal immigrants living in the U.S. to work legally for five years, more than twice the current limit. About seven million illegals have been allowed in by Biden since 2021, when he was inaugurated. Meanwhile, legal applicants for citizenship recently had their waiting time increased from eight months to 30 months between the time they filed their applications and had any response from immigration officials.
Meanwhile, after the Supreme Court ruled that Biden’s $430 billion student loan forgiveness program was unconstitutional because it was beyond the president’s statutory authority, Biden has another student loan forgiveness program being made into a rule at the Department of Education. The Supreme Court should hold him in contempt. There will be legal challenges to the program and, eventually, another decision by the Supremes that holds it unconstitutional.
The new request for $24 billion for Ukraine sets up a battle with Republicans when Congress comes back from vacation. Nobody knows — and the Biden team doesn’t care — where and how the money is being spent. Corruption is rife in Ukraine, and a better solution would be to give them some amount of aid but also appoint a special inspector general to see what’s being bought with our money.
Biden finally gave an unscripted interview to a reporter — from the Weather Channel.
And the FDA lost a court battle over a rule that would impose its authority and tobacco regulations on premium cigars. A District federal court struck down the rule, saying that it went against the evidence and that smokers of premium cigars were no less healthy than non-smokers. It was a great blow (puff?) for freedom and against tyrannical regulations.
SEE THE LATEST POLITICAL NEWS AND BUZZ FROM WASHINGTON SECRETS
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies.
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.
