This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden in Europe for a short G-20 meeting on the economy, COVID-19, and climate change, followed by a global warming summit in Scotland.
Whatever he brings back from those meetings has already been overshadowed by the horse-trading over his much scaled-back $1.75 trillion social welfare package. Before he left, he said that his presidency is on the line and that passage will save it.
Democrats, however, are struggling with some of the cuts, including on community college tuition, and conservatives and border Democrats are building a wall against Biden’s plan to dish at least $450,000 to illegal immigrants who were separated from their children when they broke the law and crossed the border, as happens to domestic criminals when they go to jail.
And his efforts to push Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe over the line has turned from a sure bet to a toss-up in part because of his political woes.
Our graders, Democratic pollster John Zogby and conservative national security analyst Jed Babbin, found the week to be another struggle for Biden. Zogby graded a C+ and cited inflation and skyrocketing energy costs, and Babbin graded a D- and noted the costly plan to pay off illegal immigrants.
John Zogby
GRADE: C+
Biden wanted to announce a compromise deal on infrastructure and social spending before embarking on a trip to Europe.
The best he could come up with was “a framework for a deal,” and this ain’t horseshoes. We will have to wait for next week, but there have already been a lot of “next weeks.”
This has been otherwise another mixed week for him. COVID-19 growth seems to have stemmed for now, the economy grew at an annualized rate of 2% (which is not enough to satisfy investors), reports of continuing increases in the prices of fuel and food have consumers in a funk — all these dog a president who just wants to pass his landmark legislation but is blocked by members of his own party.
And Biden met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Friday for 75 minutes about his faith and their strong belief in the need to attack climate change globally. He also has won agreements on climate cooperation with allies.
Jed Babbin
GRADE: D-
There were so many “SOS” (stuck on stupid) signals sent by the Biden administration that it’s going to be hard to catalog them here.
Biden’s “new normal” of American civilians being held in Afghanistan with nothing done to get them out, #Bidenflation (joined this week by a lousy GDP growth pointing to a recession), and the border crisis getting worse continue to hang over us.
The State Department admitted that there were 363 Americans who remain in Afghanistan. The Defense Department said there were 429. Truth is, neither really knows, and Biden isn’t doing a damned thing to rescue them.
Two “Let’s Go Brandon” songs topped the iTunes popularity chart this week that go along with Biden’s continually sinking polls. His “build back better” and “infrastructure” bills remain stuck with Democrats fighting over which recklessly costly programs will be funded and which won’t. The liberals are aghast that the “SALT” deduction, for state and local taxes which was limited under Trump, may not be increased. The “SALT” deduction is a subsidy to residents of high-tax states such as California and New York — paid for by everyone else.
Meanwhile, our GDP growth went down to 2% last quarter, a sign that a #Bidenrecession isn’t coming: It’s already here.
Dr. Rachel Levine, an assistant secretary of health, was commissioned our first transgender four-star admiral. She is the head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Otherwise, in the Biden administration’s biggest accomplishment of the week, the Department of State began issuing passports that have “X” instead of “male” or “female” in the gender designation.
Rep. Devin Nunes mentioned that we can’t defend against China’s hypersonic missiles with better pronouns.
In an SOS moment typical of the Biden White House, a plan was leaked by which families of illegal immigrants separated when they crossed the border would each get a $450,000 payment as a reward for breaking U.S. law. In another, White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy promised further regulation of the oil and gas industry. Prices are already far too high on oil and gas, so McCarthy and the Biden team want more regulation to further increase their price.
Meanwhile, a Fairfax County, Virginia, parent reported that several DHS or FBI cars and a federal helicopter showed up to a school board meeting. The feds’ presence may have been an implementation of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s memo, prompted by the National School Boards Association, which complained of threats and asked for FBI protection from all those domestic-terrorist parents.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and partner 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
