This week’s White House Report Card finds President Trump still struggling to cut a deal with Democrats and even his own party on a border protection deal that will avoid another government shutdown. But he boldly retaliated on Twitter and in press briefings against Democratic efforts to investigate everything in his past. And he got a clean bill of health from his doctors after an annual check-up.
Our graders, conservative military analyst Jed Babbin and Democratic pollster John Zogby, gave his State of the Union Address a mixed grade, but the public ate it up.
Jed Babbin
Grade B
President Trump had a mixed week that reflected his State of the Union speech: some exceptionally strong elements and a mixed bag of proposals that are right out of the liberal playbook.
Trump’s SOTU was, like the president himself, all over the map. Proclaiming that “great nations do not fight endless wars,” the president echoed his sentiments from the 2016 campaign. He said it was time to bring our troops home from Syria. The Democrats’ reactions to the speech sounded like a bunch of neocons, bashing him for withdrawing but offering no alternative.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2019
Pointing at the Feb. 15 deadline for an agreement on border security Trump hit the opposition hard on the border issue speaking about how the flood of illegal aliens endangered the nation. He touched on the abortion issue inflamed by liberals and called for a ban on late-term abortions. He then went on to push a very strange liberal agenda ranging from paid family leave, money for AIDS research, and another “infrastructure” program reminiscent of former President Barack Obama’s trillion-dollar boondoggle.
And in another contrast, he won applause when he said America would never be a socialist nation.
Trump also announced a new summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to be held later this month in Vietnam. What can be accomplished in that meeting is very unclear.
After the speech, the Pentagon announced a schedule to withdraw our troops from Syria this month at the president’s direction, but several generals cautioned that ISIS is still not defeated in Syria or Iraq and will emerge again as a strong force.
So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so. Never happened before! Unlimited Presidential Harassment….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2019
Trump’s nomination of William Barr to be the next attorney general was passed out of committee and will be confirmed by the full Senate next week.
Republicans got a boost from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s announcement of a “Green New Deal” which would end air travel, rebuild every building in the country to “energy efficiency,” and commit America to the entire radical environmentalist agenda. It’s all unicorns and rainbows and won’t get serious consideration even in Nancy Pelosi’s House. Whether the Republicans are smart enough to make much political hay out of it remains to be seen.
John Zogby
Grade C-
President Trump gave a conciliatory speech initially this past Tuesday. Speaking directly to the American people, as only a president can do, Trump called for an end to hyperpartisanship and a renewal of American greatness. With characteristic hyperbole and credit-taking, he talked up the booming economy, successful diplomacy with North Korea, and record numbers of women in the workforce.
It was an honor to be joined by our inspiring guests at this year’s #SOTU. Each of them has a remarkable story to tell. Thank you to everyone who shared the evening with us! pic.twitter.com/8mm8svcn2i
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) February 6, 2019
Up to 7 in 10 Americans who watched the speech liked it. But the president was stunningly disingenuous by forgetting that he himself has ridden the crest of the hyperpartisanship and is solely the person responsible for the longest government shutdown in American history. He didn’t offer a single word of compassion for those government who have been seriously set back by the shutdown nor did he give even an inch on the lone issue he used to cause the shutdown — a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. True, he used some different words, a metal barrier not all concrete, but as of this writing, there is only miniscule evidence that the president and Congress will avoid another shutdown.
Trump mentioned education in one sentence and the environment not at all. As of today, polls show growing fears of global warming among Americans. And at the same time, his polling numbers have not recovered from the low 40s. The Era of Big Bumps in the polls is over, apparently.
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
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
