This week’s White House Report Card finds President Trump weathering a typical week featuring wins and losses and a hot political debate over whether he will help or hurt congressional candidates in the fall election.
Democratic pollster John Zogby saw a string of problems, from immigration to politics. Conservative national security analyst saw positives in the elections and foreign policy moves.
John Zogby
I should take this week off because the report card business is mighty complicated. But here we go anyway.
President Trump issued new sanctions on Iran, Russia and Turkey just this week. He said on Friday that “our relations with Turkey are not good,” but it begs the questions just who our relations are good with. Under Trump, we are fighting everyone — our obvious enemies (and add China and North Korea to the above list, as well as our friends (as in Canada, Mexico, NATO and the EU).
…..Will the FBI ever recover it’s once stellar reputation, so badly damaged by Comey, McCabe, Peter S and his lover, the lovely Lisa Page, and other top officials now dismissed or fired? So many of the great men and women of the FBI have been hurt by these clowns and losers!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2018
The president is losing one court battle after another on his immigration policies. And he did not have a great day in the primaries in Ohio, Michigan, and Kansas. Yet, always yet, the candidate he backed in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District quite possibly won a close race because Trump campaigned for him.
The latest polls on the congressional generic election are anywhere from tied to just a two-point lead for the Democrats, and Trump’s approval rating for just this week is at 45 percent. And the list of sordid friends and their strange behaviors (possibly illegal) carries on. What’s a grader to do?
Grade D
Jed Babbin
President Trump had a fairly strong week which saw the European Union try to force him to exempt it from the new round of anti-Iran sanctions, his imposition of unusual sanctions on Russia because of Russia’s attempt to assassinate a double-agent in Britain with a chemical weapon, fair results in key primaries and a new round of sanctions on Turkey because it holds an American hostage.
The European Union issued a new “blocking statute” that says no European company can stop trading with Iran because of the U.S. sanctions unless it gets the E.U.’s permission. It also says that European companies can sue the U.S. for damages incurred because of the sanctions. The blocking statute is going to have zero effect because Trump has said that no nation that trades with Iran will trade with us and E.U. companies are already bailing out of Iran. Iran’s economy is slowly strangling and anti-regime demonstrations are widespread.
Thank you to Kanye West and the fact that he is willing to tell the TRUTH. One new and great FACT – African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in the history of our Country. So honored by this. Thank you Kanye for your support. It is making a big difference!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2018
The Trump administration, under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, announced the imposition of what could be the severest sanctions on Russia in decades. Because Russia is evidently responsible for the Skripal assassination attempt in London, Trump has found that sanctions on all Russian government controlled entities — possibly including stopping some airline flights from Russia and sanctions on Russian banks — will be imposed later this month, affecting about 70 percent of Russia’s economy. It was a very strong move against Russian President Vladimir Putin and in favor of the hapless British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Trump announced a plan to impose more tariffs on Chinese goods, and the Chinese are ramping up their counter-tariffs. This trade war is accelerating rapidly and is bound to hurt both economies significantly. China is our biggest trading partner. It won’t stop buying Iranian oil. Trump may be able to stop us from buying Belgian chocolates, but he can’t stop trade with China. What he can do isn’t at all clear.
RED WAVE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2018
The bad news of the week was the weak showing of Republican candidates in several primary elections. Though they did better than those endorsed by Democrat-Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (she was 0 for 5), Trump’s endorsed candidates held on by, in some cases, very slim margins. There’s no “red wave” visible, despite the presidential prognostications for November.
Turkish diplomats visited Washington this week to try to calm the heightened crisis between the two governments. They failed miserably. Turkey wants the U.S. to extradite a Pennsylvania-based Islamic cleric who Erdogan insists was responsible for the failed coup against him two years ago. It hasn’t bothered to provide any evidence of its charge. Turkey is holding Pastor Andrew Brunson hostage against the extradition of Gulen. The president announced late in the week that he was doubling the tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum, which are neither major Turkish exports nor U.S. imports. Trump has a lot of other cards to play against Turkey. What he’s waiting for is anybody’s guess.
Grade B-
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
