This week’s White House Report Card certainly suggests that President Trump ought to spend more time out of the country. Because after a winning week overseas, he is coming back to the same old, same old: questions about transition talk with Russians and attacks on his spending priorities.
John Zogby
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President Trump traveled to the Middle East and Europe this week and his trip was a success by one important standard: he was able to change the conversation and main headlines away from the Russia investigation and talk of impeachment.
Many NATO countries have agreed to step up payments considerably, as they should. Money is beginning to pour in- NATO will be much stronger.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
The trip was not without controversy: he sidled up to an authoritarian regime in Saudi Arabia, publicly disagreed with the Pope, got dissed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Teresa May, and chastised the leaders of NATO countries for being deadbeats. But he is the president, he mingled with the world elite (even pushed one aside), and he changed the topic.
Meanwhile back at home, he proposed a budget that is dead on arrival (and anyone who backs it is politically dead on arrival) and his latest version of Obamacare repeal is repelling – 23 million people would lose coverage, Medicaid would be slashed, and the deficit is barely touched. It is a bill that puts a smile on House Speaker Paul Ryan’s face and gives Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cramps – at least one which is a worthy achievement. He has to come home to face the music, but this week was okay.
Grade C-
Jed Babbin
President Trump had a very good week visiting the Saudis, the Israelis, the Vatican, NATO and the G7. Former president Obama bowed to the Saudi king in 2009 and his wife wore a veil. Trump didn’t bow to anyone and neither FLOTUS nor first daughter Ivanka wore a headscarf. Trump made no apologies for America and challenged the assembled Muslim leaders to clean their own houses of terrorism.
Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world. pic.twitter.com/JzJDy7pllI
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2017
In Israel, Trump became the first president to pray beside the Wailing Wall and then launched himself into a round of peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. He won’t succeed. It’s only a question of how much diplomatic capital he’s willing to spend and how much he’ll be diverted from other big issues.
At the Vatican, the president presented the Pope with a book of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches and received in return an encyclical on global warming. He remained gracious.
In Brussels, Trump refused to endorse NATO’s mutual defense commitment, scolding our allies for their chronic failure to invest in their own defense. He, in turn, was reportedly scolded by British PM for the leaks from his administration that revealed too much about the Brit investigation of the Manchester suicide bombing. He said the leaks should be investigated and punished.
Grade B
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is and author of We are Many, We are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in 21st Century America. Follow him at @TheJohnZogby
Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him @jedbabbin Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
