Trump report card: Trade war dominates Wall Street, G-7 in France

John Zogby
Grade F

As the late comedian Joan Rivers used to say, ‘Can we talk?’

There is no way to see this week as anything but a complete disaster. President Trump insulted the prime minister of a solid ally, Denmark, and canceled a trip over their rejection of a silly whim — the U.S. buying Greenland. A reminder: Greenland is not for sale, the Danes knew nothing about this, and the citizens of the island are opposed.

Then, the president said he will consider payroll tax cuts to stave off a recession — and backed off the next day because someone reminded him (probably Larry Kudlow) that it is not good form to talk about a recession until there is one.

Then, he continued his flap with two freshmen lawmakers over Israel and, in the process, managed to insult Jewish voters who do not vote for Republicans (around 79%). Then, he said he will try to end the policy of citizenship to children born here of illegal residents (which, I think, would take a constitutional amendment because it is in the Constitution).

And then, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal government will experience its second trillion dollar deficit in a row. But then … that’s enough. One important note: Trump awarded my childhood hero NBA legend Bob Cousy the Presidential Medal of Freedom this week. Bob has been the best on and off the court. But not enough to save this week.

Jed Babbin
Grade B-

This was a very significant week for President Trump, more for what others did — especially the New York Times and China — than what he did himself.

Dean Baquet, the NYT’s executive editor, told the newspaper’s reporters and editorialists in no uncertain terms that, with the “Russia collusion” narrative having collapsed around them, their job between now and November 2020 was to convince voters that Trump is a racist. In a leaked transcript of Baquet’s remarks, he said that the Times had built its newsroom around the Russia collusion narrative and that because it had failed to oust Trump, it was time to move on to a racism narrative. Between the NYT, Washington Post, and the rest of the liberal media, there’s not even a pretense of objectivity. They will make as much trouble for Trump as they can.

China, meanwhile, is still held off from crushing the Hong Kong freedom demonstrators by Trump’s relative restraint in their mutual trade war. China did announce that another 10% tariff will be imposed on U.S. goods, including agricultural products. Trump proclaimed himself “the chosen one” for dealing with China and ordered U.S. businesses to find alternatives to China, which is beyond his power to compel. Stocks took another hit from the China trade news.

The week’s main kerfuffle resulted from Trump’s comments that Jews who voted for Democrats displayed a “total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” To whom the loyalty was owed, he didn’t say. He was attacked immediately for playing on anti-Semitic tropes, which clearly wasn’t his intent. Trump doesn’t understand that Jews haven’t, for many years, equated support for Israel with earning their votes. He also doesn’t understand that his strong friendship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is, in the Democrats’ minds, a fatal taint on the Israeli state. It’s another manifestation of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Meanwhile, the government of Gibraltar let the Iranian tanker that had been seized by the Brits go along its way despite U.S. efforts to arrest the ship. Our peace talks with the Taliban stumble on without the cease-fires we’d demanded. Another two U.S. troops were killed there this week. The Taliban-U.S. talks closely resemble the U.S.-North Vietnamese talks an era ago. We know how they turned out.

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 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