President Donald Trump scored hugely this week when the House gave him a one-vote victory on his “big beautiful bill” of tax cuts, spending increases, and immigration initiatives.
For past presidents, that would have been enough for a winning week, but for Trump 2.0, it was just another day and week filled with the non-stop action he has shown since returning to the Oval Office.
On Friday, for example, he returned to his dizzying tariff agenda, threatening Apple and Samsung with a 25% tax on cellular phones made overseas and a 50% tariff on European goods for failing to take his previous threats seriously.
Midweek, he welcomed the black president of South Africa into the Oval Office, where he challenged him on reports of white farmers being murdered.
And he proposed a Reagan-esque plan to defend America with a “Golden Dome” missile defense system.
Our graders this week were split. Conservative analyst Jed Babbin gave the president a “B-plus,” and was positive about the missile defense proposal. Democratic pollster John Zogby failed the president mostly over his chaotic tariff policies.
Jed Babbin
Grade: B+
Judging by President Donald Trump’s standard, this was a pretty dull week. He announced his Golden Dome missile defense plan, met with South African President Ramaphosa and threatened more tariffs on European Union goods and iPhones made outside the U.S. For any other president it would have been a very busy week. For Trump, it was pretty slow. There were the usual wins and losses in court, but no one seems terribly excited about them.
The Golden Dome missile defense plan is a step forward from Reagan’s “Strategic Defense Initiative,” some 40 years earlier. Former President Ronald Reagan’s plan never came to fruition and didn’t have the technological capabilities we have now. Trump’s plan — though he wants it by the time he leaves office, which ain’t happening — should be vastly more capable. It will probably be modeled on Israel’s layered “Iron Dome” defense but will — obviously — have to be far larger to protect America.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa walked into a buzzsaw of criticism in the White House. Ramaphosa’s government has been discriminating against white landowners. Trump’s criticisms, which included showing a video of evidence, may cause Ramaphosa’s fall. The Washington Post said Trump’s evidence was false. It wasn’t, but that’s the Post for you. They are just another voice for the Democrats who don’t have anything to say except “orange man bad.”
Washington, by the way, is pretty much a lawless city. You can visit, but you’ll risk being carjacked or worse if you do. The murder of two Israeli embassy workers by some guy shouting “Free Palestine” was an act of terrorism. Trump should use his presidential power to take control of the situation, regardless of Mayor Muriel Bowser and the rest of the D.C. incompetents.
John Zogby
Grade: F
Not unlike President Donald Trump himself, I have no idea what he is doing with his tariff policy. Even worse, I don’t know who to even call for an explanation.
This is not really funny as it is creating both confusion and angst among a wide range of stakeholders in this country and abroad. The only evidence of how it may play out is what happened with China and the United Kingdom. Tough talk, a reduction from the highest level, then almost a complete backdown.
Trump argues that his policy is creating a record-setting number of jobs. Aside from the hubris and hyperbole, who in their right minds is going to invest in creating new jobs in this milieu. And who would be hired? Probably immigrants. Oh, that!
The House passed his “big beautiful bill” by a one-vote margin, and it will have an even tougher time in the Senate. Then there was the cryptic-crypto dinner with investors at one of his golf clubs. The president is determined to break all the rules, look as guilty as hell, and get away with whatever it is again and again.
If his goals are to confuse as many people as possible and thumb his nose at every rule and LAW that gets in his way, he gets an A+ this week. But this grader is a tad old-fashioned so I give him an F, and note that there are two of them in “tariff.“
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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 X @jedbabbin.
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read Polls and Why We Should. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies.