He is still six weeks away from the traditional 100-day mark when the achievements of a new administration are graded, but President Donald Trump has already done more than most White Houses do in 500 days.
As this week’s White House Report Card closed, for example, Trump moved to make good on decades of GOP promises to shrink the Department of Education, announced new examples of wasteful spending he is cutting, won pledges from businesses and foreign governments to invest in the U.S., and targeted more illegal immigrants for deportation.
Along the way, he drove the left into a frenzy of anger at their own leadership and, on Friday, poked at top Democrats in withdrawing the security clearances of former President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.
He failed at his goal of ending the war in Ukraine and winning the release of hostages held by Hamas, but did nudge the ball down the field. He felt the sting of court rulings against several of his initiatives, especially on immigration and draining the swamp. And he is still hoping for trade victories from his threats of “reciprocal tariffs.”
America rewarded his first two months in office with continued, even strengthened faith, support that surprised pollsters.
“I really thought Trump’s approval might break below 50 today,” said Rasmussen Reports pollster Mark Mitchell, who is alone in taking and publishing daily approval numbers for the president.
But, he said, after ticking down to 50% midweek, Mitchell said on Friday that Trump’s approval is back up to 51%. “He’s doing what he promised to do. Hence the approval,” he told Secrets.
Despite the support of voters who appear willing to look past the turmoil in Washington, our graders continued with their glass half-empty view of the president’s week with conservative analyst Jed Babbin grading a “D-minus,” and Democratic pollster John Zogby a “D.”
John Zogby
Grade: D
Some folks may thrive on chaos, but most of the American people do not. President Donald Trump’s approval numbers are still not terrible, but they clearly are challenged.
While still on a 100-day honeymoon, he is notably receiving low marks on handling the economy, which remains the top concern among voters. Evidence shows that a growing number of Republicans are growing angry and stocks had another bad week.
What’s more, multiple judges have ruled against Trump for dismantling USAID, ordering him to restore spending for contracted work. A judge has also ruled against his administration’s military ban of transgender individuals. And despite the president’s bragging about his dealmaking, Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Trump’s plea for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Putin openly defied Trump by bombing an energy plant in Ukraine after seeming to agree not to.
Increasingly, the president has let it be known that he plans to ignore court orders, prompting pundits to worry about a Constitutional crisis.
He has fully embraced his budget butcher-in-chief Elon Musk and even bought a Tesla to bolster that company’s stocks. To little avail, as Tesla stock dropped and mobs have set fire to cars in dealer lots. Is Tesla the Edsel of the 21st Century? Is Trump a modern-day Franklin Pierce? (Don’t bother looking him up. It’s not good!)
Jed Babbin
Grade: D-
It wasn’t a good week for President Donald Trump and his team. Though his popularity polls are surging and inflation is down, he was unable to make a deal with Russia on Ukraine, his tariffs were responded to by the European Union with its own tariffs on U.S. goods, and the fight between the Justice Department and a judge who thinks his order limiting deportation of Venezuelan gang members was ignored is escalating out of control. Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education isn’t effective because legislation is required to do that.
Russian President Putin gave Trump a middle-finger salute on his peace proposals for Ukraine. Putin agreed to only a limit on strikes against Ukrainian energy production, which is a long way from a ceasefire. There’s no way to spin this as a win for Trump.
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg ordered the flights deporting members of the hyper-violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to either not take off or return with the bad guys on board. It’s entirely unclear whether the aircrafts were in U.S. jurisdiction when the order came out, but they did deliver the TdA members to an El Salvadoran prison. Boasberg is flipping his lid over the possible ignoring of his order and he may, next week, impose sanctions on the administration.
Other judges are similarly trying to foil Trump’s plans. One has even enjoined the president’s new ban transgender people serving in the military. There have been about four or five dozen of these injunctions, vastly more than in any previous presidency. This comes at a time when conservatives are beginning to question why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth isn’t firing more generals and admirals — and particularly cleaning out military academies — of those who have embraced woke ideology.
The Department of Education dismemberment order is a good idea. But it can’t be done fully without congressional legislation, which isn’t forthcoming. It may not even be on the horizon because the teachers unions still wield power in Democratic circles.
The E.U. tariffs on U.S. goods are focused on products of “red” states that backed Trump. All tariffs are inflationary and although gas and egg prices are dropping now, the tariffs will catch up with Trump all too soon.
Meanwhile, strikes against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen continue and Trump has given Iran two months to come to a deal on nuclear weapons or, he reportedly said, the military would compel them. Doesn’t he get that America’s credibility is diminished with every threat that isn’t enforced?
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John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book, Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read Polls and Why We Should, was just released. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies.
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.