In his short 10 weeks in office, this week was the most impactful and extraordinary of President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Between his stunning reciprocal tariff plan and dismantling of elements of the federal bureaucracy he sees little need for, the president made the swamp and political elites crazy and tested the depth of support from MAGA nation.
First, the crazies. On Saturday, there are anti-Trump protests scheduled in several cities. In Washington, security officials have ringed the White House in riot fencing. The moves made by Trump and his DOGE chief Elon Musk prompted a liberal Capitol Hill couple to allegedly paint graffiti on their neighbor’s Teslas, leading to criminal charges.
Then there are the president’s supporters who so far have shown appreciation for his commitment to working through his promises, including those to level the trading field with tariffs and drain the swamp. The Daily Mail released a survey showing that Trump sustained a 53% approval rating even after the stock market impact of the tariffs was felt.
This is the region I report out of— there are great big swaths of this country whether it is the Appalachian Midwest, Plains cattle ranchers or manufacturers everywhere — they have a very different worldview than those melting down over tariffs—they are more than willing to wait… https://t.co/p3q9IWFeXC
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) April 5, 2025
His moves this week appeared to widen the gulf between the two groups. The massive drop in the stock markets had critics and his weak supporters near tears while his MAGA army, less invested in stocks and more interested in higher wages, stood firm, even joining Trump at his tariff event in the Rose Garden.
For this week’s White House Report Card, conservative analyst Jed Babbin graded it a “C plus,” and noted the positives of Trump’s actions to reduce climate change regulation. Democratic pollster John Zogby graded the week a “D minus,” hitting the tariffs.
Jed Babbin
Grade: C+
It was a mixed week for President Donald Trump with more obstacles to his agenda from courts, world criticism of his “Liberation Day” tariffs but a bold plan to roll back much of the Biden climate scheme.
It seems you can’t turn around without encountering judges issuing nationwide injunctions to stop Trump. The worst came from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who announced possible contempt of court actions against Trump and his team after they failed to obey his order to stop deportation flights of Tren de Aragua gang members.
There’s also a battle brewing over the “state secrets privilege” that lets Uncle Sam withhold evidence if it threatens national security. Initial appeals from Boasberg’s judgments won’t succeed, but the state secrets privilege will be sustained by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made historic progress by ruling that physical standards for men and women in combat have to be the same. Whatever your beliefs, that makes complete sense. A 120-pound woman can’t carry a 220-pound man out of a firefight. The laws of physics are the same wherever you go, and bad things happen when you try to break them.
Trump wants to roll back former President Joe Biden’s automobile environmental standards, which is a very good idea. Those standards were intended to force purchases of electric vehicles and strangle the market for gas-powered cars and trucks. Reversing the Biden nonsense is a win for everyone except the electric vehicle climate change crowd.
The jury is still out on Trump’s tariffs. The stock market slid down, losing more than it had since the COVID-19 scare of 2020. Several economists say there’s a recession coming. (If you can’t find an economist who says what you want, you haven’t looked hard enough.) The tariffs were made to be about half of what countries charge U.S. imports. China has imposed a 34% tariff on U.S. goods, in response to Trump’s action. The problem for the Chinese is that they have an annual trade bonus of about $300 billion, the amount of Chinese imports to the U.S. exceeds Chinese imports from the U.S. Trump’s tariffs may result in many countries cutting their tariffs which would open a lot of markets. My problem is that tariffs are necessarily inflationary, and we had too much of that under Biden.
John Zogby
Grade: D-
The good news: 228,000 new jobs were created in March. That’s it for anything positive for the week from hell for President Donald Trump.
In our latest John Zogby Strategies poll, more Americans said that they are ashamed that he is president (44%) than are proud (37%). But by almost the same margin, 43% prefer that he is in the White House than former Vice President Kamala Harris (37%). His approval ratings are upside down in April polling, including the most recent poll by Reuters/Ipsos which has only 43% approving of his job.
In other polling, 72% of all Americans (including 64% of Republicans) believe his new tariffs will raise prices in the short term and only 5% feel they will go down. It is very hard to find a respectable economist who believes that raising short-term prices is a good idea. And consumers in the U.S., many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck, do not have the comfort of thinking about the long-term benefits.
The Financial Times wrote a lead editorial calling Trump’s tariffs a singular act of self-harm by a leader. A household earning $43,000 per year income can expect an additional 8% rise in the prices of common household items. And a poor country like Lesotho in southern Africa faces a 99% increase in the price of one of its top exports — denim for jeans. And, as is the case of other small countries, it is already reeling from the loss of USAID funding that was used mainly for health care.
The stock market losses as a result of these new tariffs are causing fears of a market crash.
Meanwhile, apparently as a result of a meeting with podcaster Laura Loomer, the president fired seven key members of the national security council.
This is like living in Gotham City — without the Caped Crusader.
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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, 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.