Welcome to Friday’s edition of Washington Secrets. Is it still only February? Today, we have our weekly assessment of Donald Trump’s week, a reminder that not all D.C. journalists are beta nerds (or at least, weren’t back in the day), and why Kristi Noem is not going to be fired any time soon (cut it out, laminate it, paste it on a baseball bat and come find me if I’m wrong) …
This week was about one thing only: the State of the Union. That’s where all the president’s time and energy went.
So Monday was quiet by the busy yardstick of this president. His only public meeting was with “angel families,” who have lost a relative to illegal immigrants. Tuesday included the traditional lunch with network anchors and a few new media types, before standing in front of a joint session of Congress for a record-breaking hour and 47 minutes.
Other presidents would have hit the road the next day, particularly in a midterm election year, to spread the word. Not Donald Trump. On Wednesday and Thursday, he had no public events. Instead, he flies out on Friday to Texas, where Republicans are embroiled in a particularly complicated Senate primary scrap.
So what did our strategists make of it all?
Jed Babbin: A minus
Trump gave the longest State of the Union address on record, going almost two hours, in a speech highlighted by the awards of two Medals of Honor and lowlighted by the performance of the Democrats.
Trump proclaimed that this is the “Golden Age of America” in honoring two war heroes, the U.S. Olympic hockey team, and a Coast Guard rescue man. The two Medal of Honor recipients were Army Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, who, despite severe wounds to his legs, continued to fly his helicopter to ensure the success of the mission to capture now-former Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, and 100-year-old retired Navy Capt. Royce Williams, who, in Korea, fought it out in the sky, alone, with seven enemy aircraft and downed four of them. Their stories are amazing.
Trump’s honoring of the Olympic hockey team was superb. The goalie, who, strangely for a hockey goalie, still has all of his teeth, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
On the other hand, the Dems’ performance was shoddy to say the least. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) wore a button that said “F*** ICE” and joined Rep. Ilan Omar (D-MN) in shouting at Trump. Other lowlights included the point at which Trump said the U.S. has a duty to protect U.S. citizens and not illegal immigrants. Republicans stood. Democrats didn’t. There were dozens of other points at which the Republicans gave Trump a standing ovation and Democrats didn’t stand.
Trump continues to negotiate with Iran, which seems pointless. Our overstretched military has three aircraft carrier battle groups in striking distance to Iran, yet the president isn’t talking to the public about why we are about to go to war with Iran, if we are.
Trump has finally begun criticizing U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s deal that will surrender sovereignty over our critical base at Diego Garcia to Mauritius. The base is strategic, especially in a possible conflict with China. Starmer’s deal is a bad one, and Trump needs to lean on him to force its cancellation.
READ IN FULL: PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH
John Zogby: C
The president went into his State of the Union address with little margin for error. His job approval rating was stuck in the low 40s, and a majority continued to disapprove of how he is conducting his job. His ratings on all major issues, including immigration, the economy, and crime, were all upside down. Even worse, new polling found that 61% of people feel that his behavior is “growing more erratic,” and 67% feel his values don’t line up with American values.
He is at war with the Supreme Court and is poised, it seems, to pull the trigger on military action against Iran even as majorities oppose him on this.
He began his speech on economic progress and the success of his initiatives on inflation, prescription drugs, prices of fuel and some food, savings accounts for children, and so on. This was positive, his tone was less belligerent, and he was able to portray Democrats as the party of darkness for their opposition to him.
But in the second part of his talk, he turned to taunting, to hazing, to ad hominem attacks, to full-scale racism on immigration — the same kind of language he has used from the beginning that goes way beyond partisan differences. It is the language that has brought Immigration and Customs Enforcement invasion and raids to U.S. cities, which he later had to back away from. But it looks like his hate speech attacking illegal immigrants, particularly Somalis, is back and that no lessons were learned. He ended, for the most part, by honoring and recognizing the exploits of invited guests.
A high point of the talk was the presence of the victorious U.S. winning hockey team and the Medals of Honor to two heroic war veterans. The low point — his setting up Democrats to demonstrate their patriotism on his terms. The era of the big polling bumps from presidential speeches has been over for three decades. He did not move the ball this time. He needed an A.
Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of 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.
You know when you’ve been Tuckered
Washington journalists fit into two types, according to Secrets’s analysis: those who think they look cool by taking off their ties but still only undo the top button, and those who look like they were dressed by their mothers.
But we are pleased to note there was another time, when journalists were journalists.
Hated by All the Right People, the new biography of Tucker Carlson by Jason Zengerle, contains a riveting account of the future Fox News star’s epic feud with conservative activist Grover Norquist. It came to something of a head at the American Spectator’s 30th-anniversary gala.
“During the cocktail hour, after several drinks, Carlson noticed Norquist standing near the dais. Borrowing [Matt] Labash’s Bloody Mary, Carlson mounted the dais and feigned extreme interest in the lectern. When Norquist came within range beneath it, Carlson dumped the Bloody Mary on his head. ‘The celery stuck behind Grover’s ear, making him look like a conservative Carmen Miranda,’ one witness said. Carlson claimed that the spill was an accident and offered to pay Norquist’s dry-cleaning bill, but no one, least of all Norquist, believed him. Later that evening, a woman who worked for Norquist tracked down Carlson and threw a glass of white wine in his face.”
As a veteran of such things, Secrets has only one piece of advice: Red wine, darling, red wine.
Noem is safe for now
The negative headlines keep coming for Kristi Noem. Gossipy stories about the embattled secretary of homeland security have begun dropping from a forthcoming book about Trump’s deportation plan. She faces questions about money paid for ads to a company run by the husband of a key aide, and the ugly scenes in Minneapolis, where two protesters were shot dead by federal agents, remain fresh in the memory.
No wonder she is the favorite to be the next Cabinet member to leave the administration on betting markets.
Not so fast. Secrets sources tell us that Trump has no intention of messing with his top team until the midterm elections. At least.
Never forget that this is a president who expects his team to stick with him no matter what, and he is not about to dump anyone for negative headlines. As far as he is concerned, Noem is doing what he wants. And unless that changes, her place is secure.
Lunchtime reading
America off the rails: A political class without restraint stokes fear and division: Isaac Schorr argues that the current malaise is less about policy missteps and political miscalculations, and more about a coalescing bipartisan consensus that anything goes.
Breaking from tradition, a mentalist will host the White House correspondents’ dinner: Insert your own joke about how Oz Pearlman already knew that, and whether he can change Donald Trump’s mind about attending.
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