White House report card: Even our Republican strategists say there’s no good news this week
Washington Examiner · RC · trust 46/100
Welcome to Friday’s Washington Secrets . If anyone has a spare ticket for this weekend’s grand prix, then you know where we are! Today, we bring you the winners and losers from days of speculation about who will be the next White House press secretary. But first, we run the rule over the White House week …
Will we hear from Karoline Leavitt before she steps down as press secretary at the end of August? It has been almost a month since she held a briefing. This reflects a White House that is struggling to put difficult issues to bed. And even President Donald Trump ‘s public schedule has fewer events with press.
Maybe it’s just because it is August and everyone needs a bit of a break. Anyway…
Sunday arrived with a bombshell. Or maybe the absence of bombshells, as Trump ordered the Pentagon to scale back U.S. participation in joint exercises with South Korea. He said it was because of his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un , the leader of nuclear-armed and heavily sanctioned North Korea. South Korea was understandably worried, but pointed out that the annual exercises had already begun.
Meanwhile, Trump’s frustration with the war in Iran was on full display Monday. Trump threatened to attack Oman if it hampered American efforts in the Strait of Hormuz.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s*** out of them,” he told Fox News, while claiming his administration had opened a back channel to Iran.
Oman is a U.S. ally, but has maintained relations with Tehran. In a sign of a deepening quagmire, at least 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon , marking the deadliest day since a June ceasefire agreement.
Republicans also expressed worries that Trump’s dismissive comments on conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln last week could come back to haunt them, with growing unease among service families.
A day later, Trump had to clarify that there were no talks underway with Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps publicly contradicted his claim, leaving analysts in the awkward position of trying to decide which account they trusted.
Wednesday brought an indication of where it is all going and what it means politically. The president’s approval rating dipped to 33% in a Reuters-Ipsos poll, its lowest yet. Trump distracted himself by taking reporters on a 30-minute tour of the new South Lawn helipad, where he signed a piece of its stonework.
The president also announced a “crushing economic operation” that he said would amount to “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” with warnings that countries trading with Iran would face consequences.
Thursday brought awkward economic news. The Treasury announced the national debt had passed $40 trillion, the result of decades of borrowing to pay for social safety net programs, military spending, and Trump’s tax cuts.
With so much gloom around, some midterm candidates have been happy to have the president stay away from their campaigns. Not Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC), who needs all the help she can get after a shaky debate performance against her Republican runoff opponent, Ralph Norman. Trump is due to stump in South Carolina for Lindsey Graham’s sister on Friday afternoon.
So what did our two strategists make of it all?
The national debt went to over $40 trillion last week, resulting in a loss of a whole letter grade here for Trump. There’s a lot more going on with Iran, North Korea, and NATO, which Trump isn’t able to get into a war with Iran.
$40 trillion is an unimaginable amount of money , and it doesn’t even include the amount taken from the Social Security “trust fund,” which isn’t included in the debt estimate. I calculate that if you took $100 bills and laid them end-to-end, you wouldn’t reach $1 trillion until you went around the earth at the equator — that’s about 25,000 miles — 8.8 times. $40 trillion is forty times that amount. It’s impossible to understand, or believe, that number, which is why no one takes it seriously — but the president damned well should.
Of some interest is the fact that the interest payments on the debt will have risen to over $1 trillion this year. That’s equal to the entire Pentagon budget.
Trump has threatened to bomb Oman if it gets in the way of peace talks with Iran. And why does he believe that peace talks with Iran will come to any reliable agreement? It’s a substitute for reality. We shouldn’t be negotiating with those people.
Trump now wants a summit meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Why? Just because. Not a good idea. He needs to wake up because the Russians are beginning to launch drones over Poland, a NATO ally. No good news here.
Jed Babbin ( @jedbabbin ) is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of President George H.W. Bush.
The president’s polling numbers are terrible, no longer just “not good” or “troubling.”
He tells Americans to simply accept high gas prices (caused mainly by HIS unpopular war) and tariffs, then threatens to attack Iran again. He declares that the Strait of Hormuz is “US territory” and threatens to bomb Oman if they stand in the way of negotiations with Iran (which are not really taking place anyway).
He shows utter disregard for the condition of sailors deployed on the USS Abraham Lincoln , who are sorely lacking in food and basic supplies.
On the home front, U.S. debt passed $40 trillion this week and is on its way to $50 trillion at a fast pace. Taxpayers are now paying more to “service the debt” (AKA making the minimum payment on your credit card) than on defense.
Retail sales are the lowest in over a year (recording a 0.6% drop from June to July), and consumer confidence is down 8% in August. A majority of Americans tell pollsters they are doing worse financially under Trump, personal bankruptcy filings have increased, and bond market yields are up to 6%, en route to 7%.
As for Trump, according to an analysis by Ralph Nader , he…
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