Weekly Trump Report Card: Another week of promises kept, but divisions widen

Jed Babbin

President Trump had an excellent week — his third in a row — with the cancellation of the North Korean summit, his order to give congressional investigators access to classified information and enactment of an amendment to the Dodd-Frank banking bill that removes its major regulatory burdens and huge costs from small banks.

Revelations that the FBI had a spy inside Trump’s campaign brought to a head the agency’s refusal to give congressional investigators documents related to their operations aimed at the campaign. Congressional leaders were about to begin contempt proceedings against the FBI and Justice Department when the president ordered the agencies to brief a number of congressmen including Reps. Devin Nunes and Trey Gowdy as well as the “Big Eight” (leaders of both houses of congress and chairs and ranking minority members of both intelligence committees) on the information. The briefings were held on Thursday and seem to have satisfied no one. The briefings have calmed the waters but only temporarily.

President Trump’s decision to cancel the planned Singapore summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un came after the North Koreans had issued another series of threats against America. Instead of going to the summit under threat, knowing that the threats would put the U.S. in a weaker position at the summit, Trump told Kim that a meeting could not be held in those circumstances. He didn’t, however, rule out a future meeting. It was precisely the right move.

Congressional action removed most of the enormous burdens put on small banks by the Dodd-Frank Act, which liberals had pushed through Congress — and Obama signed eagerly — after the financial crisis of 2008. Trump signed the bill quickly. It amounts to another big regulatory relief for the U.S. economy.

Washington was built on marshy ground. When Trump promised to drain the swamp, he may not have known all the ways the swamp can fight back. The evidence: A sinkhole developed on the White House lawn in what is evidently another act of the swamp’s revenge.

Grade A

John Zogby

It is Memorial Day weekend and confusion reigns supreme. We Americans used to hear the same facts then (for the most part but not always) gently disagree. We used to respect our ourselves and each other enough to close ranks during crises and in times of war. But that was a different America.

Today we mainly rely selectively on our facts and resources, eschewing those put forward by others. We now are on the lookout for “the other” and too often refuse to learn anything about them except that they are not like “us.” And we do have a president who to some degree trades on these biases, picks and chooses his own sources and facts, and drive wedges.

This week we were bombarded with confusion over whether or not there would be a summit between President Trump and Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. It may still happen but confusion can cause undue stress. So too is there a real quandary about whether or not the Obama administration and FBI spied on Trump’s 2016 campaign.

While the president continues well enough in the approval ratings, he is neither a healer nor a unifier.

Grade D

Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin

John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His latest book is We are Many, We are One: Neo-Tribes and Tribal Analytics in 21st Century America. Follow him on Twitter @TheJohnZogby