This week’s White House Report Card capped an eventful week that showed inflation was still hot, a major pollster predicting President Joe Biden’s reelection defeat, and Russian President Vladimir Putin offering an unwelcome election endorsement.
In the good news category, a major whistleblower working with Republicans as they build an impeachment case against Biden was charged with making up stories to hurt the president and first son Hunter. In New York, Democrats took the seat held by former Rep. George Santos after he was kicked out of Congress for fraudulent activity. And the president survived a long-awaited visit to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a rail environmental disaster a year ago.
However, there were more negatives for Biden. First, two economic reports showed inflation to be unexpectedly hot. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored the president’s call for a war pause in Gaza. Gallup said that Biden is in a very bad position to win reelection, especially if he can’t convince the nation that the economy is rebounding. And days before Biden decried the sudden prison death of Putin foe, 47-year-old Alexei Navalny, Putin endorsed Biden’s reelection.
Conservative analyst Jed Babbin graded the week a “D-minus,” citing Putin’s backing. Democratic pollster John Zogby graded the week a “B,” noting the Democratic Party’s pickup of a House seat and the growing scale of legal problems facing Biden’s likely reelection challenger, former President Donald Trump.
Jed Babbin
Grade D-
It was another one of those weeks for President Joe Biden and his crew. One can be forgiven if there’s a bit of confusion in distinguishing the bad news from the good.
The best news Biden got this week was an unexpected endorsement of his campaign. From Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin said he preferred Biden over Trump because he is an old-school politician, more experienced and predictable. Biden certainly is predictable in all the ways our enemies find beneficial. From the debacle he created in withdrawing from Afghanistan to the current war between Hamas terrorists and Israel, Biden is entirely predictable.
Biden’s diplomatic skills are demonstrated — redundantly — in his worsening relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden is still pressuring Netanyahu to call a ceasefire with Hamas, even threatening to cut off all U.S. military aid to Israel if it doesn’t comply with U.S. humanitarian laws.
In one conversation this week, Biden reportedly called Netanyahu an “a**hole.”
Inflation is still rampant, higher than Biden’s economists predicted. And then there’s the corruption problem. A former business partner of first son Hunter Biden testified to a House impeachment inquiry this week that Biden family received millions of dollars from Chinese businesses in what can only be called an influence-peddling business.
And so it goes while Biden’s mental capacity fades.
John Zogby
Grade B
President Joe Biden is not out of the woods on the question of his age, but he certainly had a decent week.
He watched as congressional Republicans looked stupid refusing to take up an immigration bill that was actually supported by a significant number of Republican senators. He also observed the GOP-controlled House of Representatives impeach Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over a policy dispute, not “high crimes and misdemeanors” (remember that quaint piece of obsolescence?) by one vote.
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His adversary and nemesis, Donald Trump, managed to alienate leaders of NATO countries by asserting that if nations do not pay a fair share to the alliance that they can swim alone if attacked by Russia. Trump also was given a firm date for his New York hush-money-for-porn-star-that-he-has-denied-he-even-knew. In two months.
Democrats won another bellwether election, this time picking up the seat of the disgraced and disgraceful Republican Rep. George Santos in New York’s 3rd Congressional District. Democrats are on a roll, while Republicans, notably those of a congressional persuasion, are hanging by a thread.
Biden and Trump are within one point of each other nationally now. Looking closely at the most recent polls it looks like the former president is still doing better among independents, while the current president is starting to bring some of the old Barack Obama base home, especially Hispanics, liberals, and younger voters.
Also this week, Trump was ordered to pay more than $350 million dollars in his business fraud trial and prohibited from conducting business in New York for three years. One way to improve your weekly report card is to watch your opponent have a much worse week.
Finally, the key ex-FBI informant whose information served as the focal point of the Biden family’s relationship with a Ukrainian energy giant, was charged late Friday with lying to his handler. While Republican lawmakers vow to continue with the investigation into the president’s impeachment, they apparently have no other evidence besides this informant.
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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 podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Their firm polls for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies
