{"id":2411331,"date":"2025-03-08T09:57:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T14:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-report-card-a-target-in-motion-is-harder-to-hit-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-03-08T09:58:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T14:58:32","slug":"white-house-report-card-a-target-in-motion-is-harder-to-hit-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-report-card-a-target-in-motion-is-harder-to-hit-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"White House Report Card: A target in motion is harder to hit &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhite-house-report-card-a-target-in-motion-is-harder-to-hit-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2411331&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Teh article discusses the performance of President Donald trump based on a \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/maryland-elementary-schoolers-to-learn-about-privilege-and-systemic-racism\/\" title=\"Maryland Elementary Schoolers To Learn About Privilege and Systemic Racism\">recent report card<\/a> by pollster John Zogby\u200c and conservative grader\u200d Jed Babbin. Zogby awarded Trump a &#8220;D,&#8221; citing the president&#8217;s actions that\u200c week as insufficient\u200b despite his high-energy speech to Congress, where he showcased his agenda and criticized the Democratic response. He acknowledged that while Trump is not stagnant,\u200b the\u2064 week&#8217;s events, including various\u200b controversial threats and policy decisions, did not\u200b impress him.<\/p>\n<p>Babbin, \u200cconversely, gave Trump a \u2062&#8221;B,&#8221; appreciating his\u2062 assertive stance on \u2064foreign affairs, notably\u200b regarding sanctions against Russia \u2064and threats to hamas for \u200bhostage situations. He noted that trump&#8217;s speech seemed to\u2063 lift his supporters while\u200d demoralizing Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>both graders\u2064 highlighted a sense of chaos surrounding Trump&#8217;s presidency, with Babbin indicating that despite the president\u2019s aggressive rhetoric \u200band agenda,\u2063 he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/f-35-costs-have-been-declining-but-thats-about-to-change\/\" title=\"F...35 Costs Have Been Declining, But That\u2019s About to Change\">faced significant challenges<\/a>,\u2063 including a\u2064 plummeting stock market and setbacks in court regarding budgetary issues. The article\u2064 concludes \u2064with a \u2062critical view of the Democratic Party&#8217;s lack of a coherent counter\u200b to Trump&#8217;s\u200c policies.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">White House Report Card: A target in motion is harder to hit<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2031868\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President Donald Trump is proving the old adage that a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3338511\/trump-joins-roosevelt-kennedy-reagan-great-communicators-club\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">target in motion<\/a> is a lot harder to hit than a target at rest.<\/p>\n<p>When Democratic pollster <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-zogby\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">John Zogby<\/a>, one of our two graders for the White House Report Card, delivered his grade this week, I noted his long list of actions taken by Trump this week.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3340666\/most-agree-drain-the-swamp-trump-musk-doge\/\">Most agree: &lsquo;Drain the swamp&rsquo;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3339868\/epa-goes-scorched-earth-against-media-bias-washington-post\/\">EPA goes scorched-earth against media bias, Washington Post<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3339351\/alejandro-mayorkas-ripped-over-sanctuary-cities-claim\/\">Mayorkas ripped for claiming he fought &lsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sanctuary-cities-ignored-ice-to-free-22000-criminal-migrants-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"\u2018Sanctuary cities\u2019 ignored ICE to free 22,000 criminal migrants ... Washington Examiner\">sanctuary cities&#038;rsquo<\/a>;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>While Zogby&rsquo;s grade was a disapproving &ldquo;D&rdquo; for the week, I said, &ldquo;At least you&rsquo;ve got to agree he isn&rsquo;t standing still,&rdquo; to which Zogby responded, &ldquo;He is not standing still!!!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The highlights this week were led by Trump&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">aggressive joint session speech<\/a> to Congress and his on-and-off <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/economy\/3337059\/why-trump-thinks-tariffs-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">tariff threats<\/a>. But every day, he also unleashed a list of other orders, from threats to Iran for seeking a nuclear weapon to ending a $400 million subsidy to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/education\/3341396\/trump-administration-cancels-columbia-university-grants-worth-400-million\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Columbia University<\/a>, which is sitting on a $14 billion endowment.<\/p>\n<p>Also notably, this week, Trump offered up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3339904\/trump-recalibrate-democrats-elon-musk-tariffs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">DOGE chief Elon Musk<\/a> to angry House and Senate Republicans and the Cabinet to yell at for moving too quickly and secretively to ax federal fat. For now, all appear satisfied that Musk will use a scalpel instead of a chainsaw to eliminate waste.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, Zogby wasn&rsquo;t approving of Trump&rsquo;s week, but said the Democrats and their protests were worse. Conservative grader Jed Babbin offered a promising &ldquo;B,&rdquo; pleased that the president threatened economic actions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jed Babbin<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Grade: B<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>President Donald Trump had a very good week, beginning with his Tuesday night speech to a joint session of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Congress<\/a> and ending with sanction threats against Russia for its continued attacks on Ukraine. He further threatened Hamas terrorists if they didn&rsquo;t quickly return all of its Oct. 7 hostages.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In his Tuesday address, Trump continued to lay out his aggressive agenda, and the Democrats made fools of themselves. They held up little paddles with the words &ldquo;lies,&rdquo; false,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Musk steals&rdquo; on them. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3341388\/elderly-lawmakers-social-media-degraded-congress-tiana-lowe-doescher\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">was thrown out of the House chamber<\/a> for standing up and shouting at Trump.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Remember that the catch-all felony that landed many J6ers in prison and carries a max of 20 years is obstruction of an official proceeding. (18 U.S.C. &sect; 1512(c)(2)).<\/p>\n<p>Al Green&rsquo;s toddler antics certainly qualifies as obstructing an official proceeding.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fLJ36NP1Ln\">pic.twitter.com\/fLJ36NP1Ln<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Eric Matheny &#127897;&#65039; (@ericmmatheny) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ericmmatheny\/status\/1897613312147267798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    <\/p>\n<p><em>The Democrats are left without any response to Trump. All they can say is, &ldquo;Orange man bad,&rdquo; without any policy suggestions to counter his agenda. It&rsquo;s proof that the party is bankrupt: no ideas, no policies, and nothing to counter Trump.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The president this week also threatened massive sanctions against Russia for its constant attacks on Ukraine. Those sanctions could include (but probably won&rsquo;t) sanctions against European nations that still buy natural gas from Moscow. Trump canceled intelligence-sharing with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Ukraine<\/a> which the Brits and French will try to compensate for.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Trump threatened Hamas with an end to their existence if they didn&rsquo;t release hostages from its horrific Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Trump has made this threat before and hasn&rsquo;t done anything to enforce it. His hands, like those of the Israelis, are pretty much tied. He can&rsquo;t carpet bomb Gaza because it would kill too many people, and Hamas would kill more hostages if he did. He can&rsquo;t send the 101st Airborne or the First Marine Division into Gaza for the same reason. Hamas responded that they won&rsquo;t release the hostages until there&rsquo;s a permanent cease-fire and Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza. The Israelis won&rsquo;t do that, and Trump is left with an almost-empty threat. He needs to figure out how to get the hostages freed. Maybe send in SEALs and Delta Force?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Trump&rsquo;s agenda suffered several setbacks in court this week, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Supreme Court<\/a> holding that stopping payment on USAID grants and such was unconstitutional because the money was appropriated by Congress. Trump will try to get around the decision, but it&rsquo;ll be very tough to do.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>John Zogby<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Grade: D<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>President Donald Trump did not give the greatest speech in American history, but it did accomplish what it set out to do. He offered a morale lift to his base just as he demoralized <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Democrats<\/a> in the room and across the nation. Trump not only swatted dead the Democratic bug, he ground it into the carpet. The party of FDR and JFK was reduced to holding silly paddles where the only thing missing was the elastic band and rubber ball that would hit them in the head when they missed.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Best line of Trump&#8217;s speech tonight is right here. Well done. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mvxgf0YHEl\">pic.twitter.com\/mvxgf0YHEl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; MAZE (@mazemoore) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mazemoore\/status\/1897124374261760435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    <\/p>\n<p><em>His joint session speech was filled with braggadocio, exaggerations, and outright lies. Good thing that fact-checkers are not employed by the federal government, now on a Trump firing binge. He exploited silly things (a litany of wasted spending by Social Security, for example) and taunted Democrats for pushing immigration legislation to fix the border crisis when all the nation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/remarks\/2025\/03\/remarks-by-president-trump-in-joint-address-to-congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">&ldquo;really needed was a new president.&rdquo;<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He touted his actions on gender, border enforcement, a peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, more oil and gas drilling, removal of&nbsp; the &ldquo;poison of critical race theory in schools&rdquo; (where it doesn&rsquo;t actually exist!), and reciprocal tariffs. He promised action on initiatives on a Golden Dome missile defense, autism, domestically produced microchips. He basked in the moments when he told human interest stories, (which were very moving).<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He was bolstered by taunting Democrats, including one who rolled her eyes when the Secret Service director <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/beltway-confidential\/3340576\/democrats-kneel-criminals-wont-stand-child-cancer-survivor-dj-daniel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">honored a 13-year-old boy suffering from brain cancer<\/a> with an honorary agency badge. A key Trump moment came when a cane-holding Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was booted from the chamber for protesting the speech.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>His polling numbers, however, did not move an inch one way or another, and other than the speech, Trump had a terrible week. The stock market plummeted; he changed his position on tariffs a few times in as many days; he angered veterans by laying them off from federal jobs; he watched as the Centers for Disease Control had to hire back 180 workers who were dumped so they could deal with a serious measles outbreak; he imposed limits on DOGE Captain Elon Musk when there was rebellion from his own Cabinet who were seeing serious pushback from the public; and he lost a major Supreme Court decision which ordered reinstatement of payments for USAID contractors.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SEE THE LATEST POLITICAL NEWS AND BUZZ FROM WASHINGTON SECRETS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Plus, the February jobs report was underwhelming for a second consecutive month, and now we are hearing talk of a &ldquo;forced recession to reduce inflation.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He would have gotten an even lower grade, but the &ldquo;F&rdquo; is reserved for the Democrats this week.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jed Babbin<\/strong> is a <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on X @jedbabbin.<\/p>\n<p><strong>John Zogby<\/strong> is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at <a href=\"https:\/\/johnzogbystrategies.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">John Zogby Strategies<\/a>. His latest book, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Beyond-Horse-Race-Polls-Should\/dp\/1538197146\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read Polls and Why We Should<\/a><\/em>, was just released. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby <a href=\"https:\/\/johnzogbystrategies.com\/the-zogby-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">can be heard here<\/a>. Follow him on X <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/zogbystrategies\" title=\"\">@ZogbyStrategies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2031868\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2031868\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>White House Report Card: A moving target is tougher to hit. President Trump exemplifies the saying that a moving target is harder to strike than a stationary one. Democratic pollster John Zogby, one of our graders for the White House Report Card, shared his assessment this week<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2647,"featured_media":2411332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Trump-Yellow-Oval-scaled-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5894,33296,51776,32076,32127],"class_list":["post-2411331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-politics","tag-report-card","tag-target-in-motion","tag-washington-examiner","tag-white-house"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Trump-Yellow-Oval-scaled-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2411331"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2411335,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411331\/revisions\/2411335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2411332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2411331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2411331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2411331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}