This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden facing the horrific results of his immigration policy errors with some 14,000 migrants massing on the U.S.-Texas border in horrible conditions.
Add to that his failure to win over Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to back his $3.5 trillion tax and spend package and the continued spread of the coronavirus, and it was another miserable week for the Biden White House — all confirmed by polls showing growing dissatisfaction by voters.
The week ended with a reminder of how bad the president’s Afghanistan withdrawal went when the Pentagon apologized for mistaking a U.S. aid worker for a terrorist in a deadly attack. Even before that admission, 70% told Rasmussen Reports that the withdrawal was humiliating for America.
Conservative grader Jed Babbin, however, found one bright spot in America’s decision to help Australia get some nuclear subs — a decision that irked the French who thought they had the deal. C’est la vie.
Democratic pollster John Zogby, meanwhile, found positives in Biden’s help for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who beat back a recall effort in big fashion.
Jed Babbin
Grade: D
Biden and his team must be very grateful to Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, for taking the media’s attention away from the Afghanistan debacle that left hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan allies to the mercy of the Taliban. There is so much else going horribly that it is nice to report that the Biden administration finally did something — the Australia-U.K.-U.S. agreement on submarines that raises the grade above an “F” for the first time in weeks.
The agreement is to share nuclear submarine technology with Australia, enabling it to build a number of fast, quiet attack subs in U.S. shipyards. The agreement changes the strategic equation in the Pacific, with Australia able to help deter Chinese maritime aggression. Though the subs will take years to build, their effect is already being felt. (A collateral benefit is that Australia canceled a dozen subs ordered from France, which leaves the French even more hilariously indignant than they usually are.)
Meanwhile, Milley’s calls to his Chinese counterpart in October 2020 and January 2021 were disloyal and at least a dereliction of duty punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He won’t be punished, but the media spent a week either attacking or excusing his conduct. Milley, who is now Biden’s favorite general, may soon be thrown under the bus over Afghanistan.
As usual, the border crisis is even worse than the week before. Thousands of migrants are waiting to be arrested and placed into custody by the Border Patrol. For now, they are living in squalor under a bridge near Del Rio, Texas. About 200,000 are coming in every month.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken blathered to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee about the Afghanistan debacle that Biden created, claiming it was all former President Donald Trump’s fault. Biden is out there plugging his next spending bill, this one costing another $3.5 trillion. Biden wants to raise taxes so much that the U.S. corporate tax rate will be equal to or higher than communist China’s. And, needless to say, #Bidenflation goes higher and higher.
While all of this was going on, Biden ordered the Food and Drug Administration to reduce the number of antibody treatments for COVID-19 going to Florida, apparently to punish Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is fighting against vaccine mandates. Were it not for the sub deal, this would have been more than enough for an “F” grade this week.
John Zogby
Grade: C+
Some good things happened for Biden this week.
The first was the huge victory by Gov. Gavin Newsom in California, beating back a recall effort to remove him from the office. The president campaigned for Newsom, and Democrats showed that they could develop a winning message to bring out a big vote of their base. California is, of course, a very blue state, but the recall effort had been close just a few weeks earlier, and Newsom’s team was able to turn the winning message around the need to defeat Donald Trump and Trumpism. This could be seen eventually as a turning point in the Democrats’ strategy and their chances for 2022.
The other gift to Biden came in the form of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s statement that his GOP caucus would not support lifting the debt ceiling. If that vote loses, it could mean once again that the federal government defaults on its debts, shuts down the government, and loses face in the view of allies and creditors around the world. The GOP, both before McConnell and during his long reign as majority leader, has tried this gambit before, and it has always backfired.
But, for Biden, these are passive offerings. He made a few big mistakes this week. The military had to admit that the post-evacuation drone strike that killed 13 civilians (including children) did not do harm to al Qaeda at all. And the deal struck with Australia to supply nuclear submarines in the Pacific to balance China has backfired miserably. It has alienated China and enraged our ally France, whose previous deal with Australia was simply canceled. Mon Dieu! Now, Washington’s elite are stuck with designer dresses for a French gala that will not happen — then, they will see their taxes rise under Biden.
But the California victory was still big.
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 Twitter @jedbabbin
John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Poll and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His weekly podcast with son and partner Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on Twitter @ZogbyStrategies
