White House Report Card: Biden’s decline to buying votes and regulating spaghetti

This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden moving further to the left on climate regulation in vowing to ban gas stoves and reaching deeper into the federal treasury to buy votes of deadbeat college students and travelers looking for slightly cheaper gasoline during their summer road trips.

Still stuck in a dead heat with former President Donald Trump, Biden tried to buy more votes with his student loan forgiveness plan and move to tap the Strategic Oil Reserves. He has tried both before without winning any bounce in the polls.

His team also wobbled on foreign policy, which was supposed to be his forte. In the Israel-Hamas war, there was no change in Gaza. And his government seemed to go out of its way to honor Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi killed in a helicopter crash. He was known as the “Butcher of Tehran” for sponsoring “death commissions” to execute political prisoners.

Our conservative grader, Jed Babbin, mocked the president’s week with a grade of F and he highlighted the president’s vow to veto legislation to stop the gas stove ban. “In his last joke on America this week, Biden threatened to veto legislation that would overturn his radical regulations on gas stoves and furnaces. Better buy ‘em now, ladies and gents, before the regs take effect and it’ll take an hour to boil water for spaghetti,” said Babbin.

Democratic pollster John Zogby was away for the holiday, but on his podcast with his son Jeremy Zogby, he said the presidential race is stuck, stalled, boring, and likely to stay that way.

Jed Babbin

Grade: F

President Joe Biden held another vote-buying session, his United Nations ambassador stood for a moment of silence honoring dead Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and a few other things managed to keep him busy this week.

Biden has already reduced the Strategic Petroleum Reserve repeatedly to falsely reduce gasoline prices. He did it again this week, ordering the release of 1 million barrels of gasoline from the Northeast reserve to depress gas prices so he wouldn’t suffer political damage from the increased prices over the Memorial Day weekend. The SPR now holds about 362 million barrels, down from 565 million barrels in 2022 when Biden’s anti-energy policies and resulting price hikes came in.

And Old Joe spent another $7.7 billion in student loan forgiveness” despite the Supreme Court ruling last year that said he had no authority to do that. No matter. The Democrats don’t care about the law and the Constitution.

We got the news this week that Mexican (and other) drug cartels are now operating in all 50 states. Another bonus given us by Biden’s open border policy.

Biden is also reportedly talking to Iran in a desperate move to try to limit the escalation of the wars in the Middle East. As part of that inane policy, Biden’s U.N. ambassador stood for the world body’s minute of silence honoring the Butcher of Tehran, the late and unlamented President Raisi. Meanwhile, Ireland, Spain, and Norway said they’d recognize Palestinian statehood. Where that “state” is continues to be a mystery.

In his last joke on America this week, Biden threatened to veto legislation that would overturn his radical regulations on gas stoves and furnaces. Better buy ‘em now, ladies and gents, before the regs take effect and it’ll take an hour to boil water for spaghetti.

John Zogby

Grade: Undecided.

On his podcast, Zogby sized up the race in the polls.

“So here’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking that there’s going to be a significant drop off in voter turnout come November. And I think for the reasons that you mentioned, not the least of which is fatigue. But the other thing is that it is reported on a daily and a weekly basis with aggregation of numbers that it’s a close race nationally. Some days Biden’s up in certain polls, one, two, three, four points. Many days Trump is up by a similar amount. Here and there, an outlier. But the fundamentals are not changing. It’s close. But it’s not close between two beloved candidates. So when you look at the numbers, you know, there’s five, six, seven percent who remain undecided, and I’m just not sure where they’re going to go.

“And I’m just not sure what’s gonna ultimately be the basis of their decision.

“The second thing is, We look at matters of trust and clearly the same numbers of Americans that don’t trust Biden, don’t trust Donald Trump, two different bases. It’s kind of a reminder of Trump versus Hillary Clinton in 2016. On the day people actually voted, 37% trusted Donald Trump to tell the truth, 36% trusted Hillary Clinton to tell the truth.

“Those numbers are even lower today for these two candidates. So where is the choice?

“Thirdly, and I and you’re leading up to this that there’s always in the past, the possibility of what we call a deus ex machina, a force from the outside and October surprise, a major revelation, a guilty verdict, a huge event of some sort.

“And those sorts of things have worked in the past, but I think we’re so locked in, not only with alternative realities, but with alternative facts, plus the fact that so many people don’t trust either of these candidates that a major event is just not likely to change things. It’s going to be viewed through a partisan lens or a general distrustful lens by both sides for different reasons and it’s crazy.”

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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.