Maher ended his monologue by noting that Trump likes to play a toxic tough guy in public, but privately, he’s more a thoughtful listener and negotiator, a view America saw this week with his actions on trading tariffs.

Twelve days ago, I had dinner with President Trump, a dinner that my friend @KidRock set up because we share the belief that there has to be something better than hurling insults from 3000 miles away. pic.twitter.com/KE2t2eyBkI

— Bill Maher (@billmaher) April 12, 2025

“A crazy person does not live in the White House. A person who plays a crazy person on TV a lot lives there. Which I know is f***ed up; it’s just not as f***ed up as I thought it was,” Maher said.

As he has been since Inauguration Day, Trump was on a roll all this week, appearing before the media with regularity to brag about his moves. The White House tallied over 50 “wins” in a week-ending summation.

Without the benefit of a dinner to break bread like Maher had, our graders remained deeply divided over the president.

Conservative analyst Jed Babbin graded the week an “A-minus,” crediting Trump for trying to bring fairness to trade. “If someone had thought of that a few decades ago, we wouldn’t have such massive trade deficits with so many countries,” he said.

Democratic pollster John Zogby used the president’s frequent over-the-top language to hit his actions and dished a grade of “F” for the week.

Jed Babbin

Grade: A-

It was a really good week for President Donald Trump and his crew with two big wins in the Supreme Court and one in a lower court, inflation slowing, and the cancellation of an absurd Obama-Biden rule on shower heads.

Trump won big at SCOTUS on the question of deporting Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador. The high court said that while the gangbangers were entitled to a habeas corpus hearing before being booted, the hearings had to be held where the gang members are. That venue decision takes away the D.C. district court’s jurisdiction where Judge James E. Boasberg has been ranting about Trump.

WEEK OF VICTORIES at the White House!

📈 145% Tariffs on China
🇮🇱 Bilateral with Netanyahu
⚾ L.A. Dodgers & Racing Champions
🛢️ Gas and Energy Prices Down
💵 Real Wages UP, Inflation DOWN
🏭 Companies Invest Billions
⛏️ U.S. Coal EO
⚖️ 4 SCOTUS Wins@PressSec’s MAGA Minute ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/pPmN4qnzyz

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 12, 2025

The second win was the decision that the president could fire 16,000 probationary federal employees. This couldn’t be a tough decision. Probationary means just that and they could be fired for any reason.

The third win was a lower court’s agreement that all illegal aliens had to register with the government. This makes it easier for them to be deported.

The only loss at SCOTUS was the decision, very mildly worded, that Trump had to use best efforts to return to Maryland a migrant wrongfully deported. It was a ho-hum opinion, not a Boasberg temper tantrum.

Inflation sunk lower than expected, which is tremendously good news. The other economic news is that, despite the chaotic tariff mess Trump has created, at least 75 countries and groups, such as the European Union, want to negotiate. The only outlier is China, on which Trump has imposed 120% tariffs in addition to the 20% already in place.

What all the tariff chaos means is that Trump has used tariffs to get better deals for U.S. products on the international markets, reducing our trade imbalances and doing away with some. If someone had thought of that a few decades ago, we wouldn’t have such massive trade deficits with so many countries. The stock markets are still yo-yoing, but they’ll calm down in a week or two.

You probably noticed, about a decade ago, that shower heads didn’t give enough pressure to produce a good hot shower. That was the result of a stupid Obama-era rule that claimed a benefit to climate change (the biggest scam ever perpetrated on humanity) by restricting water flow through shower heads and faucets. Now that rule is gone, and better water pressure has returned. High bloody time.

John Zogby

Grade: F

What you are about to see is undoubtedly the most impressive and important grade anyone has ever given anyone in the history of the world. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln never even came close to this kind of grade.

This isn’t only a once-in-a-lifetime experience; it is also an unforgettable occurrence. It is saved for only the truly greatest who has ever walked the Earth. It is based on the week from the whitest fires in hell.

Consumer sentiment has declined four quarters in a row and is the second lowest it has been since it was first recorded in 1952. President Donald Trump issued tariffs like the world has hardly even seen, causing fear and anxiety among big and small investors, small business people and consumers. Then he reversed himself on almost all of those high tariffs for 90 days. He now has three months to negotiate about 150 separate tariff deals.

The great tariff turnaround this week was either a sign of gross incompetence or a cruel game played on the world.

TRUMP SHOWS ‘DURABILITY’ THAT WAS MISSING IN FIRST TERM

The public is not buying it. He is upside down in nine of the last 10 polls and his majority disapproval average on handling inflation is 14 points worse than his approval — this as the overall rate of inflation has been going down.

Presidents do play golf, even in moments of crisis. But they shouldn’t be doing it while the crisis is self-induced, and it has caused both fear and confusion. The president keeps losing in federal courts, although an immigration judge just ruled that a green-card-holding student can be deported for “criticizing American foreign policy.” What follows is my grade, so I will now just f-off.

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 latest book, Beyond the Horse Race: How to Read Polls and Why We Should, was just released. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies.