 Welcome to Secrets, your daily guide to who's done what to whom and why. Friday brings our regular report card, plus more insight into why Donald Trump might be a problem for Nigel Farage. … This past week hewed to two new norms for President Donald Trump. On Monday and Tuesday, he kept out of the public eye with what officials called "signing time," "policy meetings," and a "private dinner." In the past, these would not even have been noted on the daily guidance, but after the New York Times ran a piece suggesting he was taking it easy, these private events are now being listed. And on Wednesday, he hosted Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to discuss Iran. Again, in a break from the livestreamed Oval Office headline fests of 2025, this meeting was kept away from the cameras. Reporters were, however, allowed in later that day for an event to promote U.S. coal, when Trump ordered the Pentagon to buy more electricity from plants burning the fossil fuel. So what does it all mean for our Secrets graders? Well, the government appears on course for a partial shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding, but is that on the Democrats? And both cite the week-old story that still looms large over Trump (the now-deleted video of the Obamas depicted as apes). Jed Babbin: B minus So the Democrats leave town on Friday without agreeing to any funding for DHS. That guarantees a partial government shutdown. That's not a big win for Trump and his team, though it should have been. It's been an ICE-y week for the White House, beginning with the withdrawal of hundreds of ICE and Border Patrol agents from Minneapolis. It's apparent that violent demonstrations will get Trump to back down. But he's not backing down from support for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. One might balance the other but the whole mess is still in play. Trump has been making it easy for critics this week. His video of the Obamas as monkeys was way over the top. It has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats. READ MORE: "Controversy from Trump's Obama video won't go away before November"
You have to stop and realize that the DHS funding the Dems are stopping includes the Coast Guard, drug enforcement, and many other things, not just ICE, that we cannot do without. The Dems are oblivious to the damage they're creating. They aren't interested in solutions and just want to score political points. T'was ever thus. In good news, the Dow Jones average was over 50,000 and hovered around it for several days. As much as the Dems want to say the economy is in the dumpster, that alone proves it isn't. A very good jobs report, about 160,000 private-sector jobs created in January, along with the diminution of government-sector jobs, is very good news. Meanwhile, Netanyahu visited Trump quietly this week, seeking to influence him on Iran. Trump is moving a second aircraft carrier close to Iran but he is still trying to negotiate a deal with the ayatollahs. A second round of protests and riots seems to be growing in Iran. There's no point in negotiating with them because they never live up to their obligations under any deal. John Zogby: F There were some notable successes for Trump this past week. 130,000 new jobs were created, much more than the expected 40,000 to 50,000. The FBI reported that the murder rate is down in major cities. And he eased tariffs on Argentine beef to help drive prices down for U.S. consumers. But there was some bad news as well. Retail sales for December, the period that generally makes up a quarter of their annual income, was reported to be well below expectations. About 3 in 5 people, according to Gallup, anticipate high-quality lives in the next 5 years — the lowest ever. Three prominent national polls placed Trump's job approval rating in the 30s, and analysts estimate that his tariffs will cost the public an average of $1,000 this year, more than half of the average savings from taxes. The Epstein story has not gone away and likely will not. The attorney general's testimony before Congress proved to be a nail in her political coffin and certainly did not help him. Nor did the report that Jeffrey Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to exonerate Messrs. Trump and Clinton in exchange for more favorable treatment in prison. It has been reported that Trump's name appears over a million times in the Epstein files. That's a lot of times for someone that the president hardly knew but also was a good friend; someone he denied access to Mar-a-Lago, although that did not happen; who was never seen again once Trump learned of his dealings with very young women, but apparently maintained some contact. Can there be 1 million lies and/or mistakes? But the week belongs to the awful depiction of former president and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. There were attempts at excuses but there is absolutely no excuse. He gets no reprieve from me. Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of 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, managing partner, and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies. More on the Trump-Farage axis On Wednesday, Secrets brought you an exclusive interview with Nigel Farage, Britain's populist leader, talking about his relationship with Trump and its limits. Today, we hear from a pollster in Britain who recently ran focus groups with voters, who found that Farage's relationship with Trump could be a problem in elections. Scarlett Maguire, founder of Merlin Strategy, said, "A lot of voters considering Reform (especially women) voice hesitations about Farage being like Trump." She cited one exchange with a woman in a focus group that ran: Voter: "I think him and his party are starting to speak a lot of sense and attack areas that are of concern to the country. But then there is a little bit of nervousness at the same time, because he is a little bit, you know, it could be a bit intense, intense." Moderator: "So when you say nervousness, can you just elaborate that a bit for me, so a bit intense about what do you think?" Voter: "Just a bit Trump-esque." In our interview, Farage made clear that he disagreed with Trump on some key policies. But as this focus group makes clear, British voters can't help but look to the United States to see what a Farage government might look like. Second voter: "I feel genuinely terrified of Nigel Farage becoming the Prime Minister of the U.K. I feel, personally, like other people have mentioned him in correlation with Donald Trump, that, you know, women's rights, people with disabilities, and people on benefits, I feel like all of that would just go out the window with someone like Nigel Farage."
Lunchtime reading What does Donald Trump read? Everything: A great deep dive into the media habits of the president. "You can't win battles unless you know your enemy," Hogan Gidley, who served as principal deputy press secretary during his first term, told RealClearPolitics. "He knows the enemy because he reads them." Elbridge Colby calls for "NATO 3.0" at defense summit: The undersecretary of war for policy is one of the most interesting and one of the most polarizing figures in the Pentagon, if not the entire administration. He is one of the key figures behind efforts to shift resources away from Europe toward the Indo-Pacific. Yet he tends to operate behind the scenes, so it is always useful to hear what he has to say, particularly when he has been sent to Europe to represent his bosses. The campaign to bring back the Shah of Iran: (Paywalled, I'm afraid, but listing here as it is super interesting if you are prepared to cough up.) Another man in the news. Reza Pahlavi is at the Munich Security Conference. But a surge in support has baffled some regional experts, who ask whether his popularity outside the country is mirrored inside the country. And then there is the backing of Israel. … You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, whom you can reach at secrets@washingtonexaminer DOT COM with your comments, story tips, and suggestions. If a friend sent you this and you'd like to sign up, click here. | 
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