By Kevin Sullivan

As the sultry days of summer begin to wind down, President Trump returned to Washington this week from a 17-day work vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.   
 
Amid a summer of seemingly endless media scandals, in addition to a rotating cast of White House advisers and communications officials, the president set out to regain control of what his administration views as a biased narrative in the national press.

In a series of speeches delivered this week, Trump detailed the ways in which his administration is making the lives of ordinary Americans better. But as RCP White House Correspondent Alexis Simendinger reports, those efforts often proved to be more divisive than constructive, raising alarm bells for his colleagues on Capitol Hill.

“Some members of his own party in Congress fear Trump will be a drag on GOP candidates in next year’s elections, and believe, after observing the president during the health care debate, that he cannot focus with discipline on the challenging legislative hurdles ahead,” writes Simendinger.

That perceived lack of clarity was on display again this week in a nationally televised address on U.S. policy in the war-torn nation of Afghanistan. Pivoting from a previously held campaign position, Trump pledged before an audience of military personnel to win the war and bring the 16-year military operation to an end.

“My original instinct was to pull out, and historically, I like following my instincts,” Trump said. “But all my life, I've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the Oval Office.”

The president’s decision to boost troop levels in Afghanistan earned plaudits in some national-security circles and from colleagues in Congress – political capital he no doubt hopes to bottle and bring with him to Springfield, Missouri, next week, when Trump will kick off a much-anticipated tax-reform campaign.

Topics du Jour

TRUMP JOB APPROVAL: The president’s job approval sits at negative 17.0 points in the RCP Polling Average. https://tinyurl.com/y9z5dnha
 
SQUISHY HATE-CRIME STATS: James Varney of RealClearInvestigations reports on the difficulty in tracking the incidence of hate crimes across the country: “While good data can help allocate law enforcement resources, trying to say one group is worse or bloodier than another is ultimately a mug’s game, according to those who spend time compiling and classifying these crimes. What’s more important, they insisted, is acknowledging trouble can brew on the right and the left, along with the threat from radical Islamists.” https://tinyurl.com/y9q69jax
 
KILLER ROBOT CONCERNS: RealClearDefense Pentagon Correspondent Sandra Erwin reports on recent calls by artificial intelligence experts for the regulation of autonomous weapons: “What this means for the Pentagon and its massive efforts to merge intelligent machines into weapon systems is still unclear. The military sees a future of high-tech weapon systems powered by artificial intelligence and ubiquitous autonomous weapons in the air, at sea, on the ground, as well as in cyberspace.” https://tinyurl.com/y9x9yxuu
 
BAWITDABA ’18? RCP’s David Byler examines the electoral chances of unlikely U.S. Senate hopeful Robert “Kid Rock” Ritchie: “[D]espite Michigan’s somewhat blue tint, Republicans still sometimes manage to win statewide. Donald Trump eked out a victory in 2016 -- a significant shift from President Obama’s 10-point triumph in 2012. GOP candidates take the governorship more frequently. Most recently, Republican Rick Snyder ran as a fiscal conservative and a ‘tough nerd’ and ended up winning the governor’s mansion in 2010 and 2014.” https://tinyurl.com/ybtczxlk
 
OBAMACARE AND OPIOIDS: In a RealClearHealth exclusive, Dr. Jeffrey Singer of the Cato Institute argues that the Affordable Care Act’s unfair pricing of premiums has pushed insurers to create narrower health plans that limit care options available to drug addicts: “[T]he opioid overdose crisis and the ACA mandates … combine to create a perfect storm. Insurers team up with state and federal regulators to curtail the prescription of opioids for chronic pain patients, leading many to suffer needlessly and driving some, in desperation, to the illegal drug market and the risk of death from overdose.” https://tinyurl.com/yclezbpa

In Other Originals

TRUMP’S FIRST 200 DAYS: In this video roundtable, RCP co-founder Tom Bevan, RealClearPolicy editor Tony Mills, and RCD’s Sandra Erwin cut through the media noise in order to list the Trump administration’s tangible accomplishments since taking office.
 
AN AFRICAN OPENING: At RealClearWorld, Africa analyst Hayley Elszasz writes that recent measures by the sealed-off state of Eritrea suggest that the “North Korea of Africa” is preparing to liberalize. https://tinyurl.com/y8lbyxjj
 
AMERICA’S COMING CRISIS: At RealClearHealth, health care policy analyst Jennifer Minjarez warns of a shortage of dental professionals in the United States, and argues that allowing dental hygienists to expand the scope of their work is one possible solution: “The Department of Health and Human Services projects a national surplus of dental hygienists by 2025. However, hygienists cannot meet patients’ unmet demand for dental care alone. So long as dentists have a monopoly on most dental procedures, hygienists can do nothing to help those who need restorative or preventative care. To make matters worse, the 2025 projections include a national shortage of 15,600 dentists.” https://tinyurl.com/y9ql2deq
 
AN NBA BLOCKBUSTER: At RealClearSports, editor Cory Gunkel writes that disgruntled point guard Kyrie Irving is the real winner of this week’s NBA mega-trade between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics: “Irving was able to leave Cleveland on his own terms, before James could bounce for the sun-soaked shores of California or, even worse for Irving, re-sign with the Cavaliers and continue to swallow the 25-year-old’s celebrity like a cloud of smog.” https://tinyurl.com/ybtvdh28
 
NO ONE LEFT BEHIND: At RealClearDefense, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle and Afghan War veteran Alejandro Villanueva argues that the United States must stand by the interpreters who put their lives on the line in order to aid U.S. forces overseas: “Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) offer a path to safety and freedom for the thousands of interpreters still waiting for America to fulfill its promise to them. Securing an SIV is no easy task. It usually takes at least two years to obtain one. Interpreters are put through a rigorous vetting process by multiple U.S. intelligence agencies. If one of those agencies says no, they instantly go on a No Fly list for life.” https://tinyurl.com/yapy8w5u
 
SECURE THE GRID: At RealClearPolicy, former electric utility industry executive James Cunningham insists that U.S. policymakers secure the nation’s electrical grid: “After more than 25 years of presidential acknowledgement, the time for comprehensive, coordinated action to improve the grid is now. With the same sense of urgency and focus that led our government to put a man on the moon, we must begin today to make our national electrical grid less vulnerable, more robust and more resilient.” https://tinyurl.com/y98cr44f
 


Editor’s note: RealClear Originals will be on break next week, but will resume on Friday, September 8.