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Here's How Trump Graded Himself On Communication

by Kelly Tunney
Drew Angerer/Getty Images News/Getty Images

President Donald Trump's first month in office has been a rocky one — though he might not tell you the same thing. After a weekend of protests broke out following his executive order on immigration, Trump declared that everything was executed smoothly. During a Fox and Friends interview that aired Tuesday, Trump was asked to grade his presidency on a scale of A to F thus far into his term.

Unsurprisingly, Trump gave himself an A for achievement, noting that he has done "great things." However, it was a little surprising to hear that he rated himself as a "C or C+" on messaging. Though, he did share the blame for the grade on his team, saying "I don't think we've explained it well enough to the American people." And, after all, a C rating is technically average. So it's not as if he's admitting that his messaging is bad. It's just not as good as he would like.

Trump said that he will have the opportunity to get the messaging right during his joint Congressional speech Tuesday evening, where he spoke about Obamacare, military spending, education, and tax and regulation reform. He also talked about immigration, which was predicted since his guest list included several people whose relatives were killed by undocumented immigrants.

Considering Trump's go-to message seems to be that things are "beautiful," "big," "great," and the "best," it's not a terrible surprise that his messaging isn't exactly getting across to all Americans. Trump spends a lot of time attacking the press and calling well-established outlets fake news, so that certainly doesn't help to transmit what he'd like people to know.

According to a Feb. 22 Quinnipiac University poll, 38 to 55 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump. In his first month, he asked National Security Advisor Michael Flynn to resign because he had given misleading information to Vice President Mike Pence about conversations with the Russian ambassador. Then, prominent advisor and former campaign chief Kellyanne Conway was said to be sidelined from TV appearances after delivering mixed messaging about how Trump was handling the situation with Flynn. And according to Politico, Trump's expressed concern about Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Considering the myriad of instances where communication has been shaky at best, the grading of a C might not be the most accurate.

Trump does seem to have issues with communication within his administration, and while he does have the opportunity to speak directly to the people and Congress during his joint speech, we also know that he is prone to saying false or misleading things. That's why it's important to analyze what he and his staff say as well as fact-check their claims.