In filling out President Trump’s report card, it is important, first off, to say where it is that I am coming from, in terms of political economy and philosophy. If I were a Marxist like my high school buddy Bernie Sanders, I would award the Donald an F+. He must have done something right, don’t ask me what.

As it happens, I am an anarcho-capitalist, the most famous adherents of this view are Argentine President Javier Milei and the late economist Murray Rothbard. Here, that government is best which governs not at all. Or, to turn things around a bit, we should have some eight billion governments, one for each of us, so that we would all be sovereign. In this case, Mr. Trump would get at least a B, since,

overall, he is reducing the size and scope of government, a virtue.

But I will not approach this grading business from that perspective. Rather, as a libertarian, I wear a second hat. It is a combination of minarchism, or minimal government libertarianism, a la such folk as Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick and Ron Paul, as well as classical liberalism, the most famous advocates of which are Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. Here, government exists, but is extremely limited.

According to that childhood nursery rhyme, “when he was good, he was very, very good, when he was bad, he was awful.” That sums up President Trump’s first six months in office. What are the specifics?

Education

1. Harvard and my old alma mater Columbia (of which I am duly ashamed) head the list. These universities are totally owned subsidiaries of the Democratic Party, the far left thereof. Donald is not trying to violate their rights of free speech or academic freedom. He only insists that they continue with their professoriate that promotes Marxism, anti-Semitism, etc., they do so with their own dime. Ditto for tax exemptions which are reserved for organizations promoting the public good. [A]

2. Eviscerating the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health. The argument against this is that without such subsidies, scientific and medical research would grind to a halt. Nonsense. The money saved, thereby, could be diverted to more deserving scientists. Further, the actual scientific contributions of such recipients as Harvard have fallen under serious question. [A]

3. NPR, PBS, Voice of America. Sayonara. The fourth estate, the media, is supposed to monitor the first three estates of government. But how can it do so if in the hands of the government? That’s like the referee picking up a hockey stick and scoring a goal. Most totalitarian countries have an official news source. The president only clipped their wings, he did not totally cancel them. [B]

4. Education Department. This barnacle began in 1979. We got along just fine before then, and will do exceedingly well without it now. I award a [B] for at least starting in this direction.

5. DEI, Affirmative Action, engines of outright racism. Our president has done yeoman work here. [A]

6. Finally, there is an adult in the room. No more biological males taking part in female college sports, nor in their locker rooms for goodness sakes! The Donald has done more for the distaff gender in this regard than tons of so-called feminists. [A]

Foreign Policy

1. Ukraine – Russia. They say give an A for effort, but I am only awarding Trump a [B] here. He tried to make peace, he is still trying, he has not yet succeded.

2. Israel. He moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; he set up the Abraham Accords, he has been a staunch friend to the Hebrew state, one of the best allies the US has ever had. [A]

3. Iran. A nuclear armed Persia is that last thing that the “Big Satan” needs. The president is supposed to protect our country from external enemies. He did so here. However, Iran has not yet surrendered; their threat still remains. [B]

4. Foreign aid . Based upon three M’s: Monuments to the dictator; sometimes a statue of him, often a steel mill which creates this product at a multiple of the world price. Mercedes: Swiss bank accounts. Machine guns. Any slight good they do can be done with private charity. [A]

5. Peace. Trump has also orchestrated peace between India and Pakistan; Rwanda and Congo. He richly deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. Obama got one before he even found out where the men’s room was at the White House. [A]

Immigration

1. The southern border is no longer almost totally porous. A sovereign nation must have borders. [A]

2. ICE. Illegal immigrants broke the law. They are criminals, whether born here or not. Good for Trump in upholding law and order. [A]

3. Dealing harshly with that judge who tried to shield an illegal immigrant from ICE. [A]

Size of government

1. He froze federal hiring, and fired a bunch of bureaucrats [A]

2. He reduced taxes [A]

3. Deregulation. In his first term, his motto was for every new regulation, eliminate two. Nowadays, regulation, remove ten. [A]

4. Withholding congressionally appropriated funds. Do we want less government or do we want less government? This policy moves us in that direction [A]

5. DOGE. The Department of Government Efficiency, reduces the size and scope of the overweening state. [A]

Economics

1. Tariffs. Mr. Trump infamously called this economic illiteracy the most beautiful word in the English language. If they are so great, why don’t we impose them internally? Canada pursues this policy, which is why they are so poor, even though highly educated and up to their armpits in valuable natural resources. The US is so wealthy because we have a gigantic free trade zone. Should we really stop Vermont from freely trading with Ohio? Texas with Oregon? If Donald wants to make not only the US “great again,” but do so for the entire world, he should act so as to reduce, nay, eliminate, all tariffs. If it were possible to award someone a grade lower than this one [F] I would do so.

2. New York City. The Big Apple instituted a system of peak load pricing to deal with congestion. Better had they privatized all roads and streets. But this was at least a step in the direction of free enterprise. Trump opposed this initiative. [F]

3. Don’t raise prices. He has threatened super markets for doing so. Do we really want another bout of wage and price controls?

To summarize. This report card is a mixed bag. Some aspects are very, very good, others, horrid. How would this compare if Kamala Harris had been the subject of this report card? Pretty much straight F’s on everything. Except for giggling and word salad. A’s there.

Walter E. Block is the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and professor of Economics at Loyola University New Orleans.