You graded the Trump administration. Here's who got an F. | Your Turn

With just seven months to consequential midterm elections that will decide control of Congress and the ease with which President Donald Trump can pursue his agenda, we decided to ask you, our USA TODAY readers, to step into an unusual role: For our latest Forum feature, we invited you to take on the mantle of schoolteacher and grade the performance of Trump and members of his administration.

There was plenty of material for that assessment, with the administration having led us to war, away from vaccines and into a new tariff-based economic reality – all in just 15 months.

A surprisingly large number of you leaped at the challenge, dusting off your erasers, sharpening your pencils and opening up your grade books. And let's just say that judging by your responses, many of you would not have been the "popular" teacher.

While there were some glowing A's and middling C's, there was also a deluge of brutally low marks that would cow the cockiest 12th grader. Of the more than 700 of you who sent in grades through March 31, just 28 of you gave Trump an A or a B. About 40 of you gave the president a C or a D, while more than 500 of you gave him an F. (The remaining assessments were nearly all lower than F.)

Report cards for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. largely mirrored Trump's, with Hegseth getting 27 A's and B's and 566 F's. Kennedy meanwhile, got 29 A's and B's and 522 F's.

Here's a sampling below of the grades you issued and your notes on why they earned those marks. Look for more opportunities to weigh in at usatoday.com/forum, leave us a voicemail at (202) 655-3923 or drop us a note at [email protected].

Grading President Donald Trump

F: Nothing in this administration is based on science or planning. There is so much corruption and a constant stream of lies. The damage they are inflicting on this country and our allies may not be recoverable.

— Kathy Crawford, Washington

C: He cleaned up a lot of the country's problems due to too much government in our lives. But he needed to stay out of Iran.

— Tom Lierz, Kansas

B: He is taking decisive action on many fronts. Not always popular and perhaps not always well thought out, but at least he is trying to move us forward. Also, the actions are designed to get results and represent commonsense thinking, unlike banning of gas ranges and more solar farms.

— Scott Piepenburg, Pennsylvania

F: The first reason for the grade is his choice of Cabinet secretaries. Next, the tariffs he has instituted. Also his vile and unpresidential statements about people he doesn't like who have died, his outright lies and unpresidential pardoning of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the graft used to get money for him and his family. Last, wearing a baseball cap at the bringing home ceremony of a dead soldier and fundraising off the photograph.

— Brent Martin, Wisconsin

F: He consistently ignores the Constitution and assumes and uses powers he does not legally have. The travesty of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota only occurred because he wanted revenge on a state that consistently votes Democratic. His tariffs were/are a joke. The economy is in trouble, in spite of the fact that he continues to say it's great. Obviously, he doesn't have to go the grocery store or buy gas or clothe his children. I wonder if he has even read the Constitution? Is he even aware that Congress has the power to declare war, not him? Yet, here we are losing American lives in a war that the American public doesn't want.

I will give him credit for one thing: Eliminating the penny. About time. But it's not enough to give him anything but an F.

— Elizabeth Tibbs, Minnesota

Grading Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

C: Like Trump, he has some good ideas. Unfortunately, because of the "bro-stud" posturing and his attempts to make the military a Christian institution, he will be his own downfall.

— Randy Murdock III, Illinois

F: He's acting like real deaths and war are a video game. He may have already violated international laws multiple times. This man needs to be put up on charges of war crimes.

— Shayde Fischer, Illinois

B: Bringing strength back to the military. Getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion and woke policies in the military.

— Bill King, Nevada

F: He leaked battlefield information on a Signal chat. That alone should be enough, but now he's helped get us in another pointless war with no off-ramp.

— Jay Hobson, Oregon

Grading Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

F: Unbelievably bad health information, especially around vaccines. Just terrible.

— Kim Black, Colorado

B: RFK Jr. is finally exposing the harmful chemicals allowed in our foods and drugs. I think these chemicals have been making our population sick and fat for a long time.

— Kevin Markham, Tennessee

F: This man has not only done away with research and aid, but he also ignores science-based information about vaccines and diet – while at the same time allowing cancer-causing pesticides to be used. He is the poster child for bad judgment and is spreading lies.

— Alissa Olson, Utah