Trump Evaluation Quiz

Throw the rascals out-

seemed to be the creed attracting the Trump followers.  There was some value seen to rooting out entrenched legislators who appear to be at the beck and call of money and power brokers.  But the cure turned out to be worse than the disease.  Bi-partisanship seems to have vanished with the death of John McCain.

The art of the deal seems to consist of insults, lies, extortion, deceit, and bribery.  Trusted authorities are those who agree with you.  Sometimes it seems Fox News, Rush, Sean, and Kelly may provide unbiased analysis so I can't automatically condemn their statements.  A Trump deal appears to be a solution tailored to his request.  His imposition of a government shutdown looks like an attempt to extort money for the wall from congress.  But he probably won't accept any compromise until the lack of funds ends the FBI investigation of his alleged wrong deeds.

For each topic below, read the statements under the topic heading,  Then on the line in front of the topic enter a "T" if the statement(s) is (are) true; enter an "F" if the statement(s) are false or fake news.

_____ INSULTS

Trump started debates of presidential contenders of his party by focusing on the one he probably thought was most vulnerable to nasty comments.  He continued to pick off others, often minimizing their strengths as failings.  Insults are readily applied to those opposed to any view of his.

_____ LIES

His tweets on Twitter as well as more formal presidential statements are full of self-contradictions,  It seems that any thing supporting or opposing a particular view could be documented by his utterings.  Is he guilty of lies, memory lapses, mental processing failures, or some combination of all of the above?  His lies directed at others often seem to be projections of his own failings.

_____ EXTORTION

The government shut-down is his doing.  He seems to think blaming democrats for it will make them agree to his demands.  That it is a ploy for something else seems indicated by his stomping out of a meeting he arranged with two congressional leaders.

_____ DECEIT

Circumstantial evidence points toward keeping his income statements under wraps so profiting from bankruptcies, Russian contacts, and shady deals won't be seen.  Unreported control of foreign financial accounts could be evident and lead to unreported campaign financing.  I thought he talked a lot about Hillary's email and other problems before they were publicized and before the Russian influence  was evident.  It was easy for me to think he had advance clues from them, perhaps from suggestions he dropped.

_____ BRIBERY

I can't believe his lawyer took care of his girlfriend problems without some instruction.

_____ LACK OF EMPATHY

His off-the-cuff remarks show little sensitivity to humans.  His reading from the scripts his speech-writers put on the teleprompter make me think he is a sensitive person.  But tweets confirm the insensitivity and lack of appreciation for anyone of other sex, race, national origin, political view, and not visible in his mirror.  If it were not for this problem we would have far fewer children separated from their parents, fewer people born in this country and living admirable lives while facing deportation.

Results     5 or 6 T's, watch Fox News sometimes;  5 or 6 F's,  watch CNN sometimes; 3 or 4 T's or F's, its a puzzling world, isn't it.

Other than the above, and messing with medical care, the economy, foreign relations (did you see the recent clip of his elbowing a head of state out of the way so he could be front and center of a photo-op during a foreign meeting?), and causing an exodus of experienced leadership in government departments-  well, other than that he isn't doing bad and God still loves him.

Joe Engemann    Kalamazoo, Michigan      January 22, 2019