Republican front runner Donald J. Trump has many shortcomings as a man and a candidate, but trying to choose among them is like selecting a favorite strain of herpes. It’s mostly subjective. Sometimes, though, he offers clear evidence that despite the millions of Americans who are buying what he’s selling, he lacks the basic knowledge to do the job.
Here, I offer the five most egregious examples of Donald Trump clearly and objectively not knowing what the fuck he’s talking about. These aren’t examples of his being rude, or obnoxious, or racist or sexist or vaguely fascist, though there are plenty of all of those. These are just the times when he got the facts so inexcusably wrong that it disqualifies him from serious consideration.
These are times when the man, for all his ugliness, demonstrated the ugliest quality of all for a Presidential candidate: incompetence.
1. The time he thought being audited meant he couldn’t release his tax returns.
Pressed in a CNN debate about his refusal to follow the common practice of publicizing his most recent available tax returns, Trump claimed that “”I will absolutely give my return, but I’m being audited now for two or three years, so I can’t do it until the audit is finished, obviously.”
Except not obviously. No law or even IRS policy prevents any return from being released during an audit. The IRS even felt compelled to clarify that point. Either way, the 4-time bankruptcy vet refuses to reveal the true numbers behind his alleged success.
He may fear the revelation that the effective rate at which he pays taxes will alienate him from working-class voters. He may fear (as Mitt Romney suggested) that something even more atrocious will be uncovered. For his part, Trump mused that his perpetual IRS trouble is a consequence of his being “a strong Christian,” leaving some longing for the days of lion pits.
2. The time he was angry about sanctions against Iran that he didn’t know exist. During a now-infamous New York Times interview The Donald left little doubt that his depth of understanding regarding foreign policy would have trouble filling a kiddie pool. Most bizarrely, he expressed frustration that Iran isn’t buying aircraft from the US despite the recent breakthrough over sanctions. “They’re buying planes, they’re buying everything, they’re buying from everybody but the United States. I would never have made the deal,” he lamented.
NYT reporter David Sanger helpfully pointed out that the US can’t sell planes to Iran due to still-existing sanctions, of which Trump was clearly unaware. After asking Sanger to clarify, Trump tried to turn the painful stumble into a dance of obfuscation. “So,” he finally managed, “how stupid is that?” Indeed.
3. The time he thought China was taking advantage of the US via the Trans-Pacific Partnership. During a Fox Business Network debate, Trump strongly criticized the controversial trade deal by working in one of his favorite talking points: China’s economic domination of the US. The deal, he blustered, was “designed for China to come in as they always do through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone.”
It was at that point that Libertarian also-ran Rand Paul endeared himself to the hearts of the sane, piping up from the background to point out that China is not a participant in the TPP. Attempting to two-step his way out of humiliation, Trump tried to concoct a scenario by which China could still benefit. But the damage was done.
4. The time he thought the Judicial Branch could investigate Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. Clinton was framing the importance of keeping the apricot-hued man-child out of the White House in the context of Supreme Court vacancies. Citing his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, she asked who someone like Trump would potentially nominate.
Trump offered a retort on Good Morning America. “Well,” he said, “I’d probably appoint people that would look very seriously at her email disaster because it’s a criminal activity, and I would appoint people that would look very seriously at that to start off with. What she’s getting away with is absolutely murder. You talk about a case — now that’s a real case.”
No word yet on whether Trump has since been given access to 8th-grade civics texts, which would explain that the Supreme Court doesn’t investigate crimes any more than the White House cafeteria staff does.
5. The time he confused “Quds” with “Kurds,” and didn’t really know much about either. Grilled on his knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump was asked to identify various key figures. One of them was General Qasem Soleimani, head of the Quds, an Iranian special operations force.
With all the nervous composure of a schoolchild called on during a daydream, Trump claimed to know who Soleimani is, but still entreated Hewitt to “give me a little.” When Hewitt clarified his role in the Quds, Trump responded “Yes, okay, right,” and took the opportunity to say how poorly the Kurds have been treated by the US.
Hewitt quickly corrected Trump, and went on to clarify who Soleimani is until it apparently rang a bell. How Trump managed to be familiar with Soleimani while remaining open to the possibility of his being a Kurdish leader remains mysterious.
One can argue that this, like many of Trump’s stumbles, fall outside the realm of common knowledge. But for someone seeking the highest office in the land, Trump’s “knowledge” may be too uncommon for comfort.
Featured image by Evan Guest via Attribution 2.0 Generic License
