Trump

[Fury Aphrodisia]

A lot of Canadians can. My five-year-old can do that. Mind you, he's scary smart. But it's more common than some might think.

[Various]

As far as complaints about Trump go, I find the national anthem one to be rather silly. Plenty of average citizens don't always get the anthem right, and there's officials who I'm sure aren't always perfect at it. I don't especially view it as a sin to get the anthem wrong or not quite know all of it. Besides, he's older, and if he's actually hard of hearing, it's understandable that he might not hear well enough to follow along well, especially if there's dubious acoustics.

Considering that the Republicans spent eight years criticizing Obama for not having a flag pen, yeah, fuck him. He can be criticized for not knowing the words.

[Shores]

If you can't memorise your national anthem, consisting of 312 words, should you be governing the country which includes reading legal documents consisting of 1000 words or more?

[Fury Aphrodisia]

I think there's a distinction to be made in this case, between memorization and understanding.

[Various]

I think there's a distinction to be made in this case, between memorization and understanding.

If the reports of Trump's semi-literacy are true, we're back to square one.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

Those were not the parameters of the original argument.

[Shores]

Longer documents require memorisation for understanding. The national anthem is something that Trump has had 71 years to memorise. If he has already memorised it, but has forgotten it due to disuse, then he should have prepared ahead and mentally refreshed it. Or one of his aides should have helped remind him. The worst scenario is that his mental faculties are declining due to age.

[Mithlomwen]

Trump now says an interview with Mueller is 'unlikely'.

At his news conference Wednesday, President Trump pointedly declined to say whether he would agree to answer questions from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III — but then suggested that such a session wouldn’t be warranted in any event. “When they have no collusion — and nobody’s found any collusion at any level — it seems unlikely that you’d even have an interview,” he observed.

Um....four people have been charged so far, so I think that says otherwise.  Not to mention the possible obstruction of justice by Trump. 

[Fury Aphrodisia]

I really don't think that's the worst scenario. But the argument I was making is that I don't remember the first line of Taming of the Shrew, but I remember how the story goes. Memorization isn't necessarily needed for comprehension, provided you can summarize well enough.

[Regina Minx]

Trump now says an interview with Mueller is 'unlikely'.

I don't think he understands how subpoenas work.

[Shores]

But the argument I was making is that I don't remember the first line of Taming of the Shrew, but I remember how the story goes. Memorization isn't necessarily needed for comprehension, provided you can summarize well enough.

Fair enough, and nobody expects you to memorise the Taming of the Shrew. But I would think as the President of the United States of America, knowing the national anthem by heart is part of the job description. Even if not out of loyalty to the country, at least so that you don't embarrass yourself on the world stage. He is being paid by your tax dollars.

So either he can't memorise it, he forgot to memorise it, or he won't memorise it. None of these scenarios bode well for him or his administration going through legal documents. The first shows inability, the second shows disorganisation, and the third shows disloyalty.

[Regina Minx]

In the interest of complete honesty and fairness, here is Trump at his inauguration in January of 2017 singing along accurately (as far as I can tell) to the entire first verse (usually all that's sung).

https://youtu.be/n4eTXskTU_Y

So he does seem to know the words. Just didn't or couldn't follow along at the game like he has done before.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

Fair enough, and nobody expects you to memorise the Taming of the Shrew. But I would think as the President of the United States of America, knowing the national anthem by heart is part of the job description. Even if not out of loyalty to the country, at least so that you don't embarrass yourself on the world stage. He is being paid by your tax dollars.

So either he can't memorise it, he forgot to memorise it, or he won't memorise it. None of these scenarios bode well for him or his administration going through legal documents. The first shows inability, the second shows disorganisation, and the third shows disloyalty.

Technically not paid by my tax dollars, but your point is well taken. Now all you have to do is prove it was a problem with memorization and that no other factors have contributed to the situation. Burden of proof lies with the claim.

[Shores]

Nah, I'm going to continue speculating like a member of the public, and I'm going to guess in advance that the given reason for the problem will be something to do with the sound system and not his memorisation or recall for that day.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

I'm not entirely certain either approach is sound, but... Enh, do you.

Personally, I tend to agree with the people that get exasperated by petty attacks when there are plenty of legitimate complaints. We have to remember that sometimes, humans are fallible. Anyone who's ever been sixteen-twenty two should be familiar with this. I think that when it comes to Trump, age isn't necessarily grounds to demand perfection.

[Regina Minx]

There's an easy way to solve this...

[Shores]

I guess it's because I keep reading and hearing about some of the things he says and the way he says it that makes me concerned about his brain health. I would love it if the US President was in the peak of health, because the USA is still the global police in a lot of regions and act as a deterrence from anything too bad happening in my area of the world. I'm uncomfortably close to Korea and would not like a war here.

I've read that Trump is being examined by doctors for his health, but I don't think he'll release the results.

[Sara Nilsson]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/confused-trump-tricked-into-opposing-own-surveillance-bill.html

Headline say it all.

[TheGlyphstone]

For the sake of devil's advocacy, I've got a track of songs I listen to almost every day when I go to work and come home, to the point where I can sing along to all of them almost flawlessly, but I only know two or three of them 'cold'. My brain's wired that memorization to the aural cues of the accompanying music for the rest, and without that context it's a lot harder to recall which verses go where.

[Valerian]

I guess it's because I keep reading and hearing about some of the things he says and the way he says it that makes me concerned about his brain health. I would love it if the US President was in the peak of health, because the USA is still the global police in a lot of regions and act as a deterrence from anything too bad happening in my area of the world. I'm uncomfortably close to Korea and would not like a war here.

I've read that Trump is being examined by doctors for his health, but I don't think he'll release the results.

He has a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow at Walter Reed Hospital, and his doctor is expected to release "a readout" of the exam, whatever that's supposed to mean.  (Huckabee Sanders said that, so take it with an appropriately-sized lump of salt.)  But this is what's normally done, for presidents to have official exams and the general results to be released to the public, so we should find out something -- and I'm guessing it will at least involve sky-high cholesterol given what he apparently eats all day.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

I agree that a world leader - if for no other reason than that - should be in good health. I just think if attacks are going to come, they should be for the right reasons and not people attacking just to attack is all.

[Shores]

I wish Trump thought like you in his verbal attacks on Korea. Well, at least the North and South are talking because of the Winter Olympics. Tensions should lessen then.

[TheGlyphstone]

I wish Trump thought like you in his verbal attacks on Korea. Well, at least the North and South are talking because of the Winter Olympics. Tensions should lessen then.

Has Trump tried to take credit for the Winter Olympics yet?

[Shores]

I don't think so. I hope he does, personally. The two sides can at least agree on something then. 

I wish Trump would get a nutritionist after this health check-up and tweet the healthy meals he eats. Promote healthy living so that Americans will be healthier. At least show that online communication can be used for good too, instead of controversy all the time.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

I wish Trump thought like you in his verbal attacks on Korea. Well, at least the North and South are talking because of the Winter Olympics. Tensions should lessen then.

Honestly, he probably never will. But the reason I dislike Trump is not because we are so similar.