Ask A Genius 1139: Trump or Not Trump, the Game Show!
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/10/31
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I’ve got a new game for you. It’s called Trump or Not Trump. It’s a riff on the quote game. I’ll read something, and you tell me if it’s from Trump or not.
Rick Rosner: Sounds fun. Let’s do it.
Quick addendum to the previous conversation—Franklin Graham was with Trump while he was lying. Franklin Graham is the son of Billy Graham, who was 30, 40, 50 years ago, America’s most famous evangelist. He was a spiritual advisor to presidents from both parties, and he seemed a pretty upstanding guy. But his son, Franklin, is a total piece of crap.
His son operates an organization called Samaritan’s Purse. They raise a lot money, and he has a $602,000 salary. Franklin Graham watches over Trump, providing this aura of Christian endorsement to Trump’s nonsense. He adds a veneer of legitimacy for those who want to believe Trump has a spiritual side.
Anyway, back to the game. I’m ready for Trump or Not Trump.
Here’s the first quote: “I’m not big on compromise. I understand compromise. Sometimes compromise is the right answer, but often compromise is the equivalent of defeat, and I don’t like being defeated.”
Is it Trump or not Trump?
Rosner: It sounds coherent, which isn’t recent Trump. I’ll say not Trump.
Jacobsen: Incorrect! It is Trump, from Life Magazine, volume 12, part 3, January 1989.
Rosner: Ah, I was half right—I said it wasn’t recent Trump.
Jacobsen: No, no partial points! You can’t score your own game.
Rosner: Fine, I’ll take a third of a point.
Jacobsen: It’s from 35 years ago!
Jacobsen: One-third point, then. Next quote: “The point is that you can’t be too greedy.”
Rosner: Where are you getting these? But I’m going to say, Trump, given the hypocrisy.
Jacobsen: Correct! One point and a third. It was Trump.
Rosner: That sounds like him—he says one thing and does another.
Jacobsen: Here’s the next one: “It doesn’t matter what the media writes as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
Rosner: That sounds too over-the-top, so that I will say not Trump. If it were him, I would have heard it before.
Jacobsen: Wrong again—it’s Trump, from a 1991 Esquire interview.
Rosner: Wow, are these all going to be Trump quotes?
Jacobsen: No, they’re not all Trump. Here’s another: “The most heinous and cruel crimes in history have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives.”
Rosner: That’s not Trump. It sounds like H.L. Mencken but without his usual bite. I’ll guess Upton Sinclair.
Jacobsen: Close, but no—Mahatma Gandhi said that.
Rosner: Ah, Gandhi. I should’ve guessed.
Jacobsen: Next up: “So the Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani. This is not the company I wish to keep.”
Rosner: That doesn’t sound like Trump. I only know a little about the Reform Party. Trump has disputed knowledge of David Duke before, so I’ll say not Trump.
Jacobsen: The Reform Party was founded by Ross Perot in 1995. The quote is, in fact, from Trump, as quoted in The New York Times on February 14, 2000.
Rosner: So you’re hitting me with old Trump quotes! He wasn’t even thatTrump back then.
Jacobsen: I know.
Rosner: He used to talk more coherently, and that’s my excuse! When you throw old quotes at me, they don’t sound like the current Trump, who speaks in word salads. But go ahead.
Jacobsen: All right, here’s the next one: “I don’t care about you. I want your vote.”
Rosner: That sounds like Trump. I’ll go with Trump.
Jacobsen: Correct! Do you want to double your points by guessing the year?
Rosner: It has to be since 2016, right? He announced it in 2015. No, I can’t guess.
Jacobsen: The date was June 10, 2024. Sandals Magazine.
Rosner: Wow. This is a pretty good game—it’s not easy. It still bugs me that no one has done a science project comparing the way Trump used to speak versus how he talks now to see if it’s indicative of mild dementia. It’s something that could be done, but our journalists are so lazy that they haven’t done it.
Jacobsen: Here’s another one: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed it ourselves.”
Rosner: Not Trump.
Jacobsen: Correct! Any idea who said it?
Rosner: It’s not recent, and I’d almost put it in the 19th century. Lincoln?
Jacobsen: You are correct—it is Lincoln and the era.
Rosner: That’s interesting. It sounds like a purely philosophical statement, but it reflects political reality, too. Lincoln was speaking during, or right before, the Civil War when we were tearing ourselves apart. For the next 150 years, we’ve been fortunate enough to be safe from external threats, thanks to geography. If I were producing this show, I’d have these quotes on cards, pre-prepared.
I call copyright on that! There’s another version of this game that could be fun, too—where you read a short story about sexual harassment or assault, and you have to guess whether it’s Weinstein, Cosby, or Trump.
Jacobsen: That’s dark, but it could work. How about this one: “Early in the administration, the education department will be closing. We spend more money on education than any other country, yet we are at the bottom of every list.”
Rosner: Early in the administration? I’m going with Trump, but it could be any number of people.
Jacobsen: You’re right—it’s Trump. He said it on Truth Social in September 2023. One more, and then we’ll move on to something else. “I’m not a politician. I’m not in politics. I’m like a citizen.”
Rosner: Trump, but old— 20 years ago or more.
Jacobsen: Incorrect. That quote is attributed to Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese businessman born May 3, 1946.
Rosner: Ah, I’m still above the halfway mark in this game. That’s better than I thought I’d do.
License & Copyright
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. ©Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use or duplication of material without express permission from Scott Douglas Jacobsen strictly prohibited, excerpts and links must use full credit to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with direction to the original content.
In-Sight Publishing 