• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Do you think it is important for a president to be well read?

Do you think it is important for a president to be well read?

  • Total voters
    54
Moot said:
US standing in the world has been greatly diminished since Trump got into office. He isn't making America Great Again...he's making our enemies great again.
Click to expand...

Our standing in the world has been crashing for a lot of years, where have you been?
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
In general do you think it is important for a president to be well read? Basically, should they be the type of person that typically reads a lot?
Click to expand...

Yes, and President Trump seems to have read a lot.

In 2011:

. . .Asked to name any of his favorite tomes on China, Trump reportedly listed the following 20 books right off the top of his head.

1. "The Party" by Richard McGregor
2. "On China" by Henry Kissinger
3. "Mao: The Untold Story" by Jung Chang
4. "Tide Players" by Jianying Zha
5. "One Billion Customers" by James McGregor
6. "The Coming China Wars" by Peter W. Navarro
7. "The Beijing Consensus" by Stefan Halper
8. "China CEO" by Juan Antonio Fernandez and Laurie Underwood
9. "Poorly Made in China" by Paul Midler
10. "CHINA: Portrait of a People" by Tom Carter
11. "The Man Who Loved China" by Simon Winchester
12. "China Shakes the World" by James Kynge
13. "Mr. China" by Tim Clissold
14. "Country Driving" by Peter Hessler
15. "The Dragon's Gift" by Deborah Brautigam
16. "Factory Girls" by Leslie T. Chang
17. "The Heavenly Man" by Brother Yun
18. "1421" by Gavin Menzies
19. "Seven Years in Tibet" by Heinrich Harrer
20. "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua . . .

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/donald-trump-i-understand-the-chinese-mind.html​
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
In general do you think it is important for a president to be well read? Basically, should they be the type of person that typically reads a lot?
Click to expand...

Being well read means being educated and having an ability to make decisions based on a a wide variety of opinions and historical events that worked and did not work; what their sources were and how decisions were made. A person in an executive position who is not well rad and even self educated, tend to be just bosses as has our current president. He has no ability to work with people and draw conclusions or make decisions based on on mutual knowledge, thus he appears to be just a mess.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Our standing in the world has been crashing for a lot of years, where have you been?
Click to expand...


Trump is making a laughing stock of the US. Since Trump has been in office....China called him a paper tiger, Russia violated the arms agreement, N. Korea tested a missile during the Trumps dinner with the Japanese leader and Mexico is going to boycott US products....and it's only been a month since he took office.
 
Moot said:
US standing in the world has been greatly diminished since Trump got into office. He isn't making America Great Again...he's making our enemies great again.
Click to expand...

Yeah Ok Obama was a master at making our enemies great again.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Yes, and President Trump seems to have read a lot.

In 2011:

. . .Asked to name any of his favorite tomes on China, Trump reportedly listed the following 20 books right off the top of his head.

1. "The Party" by Richard McGregor
2. "On China" by Henry Kissinger
3. "Mao: The Untold Story" by Jung Chang
4. "Tide Players" by Jianying Zha
5. "One Billion Customers" by James McGregor
6. "The Coming China Wars" by Peter W. Navarro
7. "The Beijing Consensus" by Stefan Halper
8. "China CEO" by Juan Antonio Fernandez and Laurie Underwood
9. "Poorly Made in China" by Paul Midler
10. "CHINA: Portrait of a People" by Tom Carter
11. "The Man Who Loved China" by Simon Winchester
12. "China Shakes the World" by James Kynge
13. "Mr. China" by Tim Clissold
14. "Country Driving" by Peter Hessler
15. "The Dragon's Gift" by Deborah Brautigam
16. "Factory Girls" by Leslie T. Chang
17. "The Heavenly Man" by Brother Yun
18. "1421" by Gavin Menzies
19. "Seven Years in Tibet" by Heinrich Harrer
20. "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua . . .

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/donald-trump-i-understand-the-chinese-mind.html​
Click to expand...

That was according to the Chinese Communist Party news agency Xinhua, thus not very credible. He told Megyn Kelly he doesn't read books. You can watch him on video telling her that. BTW, if you search Xinhua, you will find no record of him giving that list of books. Moreover, the first book Xinhua is supposed to have claimed he read, was published after his interview with Xinhua.

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/133566/donald-trump-doesnt-read-books

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...alism-of-donald-trump/?utm_term=.76c19bfad7e5

You strike me as someone that is probably an avid reader. Its usually fairly easily to tell if someone is. Honestly, does President Trump strike you as an avid reader?
 
Last edited:
SouthernDemocrat said:
For example, Bush read as many as 90 books a year according to Rove, but I doubt he read all day long. He probably did like most readers and spent some time reading in bed at night or in the evenings.
Click to expand...

Hoo-boy.....I'd forgotten all about that little Rovian gem.
I could be a wise guy and say that the 90 books were mostly of the "My Pet Goat" variety, but I won't say that.
I kinda miss GW nowadays.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
That was according to the Chinese Communist Party news agency Xinhua, thus not very credible. He told Megyn Kelly he doesn't read books. You can watch him on video telling her that. BTW, if you search Xinhua, you will find no record of him giving that list of books. Moreover, the first book Xinhua is supposed to have claimed he read, was published after his interview with Xinhua.

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/133566/donald-trump-doesnt-read-books

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...alism-of-donald-trump/?utm_term=.76c19bfad7e5

You strike me as someone that is probably an avid reader. Its usually fairly easily to tell if someone is. Honestly, does President Trump strike you as an avid reader?
Click to expand...

I do read a lot because I enjoy reading, but like President Trump I get impatient with self serving books and have no patience at all with those that are pure propaganda. But I have hundreds of titles, mostly non fiction, in my Kindle and I have read all or most of all of them. Like President Trump I much prefer to get information in tightly condensed form and then ask questions about anything I think I need to know. As for the credibility of the Chinese titles he rattled off was affirmed by the Washington Post so, given their toxic relationship with the President, I think it is probably accurate information.

And I can relate that somebody on a very tightly packed schedule on the campaign trail and then in the process of setting up a government would not have a lot of time for reading books.
 
AlbqOwl said:
I do read a lot because I enjoy reading, but like President Trump I get impatient with self serving books and have no patience at all with those that are pure propaganda. But I have hundreds of titles, mostly non fiction, in my Kindle and I have read all or most of all of them. Like President Trump I much prefer to get information in tightly condensed form and then ask questions about anything I think I need to know. As for the credibility of the Chinese titles he rattled off was affirmed by the Washington Post so, given their toxic relationship with the President, I think it is probably accurate information.

And I can relate that somebody on a very tightly packed schedule on the campaign trail and then in the process of setting up a government would not have a lot of time for reading books.
Click to expand...

Teddy Roosevelt literally read thousands of books while in office. Bush got into a reading competition with Karl Rove and read 90 books in one year. You would be surprised how much most presidents read.

As to the list, it supposedly came from an interview Trump gave with Xinhua. However, its no where on Xinhua's site. Moreover, the notion that the CCP's state news source, Xinhua, would list a book like Mao: The unknown story, as a book that a business leader was reading (this was 2011), just beggars belief. Having read that book myself, I can tell you that no book is more critical of the Mao and the CCP than that book is. It goes into great detail Mao's crimes against humanity.

What I do believe is that Trump told an interviewer in China that he "has read hundreds of books about China". Just like Trump has said "no one reads the Bible more than me". Because those are the kinds of claims that compulsive liars that seek constant adulation make.
 
radcen said:
Sometimes I wonder if Teddy Roosevelt ever slept.
Click to expand...

I wonder the same thing. He is by far my favorite president though. I think he embodied the American ideal more than any other president.

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”
― Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life, Essays and Addresses

That quote is basically my family motto in regards to our kids. Or just the short form of H.T.F.U.
 
Last edited:
SouthernDemocrat said:
Being a well read person is a probably a prerequisite for that though. For example, Bush read as many as 90 books a year according to Rove, but I doubt he read all day long. He probably did like most readers and spent some time reading in bed at night or in the evenings.
.
Click to expand...

But you liberals have been telling us for years what an idiot Bush was. So much for your theory.
 
Fletch said:
But you liberals have been telling us for years what an idiot Bush was. So much for your theory.
Click to expand...

I never thought Bush was an idiot. I don't think he is one of our more intellectual presidents by any means, but the vast majority of our presidents have been very bright people.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
I never thought Bush was an idiot. I don't think he is one of our more intellectual presidents by any means, but the vast majority of our presidents have been very bright people.
Click to expand...

Great. Next time one of your leftist allies call Bush an idiot, I look forward to you correcting them.
 
Fletch said:
Great. Next time one of your leftist allies call Bush an idiot, I look forward to you correcting them.
Click to expand...

If you search through the archives you will find that I called people out on here for accusing him of being evil or a war criminal.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Teddy Roosevelt literally read thousands of books while in office. Bush got into a reading competition with Karl Rove and read 90 books in one year. You would be surprised how much most presidents read.

As to the list, it supposedly came from an interview Trump gave with Xinhua. However, its no where on Xinhua's site. Moreover, the notion that the CCP's state news source, Xinhua, would list a book like Mao: The unknown story, as a book that a business leader was reading (this was 2011), just beggars belief. Having read that book myself, I can tell you that no book is more critical of the Mao and the CCP than that book is. It goes into great detail Mao's crimes against humanity.

What I do believe is that Trump told an interviewer in China that he "has read hundreds of books about China". Just like Trump has said "no one reads the Bible more than me". Because those are the kinds of claims that compulsive liars that seek constant adulation make.
Click to expand...

I would imagine that Trump could present some people here with an affidavit from the world's most trusted and credible people and there would be some who would find fault with what he says or how he says it or the expression on his face or the tone of his voice.

Criticize him for proposed policy or for what he actually does, when such is criticizable. But how he expresses himself on the books he reads? Come on. Those who go to such great lengths to demonize and criticize this man over the most trivial matters lose a lot of credibility with me.
 
AlbqOwl said:
I would imagine that Trump could present some people here with an affidavit from the world's most trusted and credible people and there would be some who would find fault with what he says or how he says it or the expression on his face or the tone of his voice.

Criticize him for proposed policy or for what he actually does, when such is criticizable. But how he expresses himself on the books he reads? Come on. Those who go to such great lengths to demonize and criticize this man over the most trivial matters lose a lot of credibility with me.
Click to expand...
...still not believe it. That is absolutely true.

The flip side, of course, is that there are also some people who are so gullible and easily-led that they will believe anything Trump says and defend it to their last keystroke, no matter how absurd it is.

It goes both ways.
 
radcen said:
...still not believe it. That is absolutely true.

The flip side, of course, is that there are also some people who are so gullible and easily-led that they will believe anything Trump says and defend it to their last keystroke, no matter how absurd it is.

It goes both ways.
Click to expand...

I don't see too many people defending him on the petty, small minded, insignificant, and hateful attacks on his character and persona. They're just pointing out that those attacks are mostly petty, small minded, insignificant, and hateful.

People who can't criticize actual policy that is being proposed or enacted or the argument being made but rather go for the schoolyard insults and assigned Alinsky talking points don't have a lot of credibility.
 
AlbqOwl said:
I would imagine that Trump could present some people here with an affidavit from the world's most trusted and credible people and there would be some who would find fault with what he says or how he says it or the expression on his face or the tone of his voice.

Criticize him for proposed policy or for what he actually does, when such is criticizable. But how he expresses himself on the books he reads? Come on. Those who go to such great lengths to demonize and criticize this man over the most trivial matters lose a lot of credibility with me.
Click to expand...

There is no evidence Trump gave that list of books. That is my point. The idea that Trump would provide such a list is rather laughable. However, what is even more absurd is that the Chinese Communist Party official news media would print a list of books that a business leader claimed to have read that included Mao: The Unknown Story. That alone reveals the list to be a total fabrication. Not to mention one of the books on the list was published after the list was supposedly published. Finally, Trump himself has said he doesn't read.
 
AlbqOwl said:
I don't see too many people defending him on the petty, small minded, insignificant, and hateful attacks on his character and persona. They're just pointing out that those attacks are mostly petty, small minded, insignificant, and hateful.

People who can't criticize actual policy that is being proposed or enacted or the argument being made but rather go for the schoolyard insults and assigned Alinsky talking points don't have a lot of credibility.
Click to expand...

You really can't make this stuff up. Trump does nothing but make small minded, hateful, and petty attacks on anyone that disagrees with them or just asks him a question a press conference that he doesn't like. His twitter account is little more than a steady stream of schoolyard insults. Yet he seems to have plenty of credibility with you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom