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How did we end up with a POTUS who speaks not a lick of a foreign language?

The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.

Good question

How did you end up with Obama who can only speak English?
 
Seems that many living in this country can't speak proper English. English is a commonly spoken language around the world. Exceptions are being made in the U.S. where we seem to have adopted the 1 for English 2 for Spanish nonsense to accommodate the ones unable or unwilling to learn English.
Singling out the President for not speaking a foreign language is because? Don't tell me, yet another juicy morsel of nevermind?

As I former ESL teacher of Mexicans on both sides of the border, all eager to learn English, I have to comment. 1for English 2 for Spanish is something we should be proud of. I don’t know for sure, but I assume that 1 for English 2 for French must be common in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. We have neighbors to the south, hundreds of millions of them, who speak Spanish. Given our history of invading and changing their governments, learning Spanish or making it easier for that group of them who, when they visit, clean our houses, take care of our children is the least we can do. Of course, we have to be careful. Mexicans continue to invade the southwest; next thing they will be turning our place names to Spanish.
 
Bad thread is a bad thread.

Please close it down and lets act like this thread never existed.
 
As I former ESL teacher of Mexicans on both sides of the border, all eager to learn English, I have to comment. 1for English 2 for Spanish is something we should be proud of. I don’t know for sure, but I assume that 1 for English 2 for French must be common in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. We have neighbors to the south, hundreds of millions of them, who speak Spanish. Given our history of invading and changing their governments, learning Spanish or making it easier for that group of them who, when they visit, clean our houses, take care of our children is the least we can do. Of course, we have to be careful. Mexicans continue to invade the southwest; next thing they will be turning our place names to Spanish.

Not gonna touch that one.
 
Oh, I understand the concept...but **** happens. Are you sure the translator didn't make a mistake and drink the water? Maybe that's why he wasn't around.

Just an observation....Trump met with 2 Russians and one Russian translator in the Oval Office the day after firing Comey. I think the Russian translator disclosed that he discussed the firing with the Russians. Did he call Comey a nut job? Did he say that he was relieved of that situation being gone?

I'm not so sure that Trump needs a translator as much as a good filter.

Also,at the first "state dinner" at Mar Lago for China, Ivanka's daughter sang a song in Mandarin for the guests. She was taught the song by her caretaker. Obviously some recognize the good will that can be displayed by TRYING to communicate.

Trump's communication skills are extremely elementary, and this can be a problem.
 
Another language?! You better lower those expectations. The man doesn’t even know what a community college is. It is inconceivable to me that he would want to learn for learning’s sake. Trump’s world is very, very small.
 
The OP said the even in high school mastering a foreign language is mandatory.

Does anybody here remember mastering a foreign language in high school?
I don't know whether you're equivocating on the distinction between mastering a language in school -- getting A's in the class -- or mastering a language in the abstract sense, such as having as strong a command of it as, say Bill Buckley, Bill Safire, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou.

As a matter of fact, yes. Hell, yes. All four of my kids did. I did. Momma did. Dad did. My siblings did. Most of their and my classmates did. It's probably worth noting that at schools like NYMA where/when Trump went, almost everybody earns As of some sort, graded on the seven-point scale (all As fall between 93 and 100). (Don't ask me why, but for some reason, my "contrarian" son's school used a "wonky" 11-point scale that had pluses for all grades but A, which had either A or A-. My daughter's school was even more bizarre, but somehow colleges figure out what the number grades actually mean in "the real world." )

By one's fourth semester studying the language, the entire class was conducted in the language -- French, Spanish, Latin, etc. Language classes were like English class, except it was French or Spanish or whatever. Students are assigned literature to read, they read it, they discuss it in class, they write papers about it. The same kinds of conversations happen in, say, French class as any other class.
  • French: Maybe the current week's literature is Les Misérables. In discussing it, someone might also connect something from the story to something they saw or did in Paris, for instance, recounting being at a patisserie on St. Denis, or describing a section of another city they visited that reminded them of a setting Hugo described. That might lead into a sidebar discussion about the political, social, economic, etc. life at the time and how it's similar to or different from the present day. That whole conversation happens in French.

    Every word we uttered in English was a half point reduction in our grade on the next writing assignment and a one point reduction in the classroom participation grade. Even during a fire drill, the teacher's instruction to leave our belongings behind and exit into the hallway were in French.
A thing to understand about learning a language in a scholastic setting is that the only ways one is taught to speak and write are the grammatically and illocutionarianally correct ways to do so; consequently, upon traveling to a place where the language is spoken, one has to learn the local colloquialisms, idioms, and so on, but lacking those elements is a matter of a degree of fluency/mastery, not a matter of how close to being fluent one is. It's no different with English or anything else that's measured not discretely, but on a continuum. For instance:
  • Languages: One need not have a high degree of fluency to be rightly said to have mastered, be fluent in a language.
    • Beginner --> Intermediate speaker --> Fluent speaker --> Speaker with a high degree of fluency --> Beautiful/eloquent speaker of the language
  • Sports: One need not be a hall of famer to rightly claim having mastered the sport.
    • Intramural --> Junior varsity --> Varsity --> Collegiate athlete --> Olympian --> Bronze medal winner --> Silver medal winner --> Gold medal winners, or maybe
    • Intramural --> Junior varsity --> Varsity --> Collegiate athlete --> Pro --> Hall of Famer
So, yes, plenty of folks/kids master a foreign language in school. I'm sure plenty don't too. But again, Trump went to an elite boarding school where the bar is just higher. It was then just as it is now, and at the least, graduating from NYMA, he should have retained enough to say that he has at least partial mastery of a, any one, foreign language.
 
No. When I went to high school, eons ago, French and Spanish were electives. Not mandatory. Taught by teachers who probably didn't even know the language themselves, just what they read in a book. Far as I know today, even with the grand kids, taking a foreign language in High School isn't mandatory.

But did you go to an elite boarding school like Trump did? I can assure you that at his school, at the time he went, minimally, Latin was mandatory.

Latin was once required at many public and parochial schools, but fell into disfavor during the 1960s when students rebelled against traditional classroom teachings and even the Roman Catholic Church moved away from Latin as the official language of Mass. Interest in Latin was revived somewhat in the 1970s and began picking up in the 1980s with the back-to-basics movement in many schools, according to Latin scholars, but really took off in the last few years as a language long seen as a stodgy ivory tower secret infiltrated popular culture.
Source

At the turn of the twentieth century, more than 50 percent of the public secondary-school students in the United States were studying Latin. Until 1928 Latin enrollments in U.S. secondary schools were greater than enrollments in all other foreign languages combined, and in the mid-1930s the number of Latin students rose to 899,000. In 1962 there were 702,000 students enrolled in Latin classes in U.S. secondary schools. Read more: Teaching of Latin in Schools - Enrollments, Teaching Methods and Textbooks, Issues Trends and Controversies
Source


And that's at "regular" schools, not at "tweedy" Eastern boarding schools for the elite.



For a bit of perspective on why many of the Founders were multilingual:


"The old system of examination aimed to find out whether the candidate had studied those books in language or science which the college recommended. The new system aims to find out whether he can reason and use the knowledge he has gained from those books."

In the last ten years great changes have taken place in the course of study required of boys in preparation for Harvard College. The present list of requirements was published in the College Catalogue for 1886-87, after much discussion in the college and outside of it. The main point of dispute was the compulsory study of Greek. The opponents of Greek attacked it as being of no practical value to any person who was not to become either a student of language or a teacher, and argued, from this point of view, that it was absurd to require all boys to study it. Many other persons, trained under the old system, could not conceive of a liberally educated man to whom Greek was but a name, and therefore defended the requirement. The college authorities have settled the question for a time by admitting pupils with no knowledge of Greek, but only under very stringent conditions.

The studies required for admission are divided into two classes, elementary and advanced. The first class is prescribed for all students except under two conditions, which will be mentioned later, while the second class is elective. Without going into troublesome details, it may be said that the examinations in the elementary studies test the following acquirements: an elementary working knowledge of four languages, two ancient, Latin and Greek, and two modern, French and German; some acquaintance with English classical literature, and the ability to write clearly and intelligently about the books which have been read; a knowledge of elementary algebra and plane geometry; an acquaintance with the laws and phenomena of physics obtained from experiments performed by the pupil in a laboratory, or a knowledge of descriptive physics and elementary astronomy; and last, a knowledge of the history and geography either of ancient Greece and Rome or modern England and America.
Source -- "The Present Requirements For Admission to Harvard College," May 1892​
 
Jeb is more a fluent Spanish speaker than George, whose Spanish is more basic textbook phrases.
....Yet Trump hasn't even that much foreign language ability.

Q: What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
A: Bilingual.​
Q: What do you call someone who only speaks one language?
A: American.
 
But did you go to an elite boarding school like Trump did? I can assure you that at his school, at the time he went, minimally, Latin was mandatory.

Latin was once required at many public and parochial schools, but fell into disfavor during the 1960s when students rebelled against traditional classroom teachings and even the Roman Catholic Church moved away from Latin as the official language of Mass. Interest in Latin was revived somewhat in the 1970s and began picking up in the 1980s with the back-to-basics movement in many schools, according to Latin scholars, but really took off in the last few years as a language long seen as a stodgy ivory tower secret infiltrated popular culture.
Source

At the turn of the twentieth century, more than 50 percent of the public secondary-school students in the United States were studying Latin. Until 1928 Latin enrollments in U.S. secondary schools were greater than enrollments in all other foreign languages combined, and in the mid-1930s the number of Latin students rose to 899,000. In 1962 there were 702,000 students enrolled in Latin classes in U.S. secondary schools. Read more: Teaching of Latin in Schools - Enrollments, Teaching Methods and Textbooks, Issues Trends and Controversies
Source


And that's at "regular" schools, not at "tweedy" Eastern boarding schools for the elite.



For a bit of perspective on why many of the Founders were multilingual:


"The old system of examination aimed to find out whether the candidate had studied those books in language or science which the college recommended. The new system aims to find out whether he can reason and use the knowledge he has gained from those books."

In the last ten years great changes have taken place in the course of study required of boys in preparation for Harvard College. The present list of requirements was published in the College Catalogue for 1886-87, after much discussion in the college and outside of it. The main point of dispute was the compulsory study of Greek. The opponents of Greek attacked it as being of no practical value to any person who was not to become either a student of language or a teacher, and argued, from this point of view, that it was absurd to require all boys to study it. Many other persons, trained under the old system, could not conceive of a liberally educated man to whom Greek was but a name, and therefore defended the requirement. The college authorities have settled the question for a time by admitting pupils with no knowledge of Greek, but only under very stringent conditions.

The studies required for admission are divided into two classes, elementary and advanced. The first class is prescribed for all students except under two conditions, which will be mentioned later, while the second class is elective. Without going into troublesome details, it may be said that the examinations in the elementary studies test the following acquirements: an elementary working knowledge of four languages, two ancient, Latin and Greek, and two modern, French and German; some acquaintance with English classical literature, and the ability to write clearly and intelligently about the books which have been read; a knowledge of elementary algebra and plane geometry; an acquaintance with the laws and phenomena of physics obtained from experiments performed by the pupil in a laboratory, or a knowledge of descriptive physics and elementary astronomy; and last, a knowledge of the history and geography either of ancient Greece and Rome or modern England and America.
Source -- "The Present Requirements For Admission to Harvard College," May 1892​

I think that is the disconnect. I highly doubt that only a handful of Americans even think about a president speaking a foreign language let alone care. Latin is a dead language and unless one is really into research of ancient Rome and its empire, Latin is a waste. I don't think we have had a president in recent years that could speak or converse a language other than English other than G.W. Bush. Spanish.

You have to go back to FDR to find one other than Bush. FDR was fluent in both German and French. But during FDR's time French was the diplomatic language of the world. Lots has change since FDR. Trump is no different than any other president since FDR.
 
He doesn't speak only English.

Lol. Because everyone understands English. Except when you go to a store in the Miami area. English will not get you very far there.
 

There's your answer.

The average American is not multilingual, and thus it likely stands to reason that for many of them the level of importance that a President be able to speak a second language is extremely low on the priority list. Additionally, with such a small percentage of Americans being multilingual, it stands to reason that there's a higher chance that presidential candidates may fall into that segment of the population.
 
....Yet Trump hasn't even that much foreign language ability.

Q: What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
A: Bilingual.​
Q: What do you call someone who only speaks one language?
A: American.

It is very surprising considering Trump has two foreign born wives and most of his kids are bilingual. You'd think he would have picked up at least some conversational phrases like some of the other presidents. It just highlights his stubbornness to speak English, his ignorance, or just both.
 
I think that is the disconnect. I highly doubt that only a handful of Americans even think about a president speaking a foreign language let alone care. Latin is a dead language and unless one is really into research of ancient Rome and its empire, Latin is a waste. I don't think we have had a president in recent years that could speak or converse a language other than English other than G.W. Bush. Spanish.

You have to go back to FDR to find one other than Bush. FDR was fluent in both German and French. But during FDR's time French was the diplomatic language of the world. Lots has change since FDR. Trump is no different than any other president since FDR.
FWIW, FDR went to Groton....He was also "to the manor born," as was Trump. He availed himself of the fine education and acculturation -- grace, integrity, character, rectitude, probity, decorum, and restraint -- he received there.

I think you're not getting what I'm saying.
  • Trump was born into wealth and privilege.
  • Trump was given all the trappings and advantages of wealth and privilege.
  • One of those trappings/advantages included being educated at a posh boarding school.
  • Trump wasted at least one of the advantages he was given: mastering a foreign language.
Is Trump's lack of a second language a sui generisly baleful? No. Heavens, no. Indeed, were he to have embraced the acculturation and education he was given, with or without a foreign language, and were he to eschew spewing the self-aggrandizement that pervades his diction and demeanor, it wouldn't be something I'd mention. That he's monolingual isn't the problem. That he is boorish, braggadocious, benighted, banal, boarding schooled and, on top of all that, is not at least bilingual is why the last is noteworthy.
 
There's your answer.

The average American is not multilingual, and thus it likely stands to reason that for many of them the level of importance that a President be able to speak a second language is extremely low on the priority list. Additionally, with such a small percentage of Americans being multilingual, it stands to reason that there's a higher chance that presidential candidates may fall into that segment of the population.

And that's perfectly fine if one is an "average American." If ever he was, Donald Trump is now not.
FWIW, FDR went to Groton....He was also "to the manor born," as was Trump. He availed himself of the fine education and acculturation -- grace, integrity, character, rectitude, probity, decorum, and restraint -- he received there.


I think you're not getting what I'm saying.

  • Trump was born into wealth and privilege.
  • Trump was given all the trappings and advantages of wealth and privilege.
  • One of those trappings/advantages included being educated at a posh boarding school.
  • Trump wasted at least one of the advantages he was given: mastering a foreign language.

Is Trump's lack of a second language a sui generisly baleful? No. Heavens, no. Indeed, were he to have embraced the acculturation and education he was given, with or without a foreign language, and were he to eschew spewing the self-aggrandizement that pervades his diction and demeanor, it wouldn't be something I'd mention. That he's monolingual isn't the problem. That he is boorish, braggadocious, benighted, banal, boarding schooled and, on top of all that, is not at least bilingual is why the last is noteworthy.
 
It is very surprising considering Trump has two foreign born wives and most of his kids are bilingual. You'd think he would have picked up at least some conversational phrases like some of the other presidents. It just highlights his stubbornness to speak English, his ignorance, or just both.
Reality is not a function of the event as event, but of the relationship of that event to past, and future, events.
-- Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men


Thank you! I was wondering where were other members who've engaged internally in maieutic analysis of the matter. What took you so long to show up? LOL (In fairness, however, I've spent more time responding to selected posts in this thread than to reading the entirety of them. It could be too that you posted earlier, and I responded to you but just don't recall your ID.)

Context is verity's equally demure sister. She's not going "knock you on your head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but people must want her, and seek her out."


"Is everyone who lives in Ignorance like you?" asked Milo.
"Much worse," he said longingly. "But I don't live here. I'm from a place very far away called Context.”
-- Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth​
 
It is very surprising considering Trump has two foreign born wives and most of his kids are bilingual. You'd think he would have picked up at least some conversational phrases like some of the other presidents. It just highlights his stubbornness to speak English, his ignorance, or just both.

Uttering the occasional foreign phrase like a trained monkey is pretty phony. He is an American Prez representing the average American. It is the least I am worried about, him not speaking several languages. Some people do, some people don't. I am pretty sure that is not why his supporters elected him.
As for his wives, not sure why he prefers foreign women. I am somewhat curious about that.
 
Uttering the occasional foreign phrase like a trained monkey is pretty phony. He is an American Prez representing the average American. It is the least I am worried about, him not speaking several languages. Some people do, some people don't. I am pretty sure that is not why his supporters elected him.
As for his wives, not sure why he prefers foreign women. I am somewhat curious about that.

I don't find it to be a trained monkey or even phony. When people around me who don't speak one of the languages I do learn a couple phrases, I think it's great. They are just trying to communicate in other ways with the people around them.

It doesn't bother me at all about Trump not speaking another language but like I said it's surprising he hasn't picked up something.
 
I don't find it to be a trained monkey or even phony. When people around me who don't speak one of the languages I do learn a couple phrases, I think it's great. They are just trying to communicate in other ways with the people around them.

It doesn't bother me at all about Trump not speaking another language but like I said it's surprising he hasn't picked up something.

Not other people, but a Prez learning a phrase or 2 to show off when entertaining foreign dignitaries. Sorry I wasn't more clear.
 
FWIW, FDR went to Groton....He was also "to the manor born," as was Trump. He availed himself of the fine education and acculturation -- grace, integrity, character, rectitude, probity, decorum, and restraint -- he received there.

I think you're not getting what I'm saying.
  • Trump was born into wealth and privilege.
  • Trump was given all the trappings and advantages of wealth and privilege.
  • One of those trappings/advantages included being educated at a posh boarding school.
  • Trump wasted at least one of the advantages he was given: mastering a foreign language.
Is Trump's lack of a second language a sui generisly baleful? No. Heavens, no. Indeed, were he to have embraced the acculturation and education he was given, with or without a foreign language, and were he to eschew spewing the self-aggrandizement that pervades his diction and demeanor, it wouldn't be something I'd mention. That he's monolingual isn't the problem. That he is boorish, braggadocious, benighted, banal, boarding schooled and, on top of all that, is not at least bilingual is why the last is noteworthy.

To put it mildly I think Trump is an obnoxious, egotistical, uncouth, sometimes vile oaf of a president. Most Americans base their dislike of Trump on his character, his persona which you mentioned. In fact 65% of all those who dislike Trump, dislike him because of his, shall I say very unpresidential behavior, actions and how he is always feuding with someone, calling folks names like a five year old whose parents never taught him any manners.

Trump Disapproval Rooted in Character Concerns

Even coming from a back ground of privileged and gone to the best schools for most Americans, speaking a second language is irrelevant. We just plain don't care. Outside of the avid Trumpers, his supporters, most Americans consider his offensive behavior and tweets, below the dignity of the office of the presidency. His persona is suited to his being a reality TV show host instead of the presidency. I fall into that category.

As for Trump's policies, I've agreed with some and opposed some. Pretty much like I have with every other president in my lifetime. Because of his persona, even if I agreed with him 100% on his policies, I could never vote for the man. Trump grates and rubs the average American who isn't a Trumper the wrong way, like coarse sand paper. Trump not speaking a second language doesn't even enter the equation.

The bottom line is that Trump is president because of the decisions, actions and choices made by our two major parties back in 2016. He need not have been, he could have been easily avoided. But that wasn't what our two major parties decided to do, avoid a Trump presidency with their actions, choices and decisions they made. So we live with that, second language or not.
 
To put it mildly I think Trump is an obnoxious, egotistical, uncouth, sometimes vile oaf of a president. Most Americans base their dislike of Trump on his character, his persona which you mentioned. In fact 65% of all those who dislike Trump, dislike him because of his, shall I say very unpresidential behavior, actions and how he is always feuding with someone, calling folks names like a five year old whose parents never taught him any manners.

Trump Disapproval Rooted in Character Concerns

Even coming from a back ground of privileged and gone to the best schools for most Americans, speaking a second language is irrelevant. We just plain don't care. Outside of the avid Trumpers, his supporters, most Americans consider his offensive behavior and tweets, below the dignity of the office of the presidency. His persona is suited to his being a reality TV show host instead of the presidency. I fall into that category.

As for Trump's policies, I've agreed with some and opposed some. Pretty much like I have with every other president in my lifetime. Because of his persona, even if I agreed with him 100% on his policies, I could never vote for the man. Trump grates and rubs the average American who isn't a Trumper the wrong way, like coarse sand paper. Trump not speaking a second language doesn't even enter the equation.

The bottom line is that Trump is president because of the decisions, actions and choices made by our two major parties back in 2016. He need not have been, he could have been easily avoided. But that wasn't what our two major parties decided to do, avoid a Trump presidency with their actions, choices and decisions they made. So we live with that, second language or not.

^^^get that framed, will ya?^^^
 
Uttering the occasional foreign phrase like a trained monkey is pretty phony. He is an American Prez representing the average American. It is the least I am worried about, him not speaking several languages. Some people do, some people don't. I am pretty sure that is not why his supporters elected him.
As for his wives, not sure why he prefers foreign women. I am somewhat curious about that.
You're likely right. I dare say no POTUS has ever been elected for that, probably not even obliquely.

That said, individualism cuts both ways. It's appropriate to consider one's individual situation, and background when criticizing them and when lauding them. Trump's individual situation and background is not that of "average Americans." It never was. Accordingly, it's fitting to evaluate him in accordance with the bar set by his situation and background. That Trump is monolingual is a minor thing, but it's part of a confluence of things, that, quite frankly, were there not so many other things "conflu-ing," his monolingualism wouldn't be mentioned at all.

Quite simply, one can get a "pass" on all sorts of shortcomings when the rest of one's "ducks are in a row."
  • One's new to the DP forums, so one gets a "pass" on a minor infraction.
  • One's a well mannered individual, so one gets a "pass" on an infraction that'd get a less well comported person severe punishment.
  • One's driving record is clean and one's child is obviously healthwise in distress in the passenger seat, so a cop gives one a verbal warning to be careful in response to one's saying one's rushing to hospital.
As goes his intellect, his mastery of important matters of state/the presidency, his attention to detail and decorum, his integrity, and more, Trump's got a lot of "ducks" out of line, so to speak, and that makes little stuff like his monolingualism be "fair game" and fitting sources of criticism.

JFK and Trump were very similar. Both were "to the manor born," something of "bad boys" -- certainly in terms of things like keeping his penis in his pants. JFK was monolingual and went to an Eastern elite boarding school and Ivy League college, as did Trump, so we know Jack studied Latin, but failed the Latin portion of the entrance exam. Jack's dad, like Trump's, was liberal with his checkbook, so Jack got into Choate and Harvard. The difference: Jack actually was bright, and though he was a quintessential "gentleman's C" student at both schools, and, more importantly, intellectually curious; thus when he appeared on the public scene, that he was no mental midget was apparent and belied his documented performance records from school. The same simply cannot be said of Trump -- as shown by his long record of failures, puerile extemporizings, indecorous deeds, grossly ignorant preconceptions, to say the least -- and his monolingualism is yet another illustration of as much.

With Kennedy, the form didn't reflect the substance. With Trump the form mirrors the abject lack of substance.

I don't find it to be a trained monkey or even phony. When people around me who don't speak one of the languages I do learn a couple phrases, I think it's great. They are just trying to communicate in other ways with the people around them.

It doesn't bother me at all about Trump not speaking another language but like I said it's surprising he hasn't picked up something.
...Or remembered enough that he could be described as having a "partial mastery" of the one foreign language he was without question required to learn.
 
To put it mildly I think Trump is an obnoxious, egotistical, uncouth, sometimes vile oaf of a president. Most Americans base their dislike of Trump on his character, his persona which you mentioned. In fact 65% of all those who dislike Trump, dislike him because of his, shall I say very unpresidential behavior, actions and how he is always feuding with someone, calling folks names like a five year old whose parents never taught him any manners.

Trump Disapproval Rooted in Character Concerns

Even coming from a back ground of privileged and gone to the best schools for most Americans, speaking a second language is irrelevant. We just plain don't care. Outside of the avid Trumpers, his supporters, most Americans consider his offensive behavior and tweets, below the dignity of the office of the presidency. His persona is suited to his being a reality TV show host instead of the presidency. I fall into that category.

As for Trump's policies, I've agreed with some and opposed some. Pretty much like I have with every other president in my lifetime. Because of his persona, even if I agreed with him 100% on his policies, I could never vote for the man. Trump grates and rubs the average American who isn't a Trumper the wrong way, like coarse sand paper. Trump not speaking a second language doesn't even enter the equation.

The bottom line is that Trump is president because of the decisions, actions and choices made by our two major parties back in 2016. He need not have been, he could have been easily avoided. But that wasn't what our two major parties decided to do, avoid a Trump presidency with their actions, choices and decisions they made. So we live with that, second language or not.

To put it mildly I think Trump is an obnoxious, egotistical, uncouth, sometimes vile oaf of a president. Most Americans base their dislike of Trump on his character, his persona which you mentioned. In fact 65% of all those who dislike Trump, dislike him because of his, shall I say very unpresidential behavior, actions and how he is always feuding with someone, calling folks names like a five year old whose parents never taught him any manners.

Trump Disapproval Rooted in Character Concerns

Even coming from a back ground of privileged and gone to the best schools for most Americans, speaking a second language is irrelevant. We just plain don't care. Outside of the avid Trumpers, his supporters, most Americans consider his offensive behavior and tweets, below the dignity of the office of the presidency.
Yep, for the most part. His novelty and niggardly attitude toward intellectualism and nuance too is highly disconcerting.

...And what do people do about a reprobate? They promote him/her into a position of honor; they ostracize the cur, and rightly so. That is clearly not what has happened with Trump.

As much as I despise Trump, his name'd neither cross my lips nor his being enter my thoughts but for his being POTUS. That man was on television for however long, and not once did he earn my notice. I'd just as soon he remained so, but instead I am daily besieged by his boorishness and banality.

The bottom line is that Trump is president because of the decisions, actions and choices made by our two major parties back in 2016. He need not have been, he could have been easily avoided. But that wasn't what our two major parties decided to do, avoid a Trump presidency with their actions, choices and decisions they made. So we live with that, second language or not.
I am indeed living with it. That doesn't mean I like it. The fact that I don't like it, the fact that I detest Trump -- not Conservatives, not Republicans, Trump -- is, without question part of why I have chided him for his monolingualism.
 
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