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Jeb Bush Slams Trump’s Proposal to Ban Muslims

by Isaiah McKenna Posted on January 15, 2016

Mother Jones

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Of all of Jeb Bush’s frustrations in his disappointing presidential run, his inability to get a line over on Donald Trump has to rank near the top. In debate after debate, the real estate mogul has shut down the former Florida governor and derided him for being weak and boring. But in Thursday night’s debate, Bush finally got the better of Trump in his most successful put-down.

The subject was Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from coming to the US. “This policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out ISIS,” Bush said. “The Kurds are our strongest allies. They’re Muslim. You’re not going to even allow them to come to our country? The other Arab countries have a role to play in this.”

Bush suggested that instead of a blanket ban, there should be more stringent screening of refugees. “We don’t have to have refugees come to our country, but all Muslims?” he said. “Seriously?”

The exchange might not be enough to pull Bush out of the campaign doldrums, but it drew thunderous applause that the crowd had previously reserved for the likes of Trump and Ted Cruz. For Bush, that’s worth something.

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Jeb Bush Slams Trump’s Proposal to Ban Muslims

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Fox Should Ask the GOP Candidates These Questions at Tonight’s Debate

by DarrylSwitzer Posted on January 14, 2016

Mother Jones

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On Thursday night, the Republican 2016 wannabes will once again gather for a debate, with the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary just weeks away. Though each of these candidates has been on the debate stage multiple times this campaign—and has occasionally granted interviews to reporters—there are still many questions that they have not had to address. So editors and reporters at Mother Jones have compiled a short list of queries that we’d put to the GOP candidates. Kudos to Fox Business Network if any of these get asked.

Donald Trump

* When you appeared on the talk show of conspiracy theory promoter Alex Jones, you told him that his “reputation is amazing” and added, “I will not let you down.” Jones has championed many conspiratorial notions, including that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School never happened and that the attacks on the World Trade Center were an inside job. So what’s “amazing” about him?

* Why did you cut a deal with Amar Mammadov—an Azerbajani businessman accused of cronyism and profiting off his family’s ties to the government—to open a new Trump hotel in Baku?

* How many new government employee will be needed to implement your plan to bar Muslims from entering the nation? Given that any would-be terrorist who happens to be Muslim would likely lie about his or her religion to reach the United States, you couldn’t rely on the statements provided by foreigners trying to get into the United States. So then wouldn’t you need an army of federal workers to investigate each person coming into the United States? And how much would this anti-Muslim program cost?

* Can you now explain what the nuclear triad is?

Ted Cruz

* Your father, Rafael Cruz, who is an evangelical pastor, has often resorted to fiery, if not extremist, rhetoric. He has called the United States a “Christian nation,” and he has said that President Barack Obama is an “outright Marxist” who “seeks to destroy all concept of God” and should be sent “back to Kenya.” Most of us would not want to be judged on the basis of what a relative says. But you have extensively used your father as a campaign surrogate and to recruit religious leaders as supporters of your campaign. Would you disavow these comments?

* You have described Trump’s efforts to raise questions about you eligibility to be president—due to your birth in Canada—as a “silly” sideshow. But some of your own supporters, such as Rep. Steve King of Iowa, have questioned whether Obama was born in the United States and whether he is eligible to be president—even though, like you, his mother was indisputably a US citizen. Have King and other conservative birthers engaged in a silly sideshow?

* As a candidate, you have advocated tort reform—that is, imposing a cap of $750,000 on punitive damages that can be awarded in cases of malpractice or corporate malfeasance. Yet when you were a lawyer in private practice, you twice worked on cases to secure $50 million-plus jury awards in tort cases. Why the double standard?

Marco Rubio

* You’ve supported background checks for gun purchases in the past. Now you’re attacking the president for a similar proposal. Why have you flip-flopped?

* In a recent campaign ad, you attacked Obama for spying on Israel. Do you believe the US government should never mount any intelligence-gathering operations regarding Israel and that the United States should not spy on Israel to detect possible Israeli intelligence actions aimed at the US government or American corporations?

Ben Carson

* More than half of every dollar your campaign has raised has gone into the bank accounts of the consultants you’ve hired to raise that money. Why should conservatives continue opening up their checkbooks for a cause that’s mainly enriching political professionals?

* In a 2013 book, you wrote that people who commit health care fraud should suffer “some very stiff penalties…such as loss of one’s medical license for life, no less than ten years in prison, and loss of all of one’s personal possessions.” Yet you are in business with a former dentist who pleaded guilty to health care fraud. How does a candidate who campaigns on honesty and integrity explain this?

* You are a Seventh-day Adventist, and in a talk you gave in 2014 you indicated that you accept the church’s belief that a time will come when Seventh-day Adventists will be imprisoned by the government and even put to death merely for observing the Sabbath on Saturday, not Sunday. Do you truly think the US government will one day round up, jail, and possibly execute Seventh-day Adventists?

* Please name your favorite surgeon general and explain your choice.

Jeb Bush

* Paul Wolfowitz, a deputy secretary of defense in your brother’s administration, was one of the architects of the Iraq War, and prior to the invasion he made a series of predictions about the war that were wildly inaccurate. Why did you sign him up as a foreign policy adviser for your campaign?

Chris Christie

* Your administration in New Jersey has vigorously fought open-records requests for a wide variety of government documents: your schedule, your travel records, and contracts you handed out following Superstorm Sandy. Do you have a problem with transparency?

John Kasich

* You’ve said, “When you die and get to the meeting with Saint Peter, he’s probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small. But he is going to ask you what you did for the poor. You better have a good answer.” But as governor you have decreased food aid for the poor in Ohio in a manner that disproportionately affects minority communities. What do you think Saint Peter will say to that?

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Fox Should Ask the GOP Candidates These Questions at Tonight’s Debate

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President Obama Defends Muslims

by KerrieBraddon Posted on January 13, 2016

Mother Jones

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During Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama spoke directly to recent political attacks on Muslims, imploring people to tone down the anti-Muslim rhetoric:

“When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid is called names, that doesn’t make us safer,” Obama said. “That’s not telling it like it is. It’s just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country.”

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President Obama Defends Muslims

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The Year’s Best Under-the-Radar Podcasts

by YettaBrumfield Posted on December 26, 2015

Mother Jones

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Ah, the holidays—more time to binge on your favorite TV shows and catch the midnight showing of the new Star Wars flick. Or maybe instead you’ll want to close your eyes and sink into the latest media craze: podcasts. Pull out your phone right now and you’d find hundreds of thousands of shows to choose from. Nearly a third of the podcasts currently listed on iTunes launched after June 2014, the month that marked the release of Serial, the hugely popular murder mystery series hosted by Sarah Koenig. While it quickly shot to fame and attracted more listeners than any podcast in history, Serial isn’t the only smart, timely audio show out there. Here are some of our favorite lesser-known podcast gems of 2015:

Whistlestop. Hosted by political wonk John Dickerson—the all-star moderator of the second Democratic debate—Whistlestop is an antidote to the head-splitting news coverage of the desperate race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Dickerson, a veteran political correspondent for Slate and the new host of CBS’ Face the Nation, takes his listeners deep into campaign history, from JFK’s struggle to convince voters to look past his religious identity to the worst answer to the question “Why do you want to be president?” in history. Whether it’s the historical precedent for Donald Trump or the rise of talk shows mirroring today’s rise of social media, the electoral politics of yesteryear put today’s presidential race in context.

Reply All. One of several shows recently launched by industry newcomer Gimlet Media, Reply All explores the culture of the internet through stories of human greed, mischievousness, vulnerability, regret, kindness, and wonder. Why are there so many fake historical photo accounts on Twitter? What’s it like to navigate online dating as an Asian woman? How do you delete a sent email? Hosts PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman, both former staffers at WNYC’s On the Media, play resident ecologists of the internet, pointing out the treasures and travails of the age of technology. This show isn’t just for Reddit dwellers or the Twitter-obsessed, but for anyone who’s grown accustomed to living in the digital age.

#GoodMuslimBadMuslim. Comedian Zahra Noorbakhsh and writer and activist Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed used to tease each other about which one was the “bad Muslim.” Noorbakhsh drinks, eats pork, has sex, and prays. Ahmed shuns alcohol and pork but rarely prays. Walking a fine line between “good” and “bad”—both in Muslim communities and in post-9/11 America—Noorbakhsh and Ahmed host laughter-filled, unvarnished conversations about politics, pop culture, and Islamophobia. With anti-Muslim sentiment prominently on display in the wake of the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, Noorbakhsh and Ahmed’s candid conversations are a much-needed breath of fresh air.

99% Invisible. Still going strong after five years, this curious podcast zooms in on the unassuming objects in our lives that we rarely give a second thought. Radio host Roman Mars reveals the hidden stories behind neon lights, a 90-year-old building in New York, silly putty, the couch where Sigmund Freud saw his patients, and barbed wire (a.k.a. “the Devil’s rope”). Mars has such a loyal following that he holds office hours at a local cafe where his admirers can ask him about his work. At one of those gatherings, he told a young journalist that he chooses the stories based on what he’d want to tell people at parties. So if you’re searching for conversation fodder for your family reunion, look no further.

The Mystery Show. Self-styled detective and radio host Starlee Kine investigates the little ordinary mysteries that bug us—the origins of a childhood treasure, a confounding lunchbox illustration, or the exact height of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. In the short time it has been on the air, this Gimlet Media creation has made its way into the Top 20 most popular podcasts on iTunes. As Kine says in one episode, “If you have a mystery,” (no matter how small), “you carry it with you always.” That is, until Kine shows up to break the case wide open.

Another Round. Another pair of sharp and charismatic ladies talk about race, culture, politics, feminism, identity, and life in this weekly show. Fueled by booze and bad jokes, hosts Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton—two black women writers for Buzzfeed—interview everyone from comedians and mental health professionals to cultural and political heavyweights like Melissa Harris-Perry, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Hillary Clinton. Nigatu and Clayton are always entertaining, and they offer a break from the usual string of white, male voices. The A.V. Club writes that they “have very quickly established themselves as funny and insightful hosts, bringing their infectious personalities to conversations that range from squirrels to self-care to microaggressions in the workplace.”

Gravy. Yankee radio journalist Tina Antolini presents portraits of the changing American South through the lens of food. In one recent episode, Antolini zeros in on the cuisine at the Kentucky Derby—not the food served to the spectators, but the food eaten on the go by the stable workers, most of whom are from Central America. One week, Antolini talks to a struggling Louisiana fisherman. Another week, she reflects on fried chicken, at once an iconic comfort food and an ingredient for a hateful racial stereotype. Antolini navigates questions of changing demographics and economic power through heartfelt tales of home-cooked meals. Warning: Do not tune in on an empty stomach.

Guys We Fucked. Originally banned by iTunes for its racy title and now listed as one of its top five comedy podcasts, each episode of Guys We Fucked showcases a running, profanity-laced conversation between two female comedians and their guests, who have included Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead, sex columnist Dan Savage, and adult film star and writer Stoya. Dubbed “The Anti-Slut Shaming Podcast,” Guys We Fucked is on a mission to reclaim female sexuality. Even though it’s a comedy show, it has ventured into taboo subjects like pedophilia, sex work, and sexual violence. Creators Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson describe their target audience as people who are “ready to stop living a suffocated, shame-filled bedroom life.”

The Specialist. The brainchild of KALW public radio in San Francisco, The Specialist offers brief glimpses into jobs we don’t think about and the lives of those who do them. In one particularly fascinating episode, host Casey Miner interviews the women of Comb it Out, a California hair salon dedicated to removing lice from the scalps of their unlucky hosts. In another, she interviews a woman in charge of preparing food for zoo animals. The episodes are short but engrossing, offering windows into the most obscure sectors of our economy.

Death, Sex, and Money. Pop quiz: What are the three things you’re not supposed to talk about at the dinner table this holiday season? Hint: You’ll find them in the title of WNYC’s second most popular podcast (after Radiolab). Through intimate interviews with celebrities and everyday people, host Anna Sale, whom Vulture has called the most likely successor to Fresh Air’s Terry Gross, delves into subjects like why people don’t have sex and how you get elected coroner.

The Thomas Jefferson Hour. Humanities scholar Clay Jenkinson is a Jefferson expert and has been impersonating the nation’s third president for more than 30 years. Producing The Thomas Jefferson Hour from inside a converted farmhouse in North Dakota, Jenkinson answers listeners’ questions in the voice of Thomas Jefferson, based on the former president’s writings and actions in life. When Mother Jones asked what would most disturb Jefferson about our society today, Jenkinson replied in character, saying he was terrified by “your national debt, your capacity for violence, including war, but also domestic violence.” Jenkinson’s TJ is more than just an entertaining impersonation. It’s a vehicle for discussing political theory and the values that shaped our nation—both for the better and for the worse.

Startup. This show documents the origin story of Gimlet Media, founded by Alex Blumberg, former host of NPR’s Planet Money. Blumberg left the public radio world—one of many defectors joining the podcast movement—with the goal of starting his own media company, which he hoped would become the “HBO of podcasting.” As he embarked on this new adventure, Blumberg turned the microphone on himself, his wife, and his co-workers. The result is a trying story of the emotional up and downs of starting one’s own business.

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The Year’s Best Under-the-Radar Podcasts

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This is What It’s Like to Be a Muslim Schoolkid in America Right Now

by PenneyEstep Posted on December 9, 2015

Mother Jones

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“Are you part of the 9/11 or are you ISIS?” “Did you ever kill anyone?” “Are you going to bomb this place?” These are some typical questions that 12-year-old Abdu Rrahman Mohamed says he’s been asked by his non-Muslim classmates week after week in his Long Beach, California, school, he told youth radio VoiceWaves.org last week.

Earlier this year, a high school teacher in Richmond, Texas, sent all his students home with a new study guide he had created, with the title, “Islam/Radical Islam (Did You Know).” In the study guide, which had not been approved by the school, the economics teacher presented fictional statements as if they were facts, including, “38% of Muslims believe people that leave the faith should be executed.” The teacher also wrote up instructions for what to do “if taken hostage by radical Islamists.”

In Weston, Florida, a high school French teacher allegedly called one 14-year-old Muslim student a “rag-head Taliban” in February. The student’s father, Youssef Wardani, a software engineer and an immigrant from Lebanon, said his son, an honor roll student, now hates going to school.

These are not isolated incidents. The federal government, leaders of Muslim organizations, many Muslim students, and parents report an increase in anti-Muslim rhetoric and abuses in classrooms.

Last week, during an event hosted by the nonprofit organization Muslim Advocates, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch expressed concerns about what she sees as an uptick in anti-Muslim incidents in schools. The Department of Justice has partnered with the Department of Education to advise schools on anti-bullying measures. Lynch added that the DOJ is investigating MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas; the school in September called the police and suspended 14-year-old Ahmed Muhammad when he brought a clock he had made to school, to show it to his engineering teacher. School administrators assumed it was a bomb.

Recent figures from a 2014 California survey of students by the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) show that 55 percent of Muslim students in California reported being the target of verbal abuse and insults. That’s twice as many students as those who report being bullied based on gender and race nationally. The survey also found that 29 percent of students who wear a hijab reported offensive touching or pulling of their headscarves. One student said, “They would call me a terrorist and ‘towel head’ and throw rocks at me.” Another student reported, “Someone threatened to kill me if I went to school on 9/11.”

Research shows that students who are bullied do worse academically, and abuse can reappear later in life; former victims have reported struggles with depression and anxiety, as well as risks of suicide.

Perhaps most concerning in the figures and news reports is the number of anti-Muslim incidents that have originated from teachers and administrators, as was the case with Ahmed in Irving. One in five Muslim students in California said they experienced discrimination by a teacher or an administrator. Of these, only 42 percent said reporting a problem to an adult made a difference.

This poses a challenge for advocates and parents who are working to combat Islamophobia in schools. While students, especially in high schools, play a large role in combating any form of meanness and abuse at their schools, adults play a greater role in setting the tone of their classrooms and enforcing positive social norms.

The rise in bullying of Muslim students is a reflection of the rising Islamophobia in the United States since 9/11. As Mother Jones‘ Edwin Rios reported last week, “The most recent FBI data indicates that hate crimes based on race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation have dropped across the board—with the exception of crimes against Muslim Americans. In 2014, even as the total number of hate crimes dipped nearly 8 percent from the year before, anti-Muslim hate crimes rose 14 percent.” And on Sunday, the New York Times‘ Laurie Goodstein found that in the aftermath of attacks in Paris and the mass shooting in San Bernandino, California, “Muslims and leaders of mosques across the United States say they are experiencing a wave of death threats, assaults and vandalism unlike anything they have experienced since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.”

(Are you a Muslim student who doesn’t feel safe in your school, or is your school a good model that others should learn from? I’d love to hear from you. Email me at krizga at motherjones.com.)

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This is What It’s Like to Be a Muslim Schoolkid in America Right Now

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Donald Trump Rejects Criticism of His Plan to Ban Muslims: "I Don’t Care"

by TajW450066860 Posted on December 8, 2015

Mother Jones

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Donald Trump has three words for critics of his newly announced plan to bar Muslims from entering the United States: “I don’t care.”

That’s what the Republican presidential frontrunner told a crowd of supporters in South Carolina on Monday night, saying that while his proposal may not be “politically correct,” Americans need a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States while we figure out what the hell is going on.”

Trump’s announcement comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s address to the nation on Sunday, which sought to both reassure Americans that his terrorism strategy would ultimately succeed, and condemn anti-Muslim behavior in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shooting last week.

“When we travel down that road, we lose,” he said. “Freedom is more powerful than fear.”

Ignoring the president’s exhortations, Trump emailed his supporters on Monday with the announcement of his proposal to block Muslim entry into the country. The ban has since drawn sharp condemnation from both Republicans and Democrats:

By Tuesday morning, multiple news networks scrambled to talk to Trump about this plan. Speaking on Morning Joe, Trump defended his proposal by praising President Franklin Roosevelt’s labeling of Germans, Japanese, and Italians as “enemy aliens” during World War II. He did, however, refrain from endorsing internment camps.

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Donald Trump Rejects Criticism of His Plan to Ban Muslims: "I Don’t Care"

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Vandalized Mosques, Threats of Violence—Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes on the Rise

by IsmaelUhrzw Posted on November 25, 2015

Mother Jones

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One day after the deadly terror attacks in Paris, a woman in Michigan went on Twitter and threatened to “send a message to ISIS.” How? By violently targeting Dearborn, Michigan, a Detroit suburb where more than 40 percent of the population is of Arab ancestry. In response, the head of the FBI’s Detroit office announced an investigation into a string of recent threats in the city. (Sarah Beebee, the woman who sent the tweet, publicly apologized.)

Since the Paris attacks, there have been similar incidents across the United States, from vandalized mosques to threats of violence, rattling Muslim Americans.

Based on the latest FBI hate crime figures, these incidents are on the rise. The most recent FBI data, released last Monday, indicates that hate crimes based on race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation have dropped across the board—with the exception of crimes against Muslim Americans. In 2014, even as the total number of hate crimes dipped nearly 8 percent from the year before, anti-Muslim hate crimes rose 14 percent.

While anti-Muslim incidents have risen, they trail behind incidents targeting Jewish Americans. Last year, 609 hate crime incidents were reported against Jews, the highest number of crimes based on religious beliefs—and four times the number of anti-Muslim crimes. As Christopher Ingraham at the Washington Post points out, these figures are likely undercounted, since police departments’ participation in the FBI’s crime assessment is voluntary and some departments track figures better than others.

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Some bright spots can be found in the FBI data: Crimes against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity dropped from 1,264 in 2013 to 1,115 in 2014. And recorded incidents against Hispanic and black Americans dipped nearly 13 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

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The uptick in crimes against Muslim Americans, though, signals a troubling trend that lingers more than 15 years after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, described the climate in the aftermath of the Paris attacks as “increasingly bleak.” “There’s been an accumulation of anti-Islamic rhetoric in our lives and that, I think, has triggered these overt acts of violence and vandalism,” he recently told the Chicago Tribune.

Between 1996 and 2000, according to the Washington Post, the FBI recorded between 20 and 30 hate crime incidents against Muslim Americans. In 2001 alone, the figure skyrocketed to nearly 500. Even before the terrorist attacks in Paris, the number of anti-Muslim hate crime incidents remained roughly five times as high as it was before 9/11.

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Vandalized Mosques, Threats of Violence—Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes on the Rise

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Jeb Bush Opposed to Manipulating People’s Fears Over Syrian Refugees

by CedricSolander Posted on November 20, 2015

Mother Jones

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Jeb Bush comments on Donald Trump’s plan to create a Muslim registry in the United States:

Trump’s solutions are “just wrong,” Jeb Bush said Friday….”It’s not a question of toughness. It’s manipulating people’s angst and their fears. That’s not strength. That’s weakness,” Bush said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Good for Bush, though it’s a low bar to oppose a national registry for everyone of a specific religion. I don’t think Bush will be the only one to choke on that notion. Still, he was clear about his opposition, and clear about why it’s wrong.

It’s too bad he’s taken this long. He could have been a voice for sanity from the start and set himself apart from the crowd. At this point, though, it would just make him look tentative and indecisive. He lost a chance to do the right thing and possibly get a big payoff from it.

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Jeb Bush Opposed to Manipulating People’s Fears Over Syrian Refugees

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The Press Needs to Stop Encouraging Republican Lunacy Toward Muslims

by KerstinBowling Posted on November 19, 2015

Mother Jones

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Donald Trump is still Donald Trump, trying to gain attention by saying obviously outrageous things. But his latest outrage looks a little contrived. Here’s the full context of his recent interview with Yahoo’s Hunter Walker:

Yahoo News asked Trump whether his push for increased surveillance of American Muslims could include warrantless searches. He suggested he would consider a series of drastic measures.

“We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule,” Trump said. “And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”

Yahoo News asked Trump whether this level of tracking might require registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion. He wouldn’t rule it out.

“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump said when presented with the idea. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”

It would be one thing if Trump floated the idea himself of warrantless searches and special IDs. It’s quite another if a reporter brings them up and Trump tap dances a little bit. Needless to say, in a better world Trump would have explicitly denounced all these ideas. Obviously we don’t live in that world. Still, the only thing Trump actually said here is that we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely. The rest was just a reporter fishing for a headline.

To state the obvious: no, we don’t need to do anything that was “unthinkable” a year ago. As my colleague Miles Johnson notes, “of the 745,000 refugees resettled in the US since the September 11 terrorist attacks, only two have been arrested on terrorism-related charges.” The American Muslim community has been instrumental in preventing jihadist violence in the US since 9/11, and to deliberately alienate them, as Trump and many other Republicans are proposing, is just about the most dangerous thing we could do.

We know how to fight dangerous people. We know how to fight terrorism. And we don’t have to shred the Constitution to do it. Instead of fishing for headlines and stoking the latest round of fatuous fearmongering from Republicans, maybe we’d be better served if reporters started asking them hard questions instead.

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The Press Needs to Stop Encouraging Republican Lunacy Toward Muslims

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A Republican’s Guide to Gotcha Questions

by Danny81R8157 Posted on September 5, 2015

Mother Jones

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Are “gotcha” questions unfair? It depends. I’m personally averse to Jeopardy-style factual quizzes, but not because it’s out of line to probe presidential candidates about what they know. Rather, it’s the form of the question itself. It treats presidential candidates like schoolchildren being quizzed in front of the class. It’s inherently demeaning for any self-respecting adult—and for politicians too.

That said, there are gotchas and there are gotchas, and some are worse than others. Here’s a taxonomy:

SEVERE: “Can you name the president of Chechnya? The president of Taiwan? The general who is in charge of Pakistan? The prime minister of India?” Only an asshole asks questions like this.

Recommended answer: “Oh, go fuck yourself.”

HIGH: “Have you ever used cocaine?” This is moderately nasty, but there are dangers to a straightforward refusal to respond. Humor is worth a try.

Recommended answer: “Once, but only accidentally when I picked up a friend at Mena airport in the 90s and left the car door open.”

ELEVATED: “Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?” This is a double-edged sword. Answer it properly and you sound like you actually know something about Islam. Waffle and you sound stupid. Your best bet is to turn it into an attack.

Recommended answer: “ISIS terrorists are Sunni. President Obama is a Shiite. That’s why he hates those guys so much. It all goes back to the seventh-century, when Obama’s 18th cousin 43 times removed insisted that someone from Mohammad’s family should take up the leadership of the Muslim Ummah.”

GUARDED: “What’s your favorite Bible verse?” This is basically a hanging curve. If you ever went to Sunday School, you shouldn’t have any trouble hitting it out of the park.

Recommended answer: “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. I try to live up to this every single day. There will be no appeasement of America’s enemies on my watch.”

LOW: “What newspapers and magazines do you regularly read?” This is pretty much the opposite of a gotcha. It’s the human interest version of “hello,” a way of easing into an interview with a friendly little softball.

Recommended answer: “All the usual suspects. The Times, the Post, Human Events, and the Journal of Econometrics. Did you see their paper last month critiquing the Fed’s easy money policies by applying a Tobit regression to a fixed-effects nonparametric model with time-aggregated panel data? It was killer.”

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A Republican’s Guide to Gotcha Questions

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