Thursday, July 23, 2020

America's Greatest Test-Takers


Donald Trump is very proud of his amazing performance on a test which included a measure of his ability to remember five common nouns. (Extra credit for remembering them in the correct order.) However, I believe that he is not properly honoring other great American test-takers and the astonishing scores they managed to rack up in their testicular challenges. To correct this oversight, I am hereby offering the following capsule histories of the most prominent of these extraordinary leaders from our past.





First, there is Richard Nixon, who, in 1973 scored an impressive 97 out of 100 on his “Just How 'Not-a-Crook' Am I? ethical character exam.





Then, in 1998, Bill Clinton racked up a robust 89 on his “Can You Not Try to Seduce the Next Woman You Meet?” test.





Walter Mondale’s score of 49 (out of 50) on his “How Many States Can You Win in the Next Election?” exam was attention-getting if not quite as amazing as Trump’s five out of five remembered nouns.




Looking further back in history, we should note George Armstrong Custer’s 95 on his “Are You Smarter than a Cheyenne Indian?” final exam.





And, of course, we would be remiss to neglect mention of Benedict Arnold’s straight-up 100 on the “How Truly American Are You?” challenge of 1779.



 My point is simply this: Trump, while glorying in the stable geniosity shown by his noun test, forgot for a moment the incredulous humility for which he is equally well known. So now, Mr. President,  carry on, but please don’t forget these other great American test-takers who have gone before you.

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