Trump trivia quiz

20 Questions for 2020

By Eric George Tauber

As the 2020 election heats up, here’s a fun game you can play with your family around the dinner table or maybe with a small group of friends as coffee shops and bars slowly re-open.

1) Name the Trump businesses that have gone bankrupt. (Check all that apply.)
a) The Taj Mahal Casino
b) Trump Castle Hotel & Casino
c) Trump Plaza Casino
d) Trump Plaza Hotel
e) Trump Marina
f) Trump Entertainment Resorts

2) Name the Trump enterprises that have been shut down for fraud. (Check all that apply.)
a) Trump University
b) The Trump Foundation
c) The Trump Network (aka Trump Vitamins)
d) Mar-a-Lago
e) The Apprentice

3) Which of Trump’s wives is he known to have cheated on? (Check all that apply.)
a) Ivana Trump
b) Marla Maples
c) Melania Trump
d) Stormy Daniels

4) Which of these ruthless dictators with long records of human rights abuses has Trump publicly praised?
a) Vladimir Putin of Russia
b) Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia
c) Kim Jong Un of North Korea
d) Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey
e) Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt
f) Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines

5) Which of Trump’s high-ranking staff and cabinet members have resigned? (Check all that apply.)
a) Chief of Staff, John Kelley
b) Secretary of Defense, James Mattis
c) Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe
d) National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster
e) National Security Advisor, John Bolton
f) Communications Director, Hope Hicks

6) Which of these high-ranking officials have been fired for dubious reasons?
a) Sally Yates, DOJ for not enforcing Trump’s travel ban in court
b) FBI Director James Comey for not dropping the investigation into Michael Flynn
c) Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Mueller Investigation
d) Rex Tillerson, Sec of State, fired via Twitter for “style differences”
e) Steve Goldstein, Undersecretary of State for contradicting White House Statement on Tillerson’s firing
f) Omarosa Manigault Newman, former Apprentice contestant who was assigned to the Office of Public Liaison. The reasons for her firing were never made clear, but she was reportedly escorted out of the White House screaming and cursing.

7) What obviously false claims is Trump known to have made publicly? (Check all that apply)
a) “Article II of the Constitution lets me do whatever I want.”
b) “We’re taxing the hell out of China with those tariffs.”
c) “The Mueller Report was a total exoneration.”
d) “Hurricane Dorian is expected to hit Alabama.”
e) “The sound of windmills causes cancer.”
f) “You have to flush the toilet ten times.”

8) Which of these Trump appointees are completely unqualified for the high-level positions the occupy and may actually be disqualified because of foreign entanglements? (Check all that apply.)
a) Betsy DeVos, Sec of Education who has never worked in education
b) Dr. Ben Carson, Sec of HUD who confused an REO (real estate owned) with an Oreo cookie
c) Stephen Miller, Senior White House Advisor who panders to White Nationalists
d) Ivanka Trump, Senior White House Advisor who also markets women’s accessories
e) Jared Kushner, Senior White House Advisor, a real-estate heir who has been placed in charge of BOTH bringing peace to the Middle East AND the overseeing national efforts in the COVID-19 pandemic. No pressure.

9) Which of these statements has Trump actually made about the following people? (Check all that apply)
a) Barack Obama: “He wasn’t born in America.” And “Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. Period.”
b) Mexicans: “They’re bringing crime. They’re bringing drugs. They’re rapists.”
c) John McCain: “Why is he a hero? He’s a hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
d) Hillary Clinton: “I really like her and her husband both a lot.” And “She’s a nasty woman.”
e) White Nationalists chanting “Jews will not replace us!”: “There are very fine people on both sides.”
f) Jeffrey Epstein: “I’ve known Epstein for 15 years. Terrific guy.” And “I was not a fan of his.”

10) Which of these positions has Trump flip-flopped on? (Check all that apply.)
a) Pro-Choice to Pro-Life
b) Pro-LGBTQ to favoring “traditional marriage” to “fine with marriage equality.”
c) “Replacing Obamacare is going to be so easy” to “Nobody knew that healthcare was so complicated.”
d) “NATO is obsolete” to “We strongly support NATO.”
e) He promised to “drain the swamp” of DC lobbyists, then hired them.
f) “I’m not going to have time to play golf. Believe me.” Then he visited his own golf resorts at great taxpayer expense 19 times in his first 100 days in office.

11) Which of Trump’s associates have pled guilty to crimes that they committed under his direction? (Check all that apply.)
a) Michael Flynn
b) Michael Cohen
c) George Papadapolous
d) Paul Manafort
e) Rick Gates
f) Roger Stone

12) At 448 pages, the Mueller Report made which of the following conclusions:
a) A complete and total exoneration.
b) The Kremlin believed it would benefit from a Trump presidency.
c) Trump lied to the campaign about his business ties with Russia and was planning to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
d) Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort met repeatedly with Kremlin lawyers who promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.
e) Trump fired FBI director James Comey for refusing to end the investigation into Michael Flynn.
f) Trump ordered White House Counsel Donald McGahn to fire Special Counsel Mueller. McGahn resigned rather than carry out the order.

13) Which individuals testified against Trump during his impeachment hearings before the House of Representatives? (Check all that apply)
a) Lt Col. Alexander Vindman, a decorated veteran serving on the National Security Council
b) Marie Yovanovitch, career diplomat
c) William Taylor, a West Point graduate and career diplomat with 50 years of government service
d) George Kent, a career diplomat
e) Fiona Hill, former official of the National Security Council
f) Gordon Sondland, a wealthy hotelier who donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration ceremony and was made Ambassador to the EU in spite of having no prior diplomatic experience

14) But then again, those witnesses only had second-hand knowledge of the infamous “perfect phone call.” For a proper investigation, one needs first-hand witnesses. Which of these individuals -who had first-hand knowledge- were blocked from testifying?
a) Mike Pence
b) John Bolton
c) Mick Mulvaney
d) Hope Hicks
e) Charles Kupperman
f) Russell Vought

15) In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump responded in which of the following ways:
a) Ignored repeated warnings and played golf
b) Paid more attention to the stock market than the HHS and CDC
c) Bragged about the TV ratings of his daily briefings
d) Promoted Hydroxychloroquine, an untested drug with potentially lethal side effects
e) Mused about the potential benefits of taking disinfectants intravenously, which would actually be lethal
f) Said “I don’t take responsibility for anything.”

16) Which mental and physical health problems have health professionals warned that Trump clearly exhibits? (Check all that apply.)
a) Narcissistic Personality Disorder
b) Dementia
c) Morbid Obesity
d) Pathological Lying
e) Paranoia
f) Delusions of Grandeur

17) Which signs of dementia does Trump appear to be exhibiting and getting worse? (Check all that apply.)
a) Slurred speech
b) Filler words such as “thing” in an effort to hide that he is lost.
c) Awkward stance leaning forward
d) Meandering
e) Mood Swings
f) Apathy

18) Which of the following words have appeared in a Trump speech or tweet? (Check all that apply)
a) “Unpresidented” for “unprecedented”
b) “Covfefe” for “coverage”
c) “Oranges” for “origins”
d) “Two Corinthians” for “II Corinthians”
e) “No challenge is to great” instead of “too great”
f) “Hear by” for “hereby”

19) Which acts has Trump admitted to while talking into a hot microphone? (Check all that apply.)
a) Cheating on his taxes
b) Grabbing women “by the pussy”
c) Walking in on Miss Universe contestants while they were changing under the pretense of “inspecting” their dressing room
d) Paying “hush money” to cover up affairs
e) Obstruction of Congress
f) Extorting political favors from the President of Ukraine in exchange for military aid

20) Name the books that Donald Trump is known to have actually read in whole or in part. (Check all that apply.)
a) The Holy Bible
b) The Constitution of the United States of America
c) “The Prince” by Niccoló Macchiavelli
d) “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare
e) “Hard Choices” by Hillary Clinton
f) “My New Order” by Adolf Hitler

Answers:
1) All of them. Plus, Trump Air and Trump Steaks also went under.
2) Of these, a, b & c were all scams. Trump’s University and Foundation were both shut down for Fraud by federal courts and forced to pay hefty settlements. Mar-A-Lago’s bottom line has been bolstered by Trump’s many trips there at taxpayer expense. The Apprentice was cancelled, which may be what prompted Trump to run for office in the first place. According to Howard Stern, who knows Trump quite well, Trump’s whole campaign was only meant as a publicity stunt to get his name back in the news. If only NBC had given him one more season….
3) Only to a, b & c did Trump break any actual promises of fidelity. As a professional, Stormy Daniels knew the score.
4) All of them and more
5) All of them and more
6) All of them and more
7) All of them and SO MANY MORE
8) All of them
9) All of them, even the complete contradictions
10) All of them
11) All of them
12) Option a) is completely false. Everything else is true.
13) All of them
14) All of them
15) All of them. But, to be fair, he did not suggest “drinking bleach” as some people claim. He suggested freebasing it, which is far deadlier.
16) All of them
17) All of them
18) All of them
19) All of them
20) Of these books, only My New Order, the speeches by Adolf Hitler is known to have been on Trump’s nightstand according to an interview with Melania.

Now I have absolutely no illusions about this one little trivia game actually getting die-hard Trumpniks to question their faith. Their cultish devotion makes them utterly impervious to facts. Faithful Trumpniks simply dismiss facts as “fake news” or come up with some other excuse such as “all politicians lie” or “at least he’s not Hillary.” Even Trump’s own words and actions do not seem to shake their faith in the man they have anointed as their Exalted False Messiah. But if you are put on the spot and have to defend yourself as to why you don’t support Trump, feel free to use this trivia game in your defense. Just don’t expect to be invited back for dinner.

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Eric George Tauber is a freelance writer based in San Diego.  He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com