June 16, 2019

h/t Now This News

By this point, we're all totally familiar with Donald Trump's pretending to be smarter than he actually is. It's so comically transparent that the pathetic part is him thinking he's fooling anyone. The chance that he's ever even cracked open a novel, much less a Tom Wolfe novel, is zero.

But I don't want to talk about how stupid Trump is. I want to talk about how this intellectual laziness indicates so much more. Studies have shown that reading novels increases one's empathy and makes one a nicer person. In fact, you don't even have to read the books. Just being surrounded by books helps kids achieve higher EQ scores. Imagine that. Gold and fake marble columns aren't nearly as good for one's sense of humanity.

It also helps one's memory, even if it's degenerating from Adderall abuse. It improves focus and concentration. It expands one's vocabulary. I think we all agree that would be a refreshing change from what we've been subjected to for the last two years.

Wouldn't it be nice if the Trumps, rather than shoving off the belligerent Donald to a military academy and bribing the University of Pennsylvania to accept him for a middling college career, they just filled their home with books and encouraged their son to read novels?

ABC's "This Week" — Additional parts of a taped interview with President Donald Trump; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Panel: Rick Klein, ABC News political director; former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J.; Democratic strategist Stefanie Brown James, co-founder of Collective PAC; and Julie Pace of The Associated Press.

NBC's "Meet the Press" — Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.; Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. Panel: Columnist George Will, Helene Cooper of The New York Times; Mark Leibovich of The New York Times Magazine and Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute.

CBS' "Face the Nation" — Buttigieg; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Panel: Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report, CBS News political contributor Leslie Sanchez and Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright.

CNN's "State of the Union" — Buttigieg; former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke. Panel: Amanda Carpenter, Jennifer Granholm, Rick Santorum and Karen Finney.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Denise Ho, Cantopop singer, actress, democracy & LGBT rights activist ; and Anna Fifield of The Washington Post.

CNN's "Reliable Sources" — Margaret Sullivan and Max Boot of The Washington Post and Samantha Vinograd, former Obama national security aide; Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang; and David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun.

"Fox News Sunday" — Pompeo; Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; comedian Jon Stewart. Panel: Juan Williams, co-host of “The Five”; Rich Lowry of National Review; Donna Brazile; and radio host Guy Benson of Townhall.com.

So what's catching your eye this morning?

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